Lateral confinement effects in the luminescence of ultranarrow InGaAs/InP quantum wires

We have developed In0.53Ga0.47As/InP quantum wires with lateral widths down to 8 nm by high-resolution electron beam lithography and deep wet chemical etching. The wires were studied by cw- and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy at temperatures of 2 K and 11 K respectively. Even from the narrowest obtained wire structures we observe a clear photoluminescence signal.