Optical properties of wurtzite InP/InAs/InP core–shell nanowires grown on silicon substrates by solid source molecular beam epitaxy are studied by means of photoluminescence and microphotoluminescence. The growth conditions were optimized to obtain purely wurtzite radial quantum wells emitting in the telecom bands with a radiative lifetime in the 5–7 ns range at 14 K. Optical studies on single nanowires reveal that the polarization is mainly parallel to the growth direction. A 20-fold reduction of the photoluminescence intensity is observed between 14 and 300 K confirming the very good quality of the nanowires.
Nanotechnology 22, 405702 (2011)