Electrically probing photonic bandgap phenomena in contacted defect nanocavities

Abstract

We demonstrate an electrically tunable two dimensional photonic crystal nanocavity containing InAs self assembled quantum dots. Photoluminescence and electroluminescence measurements are combined to probe the cavity mode structure and demonstrate a local electrical contact to the quantum dots. Measurements performed as a function of the electric field enable us to probe the capture, relaxation and recombination dynamics of photogenerated carriers inside the quantum dots emitting into a modified photonic environment. Furthermore, the two dimensional photonic crystal is probed by spatially dependent photocurrent spectroscopy indicating a 3.5x enhancement of the local radiative lifetime of the QDs inside the photonic crystal environment