Giant Stark effect in the emission of single semiconductor quantum dots

We study the quantum-confined Stark effect in single InAs/GaAs quantum dots embedded within a AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well. By significantly increasing the barrier height we can observe emission from a dot at electric fields of 500 kV cm(-1), leading to Stark shifts of up to 25 meV. Our results suggest this technique may enable future applications that require self-assembled dots with transitions at the same energy. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3460912]