In their work published on NanoLetter researchers of NEST investigated light emission from nanoscale point-sources obtained in hybrid metal–GaAs nanowires embedding two sharp axial Schottky barriers. Devices are obtained via the formation of Ni-rich metallic alloy regions in the nanostructure body thanks to a technique of controlled thermal annealing of Ni/Au electrodes. In agreement with recent findings, visible-light electroluminescence can be observed upon suitable voltage biasing of the junctions. They investigated the time-resolved emission properties of the fabricated devices and demonstrated an electrical modulation of light generation up to 1 GHz. Different drive configurations were explored and the intrinsic bottlenecks of the present device architecture were discussed. This results demonstrate a novel technique for the realization of fast sub-wavelength light sources with possible applications in sensing and microscopy beyond the diffraction limit.
