We investigated experimentally and theoretically the valence-band structure of wurtzite InP nanowires. The wurtzite phase, which usually is not stable for III-V phosphide compounds, has been observed in InP nanowires. We present results on the electronic properties of these nanowires using the photoluminescence excitation technique. Spectra from an ensemble of nanowires show three clear absorption edges separated by 44 meV and 143 meV, respectively. The band edges are attributed to excitonic absorptions involving three distinct valence-bands labeled: A, B, and C. Theoretical results based on "ab initio" calculation gives corresponding valence-band energy separations of 50 meV and 200 meV, respectively, which are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Wurtzite InAs nanowire samples grown by chemical beam epitaxy have been analyzed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. The nanowires exhibit two main optical emission bands at low temperatures. They are attributed to the recombination of carriers in quantum well structures, formed by zincblende-wurtzite alternating layers, and to the donor-acceptor pair. The blue-shift observed in the former emission band when the excitation power is increased is in good agreement with the type-II band alignment between the wurtzite and zincblende sections predicted by previous theoretical works. When increasing the temperature and the excitation power successively, an additional band attributed to the band-to-band recombination from wurtzite InAs appears. We estimated a lower bound for the wurtzite band gap energy of approximately 0.46 eV at low temperature.

We have performed a detailed study of the lattice distortions of InP wurtzite nanowires containing an axial screw dislocation. Eshelby predicted that this kind of system should show a crystal rotation due to the dislocation induced torque. We have measured the twisting rate and the dislocation Burgers vector on individual wires, revealing that nanowires with a 10-nm radius have a twist up to 100% larger than estimated from elasticity theory. The strain induced by the deformation has a Mexican-hat-like geometry, which may create a tube-like potential well for carriers.

We report polarized Raman scattering and resonant Raman scattering studies on single InAs nanowires. Polarized Raman experiments show that the highest scattering intensity is obtained when both the incident and analyzed light polarizations are perpendicular to the nanowire axis. InAs wurtzite optical modes are observed. The obtained wurtzite modes are consistent with the selection rules and also with the results of calculations using an extended rigid-ion model. Additional resonant Raman scattering experiments reveal a redshifted E 1 transition for InAs nanowires compared to the bulk zinc-blende InAs transition due to the dominance of the wurtzite phase in the nanowires. Ab initio calculations of the electronic band structure for wurtzite and zinc-blende InAs phases corroborate the observed values for the E 1 transitions.