Publications

Ultrawide strain-tuning of light emission from InGaAs nanomembranes

Wang, Xiaowei; Cui, Xiaorui; Bhat, Abhishek; Savage, Donald E.; Reno, J.L.; Lagally, Max G.; Paiella, Roberto

Single-crystal semiconductor nanomembranes provide unique opportunities for basic studies and device applications of strain engineering by virtue of mechanical properties analogous to those of flexible polymeric materials. Here, we investigate the radiative properties of nanomembranes based on InGaAs (one of the standard active materials for infrared diode lasers) under external mechanical stress. Photoluminescence measurements show that, by varying the applied stress, the InGaAs bandgap energy can be red-shifted by over 250 nm, leading to efficient strain-tunable light emission across the same spectral range. These mechanically stressed nanomembranes could therefore form the basis for actively tunable semiconductor lasers featuring ultrawide tunability of the output wavelength.