The work in this thesis focuses on improving the light output of room temperature emitting materials, and nanostructures as a stepping stone for use as single photon sources.
The primary nanostructures studied are III-V based type-II emitting quantum dots/quantum rings (QDs/QR’s), which emit at telecom wavelengths either in the O-band (GaSb/GaAs QRs) or the C-band (InAs/GaAs QDs capped with GaAsSb). Individual exciton emission at low temperature was observed in these samples using micro-photoluminescence for what we believe is the first time. This was achieved by reducing the excitation area of the sample using micropillars and gold aperture masks, combined with increasing the extraction efficiency of light using a solid immersion lens. The observation of individual exciton emission enabled their contribution to the power dependent blueshift of type-II quantum dots to be studied.
The integration of the InAs/GaAs QDs with silicon was explored by studying their emission when they are grown on both GaAs and silicon substrates. Studies such as this are an important step towards integrating QDs with on-chip communications.
Finally, solid immersion lenses formed from a UV-curable epoxy are explored as a method for increasing light out of 2D materials. It was found that for Tungsten Diselenide (WSe2) the solid immersion lens increased the intensity of the emitted photoluminescence, as well as preventing the monolayer from degrading. This method could prove to be an excellent method for increasing the light output of 2D material based LED’s, especially WSe2 based single photon sources.