Near-field optical spectroscopy of semiconductor quantum wires

We discuss low temperature near-field scanning optical spectroscopical studies of single, nanometer dimension, cleaved edge overgrown quantum wires. We use the enhanced spatial resolution of near-field microscopy, to spectroscopically investigate these single wires, which are inaccessible to conventional far-field optical spectroscopy. We thus performed a direct experimental comparison between a two-dimensional quantum system and a single genuine one-dimensional quantum system. We show that the photoluminescence of a single quantum wire is easily distinguished from that of the surrounding quantum well. Emission from localized centers is shown to dominate the photoluminescence from both wires and wells at low temperatures. A factor of three enhancement in the optical absorption of a wire, in comparison with that of a similar well, is concluded from the photoluminescence excitation data.