Vertically stacked quantum dot pairs fabricated by nanohole filling

Strain-free, vertically coupled GaAs quantum dots (QDs) with an ultra-low density below 1 × 107 cm-2 are fabricated by filling of self-assembled nanoholes with a GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs layer sequence. The sizes of the two QDs, forming a QD pair (QDP), as well as the AlGaAs tunnel-barrier between the dots are tuned independently. We present atomic force microscopy studies of the QDP formation steps. We have performed photoluminescence studies of single QDPs with varied dot size and tunnel-barrier thickness. The data indicate non-resonant tunnelling between the dots. Furthermore, we apply the quantum confined Stark effect to tune the photoluminescence energy by up to 25 meV.