OVERVIEW

This chapter focuses on the main Optoelectronic devices based on nanostructures. The chapter starts with Optoelectronic devices that exploit the linear and nonlinear optical properties of nanowires, nanofilms, and nanoparticles, and presents afterwards optoelectronic devices realized via various nanotechnology methods, such as optical antennas and optoelectronic devices based on metamaterials. The chapter ends with optical cascade devices, which probably constitute the most complex devices implemented via nanostructures.

We do not treat here the emerging area of optoelectronic devices based on semiconductor quantum wires or quantum dots, since this issue is extensively treated in a series of monographs [1, 2]. The reader who is not familiar with nanoscale optoelectronic devices realized with AIII-BV semiconductors should peruse these monographs because the experimental realization of optoelectronic devices, and especially the fabrication of lasers based on semiconductor quantum wires and quantum dots, constitutes one of the first proofs of the amazing properties of nanostructures and their immediate application in computers and advanced communication systems. The self-assembly techniques described in Chapter 1 were recently employed to extend the types of quantum dots used in optoelectronic devices. In this respect, InGaN quantum dots grown using self-assembly techniques were used as UV lasers [3], and self-assembly of InAs and Si/Ge quantum dots on structured surfaces such as GaAs (001), Si (001), or Si (111) were used for advanced optoelectronic devices [4]. The self-assembled quantum dots are compatible with AIII-BV technologies and show similar optical properties as standard quantum dots made from AIII-BV semiconductors. The self-assembled quantum...