2012, Möller, Michael, Hernández-Mínguez, Alberto, Breuer, Steffen, Pfüller, Carsten, Brandt, Oliver, de Lima Jr, Mauricio M., Cantarero, Andrés, Geelhaar, Lutz, Riechert, Henning, Santos, Paulo V.

The oscillating piezoelectric field of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) is employed to transport photoexcited electrons and holes in GaAs nanowires deposited on a SAW delay line on a LiNbO3 crystal. The carriers generated in the nanowire by a focused light spot are acoustically transferred to a second location where they recombine. We show that the recombination of the transported carriers occurs in a zinc blende section on top of the predominant wurtzite nanowire. This allows contactless control of the linear polarized emission by SAWs which is governed by the crystal structure. Additional polarization-resolved photoluminescence measurements were performed to investigate spin conservation during transport.