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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Quantum wires which form at the T-shaped intersection of two 7 nm wide quantum wells have been embedded in the active region of AlGaAs/GaAs lasers. The quantum wires whose dimensions can be precisely controlled on a monolayer length scale have been prepared by cleaved edge overgrowth, a molecular beam growth technique which involves regrowth on the cleavage plane of a previously grown multilayer structure. The quantum wire emission wavelength is found to be nearly independent of the optical excitation level. This absence of band-gap renormalization effects at all pump intensities implies that the gain mechanism in our laser is excitonic, and further indicates a marked increase in the stability of the excitonic gas phase in one dimension. This is consistent with the observed increase in the exciton binding energy by more than 50% compared to the two-dimensional case.