Hydrogenic impurity in double quantum dots

The ground state binding energy and the average interparticle distances for a hydrogenic impurity in double quantum dots with Gaussian confinement potential are studied by the variational method. The probability density of the electron is calculated, too. The dependence of the binding energy on the impurity position is investigated for GaAs quantum dots. The result shows that the binding energy has a minimum as a function of the distance between the two quantum dots when the impurity is located at the center of one quantum dot or at the center of the edge of one quantum dot. When the impurity is located at the center of the two dots, the binding energy decreases monotonically. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Geometrical-confinement effects on two electrons in elliptical quantum dots

The effects of the geometrical shape on two electrons confined in a two-dimensional parabolic quantum dot and subjected to an external uniform magnetic field have been calculated using a variational-perturbation method based on a direct construction of trial wave functions. The calculations show that both the energy levels and the spin transition of two electrons in elliptical quantum dots are dramatically influenced by the shape of the dots. The ground states with total spin S=0 and S=1 are affected greatly by changing the magnetic field and the geometrical confinement. The quantum behavior of elliptical quantum dots show some relation to that of laterally coupled quantum dots. For a special geometric configuration of the confinement omega(y)/omega(x)=2.0, we encounter a characteristic magnetic field at which spin singlet-triplet crossover occurs. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Anomalous photoluminescence of InAs quantum dots implanted by Mn ions

The photoluminescence (PL) of Mn-implanted quantum dot (QD) samples after rapid annealing is studied. It is found that the blue shift of the PL peak of the QDs, introduced by the rapid annealing, decreases abnormally as the implantation dose increases. This anomaly is probably related to the migration of Mn atoms to the InAs QDs during annealing, which leads to strain relaxation when Mn atoms enter InAs QDs or to the suppression of the inter-diffusion of In and Ga atoms when Mn atoms surround QDs. Both effects will suppress the blue shift of the QD PL peaks. The temperature dependence of the PL intensity of the heavily implanted QDs confirms the existence of defect traps around the QDs. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electronic structure of ZnO wurtzite quantum wires

The electronic structure and optical properties of ZnO wurtzite quantum wires with radius R >= 3 nm are studied in the framework of six-band effective-mass envelope function theory. The hole effective-mass parameters of ZnO wurtzite material are calculated by the empirical pseudopotential method. It is found that the electron states are either two-fold or four-fold degenerate. There is a dark exciton effect when the radius R of the ZnO quantum wires is in the range of [3,19.1] nm (dark range in our model). The dark ranges of other wurtzite semiconductor quantum wires are calculated for comparison. The dark range becomes smaller when the |Delta(so)| is larger, which also happens in the quantum-dot systems. The linear polarization factor of ZnO quantum wires is larger when the temperature is higher.

Effect of the longitudinal and transverse stacking period of InAs/GaAs quantum dots on the distribution of strain field

A systematic investigation is made on the influence of the longitudinal and transverse period distributions of quantum dots on the elastic strain field. The results showed that the effects of the longitudinal period and transverse period on the strain field are just opposite along the direction of center-axis of the quantum dots, and under proper conditions, both effects can be eliminated. The results demonstrate that in calculating the effect of the strain field on the electronic structure, one must take into account the quantum dots period distribution, and it is inadequate to use the isolated quantum dot model in simulating the strain field.

Temperature dependence of surface quantum dots grown under frequent growth interruption

We grow InGaAs quantum dot (QD) at low growth rate with 70 times insertion of growth interruption in MBE system. It is found that because of the extreme growth condition, QDs exhibit a thick wetting layer, large QD height value and special surface morphology which is attributed to the enhanced adatom surface diffusion and In-segregation effect. Temperature dependence of photoluminescence measurement from surface QD shows that this kind of QD has good thermal stability which is explained in terms of the presence of surface oxide. The special distribution of QD may also play a role in this thermal character. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electron resonant tunneling through InAs/GaAs quantum dots embedded in a Schottky diode with an AlAs insertion layer

Molecular beam epitaxy was employed to manufacture self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dot Schottky resonant tunneling diodes. By virtue of a thin AlAs insertion barrier, the thermal current was effectively reduced and electron resonant tunneling through quantum dots under both forward and reverse biased conditions was observed at relatively high temperature of 77 K. The ground states of quantum dots were found to be at similar to 0.19 eV below the conduction band of GaAs matrix. The theoretical computations were in conformity with experimental data. (c) 2006 The Electrochemical Society.

Temperature and power-density-dependent inter-shell energy states in InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We have investigated the evolution of exciton state filling in InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structures as a function of the excitation power density by using rnicro-photoluminescence spectroscopy at different temperatures. In addition to the emission bands of exciton recombination corresponding to the atom-like S, P and D, etc. shells of QDs, it was observed that some extra states V between the S and P shells, and D' between the P and D shells appear in the spectra with increasing number of excitons occupying the QDs at a certain temperature. The emergence of these inter-shell excitonic levels is power density and temperature dependent, which is an experimental demonstration of strong exciton-exciton exchange interaction, state hybridization, and coupling of a multi-exciton system in QDs. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantum trajectory analysis for electrical detection of single-electron spin resonance

A Monte Carlo simulation on the basis of quantum trajectory approach is carried out for the measurement dynamics of a single-electron spin resonance. The measured electron, which is confined in either a quantum dot or a defect trap, is tunnel coupled to a side reservoir and continuously monitored by a mesoscopic detector. The simulation not only recovers the observed telegraphic signal of detector current, but also predicts unique features in the output power spectrum which are associated with electron dynamics in different regimes.

Anomalous temperature dependence of photoluminescence peak energy in InAs/InAlAs/InP quantum dots

We have observed an unusual temperature sensitivity of the photoluminescence (PL) peak energy for InAs quantum dots grown on InAs quantum wires (QDOWs) on InP substrate. The net temperature shift of PL wavelength of the QDOWs ranges from 0.8 to -4. angstrom/degrees C depending upon the Si doping concentration in the samples. This unusual temperature behavior can be mainly ascribed to the stress amplification in the QDOWs when the thermal strain is transferred from the surrounding InAs wires. This offers an opportunity for realizing quantum dot laser devices with a temperature insensitive lasing wavelength. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of spatially ordered growth of quantum dots on patterned substrate

We report the growth of well-ordered InAs QD chains by molecular beam epitaxy system. In order to analyze and extend the results of our experiment, a detailed kinetic Monte Carlo simulation is developed to investigate the effects of different growth conditions to the selective growth of InAs quantum dots (QDs). We find that growth temperature plays a more important role than growth rate in the spatial ordering of the QDs. We also investigate the effect of periodic stress on the shape of QDs in simulation. The simulation results are in good qualitative agreement with our experiment. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Room-temperature observation of electron resonant tunneling through InAs/AlAs quantum dots

Molecular beam epitaxy is employed to manufacture self-assembled InAs/AlAs quantum-dot resonant tunneling diodes. The resonant tunneling current is superimposed on the thermal current, and together they make up the total electron transport in devices. Steps in current-voltage characteristics and peaks in capacitance-voltage characteristics are explained as electron resonant tunneling via quantum dots at 77 or 300 K, and thus resonant tunneling is observed at room temperature in III-V quantum-dot materials. Hysteresis loops in the curves are attributed to hot electron injection/emission process of quantum dots, which indicates the concomitant charging/discharging effect. (c) 2006 The Electrochemical Society.

Interdot interaction induced zero-bias maximum of the differential conductance in parallel double quantum dots

We have studied the equilibrium and nonequilibrium electronic transports through a double quantum dot coupled to leads in a symmetrical parallel configuration in the presence of both the inter- and the intradot Coulomb interactions. The influences of the interdot interaction and the difference between dot levels on the local density of states (LDOS) and the differential conductance are paid special attention. We find an interesting zero-bias maximum of the differential conductance induced by the interdot interaction, which can be interpreted in terms of the LDOS of the two dots. Due to the presence of the interdot interaction, the LDOS peaks around the dot levels epsilon(i) are split, and as a result, the most active energy level which supports the transport is shifted near to the Fermi level of the leads in the equilibrium situation. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Evolution of wetting layer of InAs/GaAs quantum dots studied by reflectance difference spectroscopy

For the InAs/GaAs quantum-dot system, the evolution of the wetting layer (WL) with the InAs deposition thickness has been studied by reflectance difference spectroscopy (RDS) in combination with atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence. One transition related to the light hole in the WL has been observed clearly in RDS, from which its transition energy and in-plane optical anisotropy (OA) are determined. The evolution of WL with the InAs dot formation and ripening has been discussed. In addition, the remarkable changes in OA at the onsets of the dot formation and ripening have been observed, implying the mode transitions of atom transport between the WL and the dots.

Interband and intraband photocurrent of self-assembled InAs/InAlAs/InP nanostructures

The interband and intraband photocurrent properties of InAs/InAlAs/InP nanostructures have been studied. The doping effect on the photoluminescence properties of the quantum dots and the anisotropy of the quantum wire interband photocurrent properties are presented and discussed. With the help of interband excitation, an intraband photocurrent signal of the InAs nanostructures is observed. With the increase of the interband excitation power, the intraband photocurrent signal first increases and then decreases, which can be explained by the variance of the ground state occupation of the InAs nanostructures and the change of the mobility and lifetime of the electrons. The temperature dependence of the intraband photocurrent signal of the InAs nanostructures is also investigated.