Excitonic complexes in natural InAs/GaAs quantum dots

The quantum confinement in a typical quantum dot (QD) is determined primarily by the nanosystem's dimensions and average composition. We demonstrate, however, that excitonic properties of natural QDs formed in the InAs/GaAs wetting layer are governed predominantly by effects of random fluctuations of the lattice composition. It is shown that the biexciton binding energy is a very sensitive function of the lattice randomness with a nearly flat dependence on the exciton energy. The large variation in different random realizations of a QD structure is shown to lead in some cases to the reversal of the order of excitonic lines. Results of theoretical calculations correspond to statistical properties of neutral excitons and biexcitons as well as trions confined to single natural QDs studied in our microspectroscopic measurements. We observe substantial variation of the biexciton and trion binding energies as well as a correlation of the trion and the biexciton energies. The transition from the negative to the positive binding energy of the trion is also observed, which strongly supports the attribution of the observed trion to the positively charged exciton.