In this work we study theoretically and experimentally the multi-particle structure of the so-called type-II quantum dots with spatially separated electrons and holes. Our calculations based on customarily developed full configuration interaction ap- proach reveal that exciton complexes containing holes interacting with two or more electrons exhibit fairly large antibinding energies. This effect is found to be the hallmark of the type-II confinement. In addition, an approximate self-consistent solution of the multi-exciton problem allows us to explain two pronounced phenomena: the blue-shift of the emission with pumping and the large inhomogeneous spectral broadening, both of those eluding explanation so far. The results are confirmed by detailed intensity and polarization resolved photoluminescence measurements on a number of type-II samples.

We study the polarization response of the emission from type-II GaAsSb capped InAs quantum dots. The theoretical prediction based on the calculations of the overlap integrals of the single-particle states obtained in the $\vec{k}·\vec{p}$ framework is given. This is verified experimentally by polarization resolved photoluminescence measurements on samples with the type-II confinement. We show that the polarization anisotropy might be utilized to find the vertical position of the hole wave function and its orientation with respect to crystallographic axes of the sample. A proposition for usage in the information technology as a room temperature photonic gate operating at the communication wavelengths as well as a simple model to estimate the energy of fine-structure splitting for type-II GaAsSb capped InAs QDs are given.

We study the effects of the nonlinear piezoelectricity and the In distribution on the exciton energy, the electron-hole electric dipole moment, and the fine-structure splitting in stress-tunable In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots integrated onto a piezoelectric actuator. In particular, we investigate in detail the contributions of various elements of the expansion of the electrical polarization in terms of externally induced elastic strain on the latter two important quantum dot properties. Based on the comparison of the effects of first- and second-order piezoelectricity we provide a simple relation to estimate the influence of applied anisotropic stress on the quantum dot dipole moment for quantum dots significantly lattice mismatched to the host crystal.

The optical response of (InGa)(AsSb)/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaP (001) substrates is studied by means of excitation and temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL), and it is related to their complex electronic structure. Such QDs exhibit concurrently direct and indirect transitions, which allows the swapping of $\mathrm{\Gamma }$ and $L$ quantum confined states in energy, depending on details of their stoichiometry. Based on realistic data on QD structure and composition, derived from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) measurements, simulations by means of $\mathbf{k}·\mathbf{p}$ theory are performed. The theoretical prediction of both momentum direct and indirect type-I optical transitions are confirmed by the experiments presented here. Additional investigations by a combination of Raman and photoreflectance spectroscopy show modifications of the hydrostatic strain in the QD layer, depending on the sequential addition of QDs and capping layer. A variation of the excitation density across four orders of magnitude reveals a 50-meV energy blueshift of the QD emission. Our findings suggest that the assignment of the type of transition, based solely by the observation of a blueshift with increased pumping, is insufficient. We propose therefore a more consistent approach based on the analysis of the character of the blueshift evolution with optical pumping, which employs a numerical model based on a semi-self-consistent configuration interaction method.

Coherent optical states consist of a quantum superposition of different photon number (Fock) states, but because they do not form an orthogonal basis, no photon number states can be obtained from it by linear optics. Here we demonstrate the reverse, by manipulating a random continuous single-photon stream using quantum interference in an optical Sagnac loop, we create engineered quantum states of light with tunable photon statistics, including approximate weak coherent states. We demonstrate this experimentally using a true single-photon stream produced by a semiconductor quantum dot in an optical microcavity, and show that we can obtain light with $g^{(2)}(0)\to 1$ in agreement with our theory, which can only be explained by quantum interference of at least 3 photons. The produced artificial light states are, however, much more complex than coherent states, containing quantum entanglement of photons, making them a resource for multiphoton entanglement.

The lack of useful and cost-efficient group-IV direct band gap light emitters still presents the main bottleneck for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-compatible short-distance data transmission, single-photon emission, and sensing based on silicon photonics. Germanium, a group-IV element like Si, is already widely used in silicon fabs. While the energy band gap of Ge is intrinsically indirect, we predict that the insertion of Ge-Ge split-[110] interstitials into crystalline Ge can open up a direct band gap transmission path. Here, we calculate from first principles the band structure and optical emission properties of Ge, Sb, and Sn split-[110] interstitials in bulk and low-dimensional Ge at different doping concentrations. Two types of electronic states provide the light-emission enhancement below the direct band gap of Ge: a hybridized L-$\mathrm{\Gamma }$ state at the Brillouin zone center and a conduction band of $\mathrm{\Delta }$ band character that couples to a raised valence band along the $\mathrm{\Gamma }$-X direction. Majority carrier introduced to the system through doping can enhance light emission by saturation of nonradiative paths. Ge-Sn split interstitials in Ge shift the top of the valence band towards the $\mathrm{\Gamma }$-X direction and increase the $\mathrm{\Gamma }$ character of the L-$\mathrm{\Gamma }$ state, which results in a shift to longer emission wavelengths. Key spectral regions for datacom and sensing applications can be covered by applying quantum confinement in defect-enhanced Ge quantum dots for an emission wavelength shift from the midinfrared to the telecom regime.