Nanometer scale resolution luminescence imaging of quantum wire structure with a scanning tunneling microscope

The potential of the STM (scanning tunneling microscope) technique for the characterization of quantum wire structures is demonstrated experimentally. These measurements have the unique feature of locally controlling the electron injection and of inducing luminescence within a single quantum wire. Thus local electronical information is obtained independently of the rest of the sample. This opens up a new way for wire-by-wire characterization of quantum wire arrays and may become of great help for the fabrication of high-quality samples.