Intersubband absorption in annealed InAs/GaAs quantum dots: a case for polarization-sensitive infrared detection

We have studied the characteristics of intersubband absorption of polarized infrared (IR) radiation in as-grown and annealed self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots. It is observed that with the increase of annealing time and temperature, the dots tend to flatten and behave more like quantum wells. As a result, their sensitivity to TE (in-plane)-polarized light decreases and that to TM (out-of-plane)-polarized light increases. The effect could be utilized for the realization of polarization-sensitive IR detectors.