Optical investigation of some statistic and kinetic aspects of the nucleation and growth of inas islands on gaas

After illustrating the excellent optical quality of individual InAs/GaAs quantum boxes obtained by self-organized molecular beam epitaxial growth, we show that optical studies also give a unique insight on the nucleation and growth processes of InAs islands on GaAs, and in particular on their relevant time scales. Besides describing satisfyingly the formation of InAs island arrays, a simple phenomenological model based on these experimental data highlights the importance of interisland interactions.