Temperature activated coupling in topologically distinct semiconductor nanostructures

We present a detailed analysis of the emission of individual GaAs/AlGaAs complex nano-systems composed of two concentric and topologically distinct quantum nanostructures, namely, a quantum dot and a quantum ring. Time resolved, temperature and excitation power density dependence of the photoluminescence from single and ensemble dot/ring structures have been used in order to determine the carrier dynamics. Despite the small spatial separation between the dot and the ring, the exciton dynamics in the two nanostructures is completely decoupled at low temperatures. At higher temperatures, we observe a clear change in the carrier dynamics, which shows the onset of the coupling between the two nanostructures. We attribute such change in carrier dynamics to the breaking of topology induced selection rules which allows the transfer of the carriers between the dot and the ring via an electronic quantum state, common to the two nanostructures.