We report on the evidence of a strain-induced piezoelectric field in wurtzite InAs/InP quantum rod nanowires. This electric field, caused by the lattice mismatch between InAs and InP, results in the quantum confined Stark effect and, as a consequence, affects the optical properties of the nanowire heterostructure. It is shown that the piezoelectric field can be screened by photogenerated carriers or removed by increasing temperature. Moreover, a dependence of the piezoelectric field on the quantum rod diameter is observed in agreement with simulations of wurtzite InAs/InP quantum rod nanowire heterostructures.
Applied Physics Letters 104, 183101 (2014)