Singlet-triplet transition in quantum dots confined by triangular and bowl-like potentials: the effect of electric fields

We theoretically investigate the energy spectra of two-electron two-dimensional (2e 2D) quantum dots (QDs) confined by triangular potentials and bowl-like potentials in a magnetic field by exact diagonalization in the framework of effective mass theory. An in-plane electric field is,found to contribute to the singlet-triplet transition of the ground state of the 2e 2D QDs confined by triangular or bowl-like potentials in a perpendicular magnetic field. The stronger the in-plane electric field, the smaller the magnetic field for the total spin of the ground states in the dot systems to change from S = 0 to S = 1. However, the influence of an in-plane electric field on the singlet-triplet transition of the ground state of two electrons in a triangular QD modulated by a perpendicular magnetic field is quite small because the triangular potential just deviates from the harmonic potential well slightly. We End that the strength of the perpendicular magnetic field needed for the spin singlet-triplet transition of the ground state of the QD confined by a bowl-like potential is reduced drastically by applying an in-plane electric field.

High and electric field tunable Curie temperature in diluted magnetic semiconductor nanowires and nanoslabs

The Curie temperature of diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) nanowires and nanoslabs is investigated using the mean-field model. The Curie temperature in DMS nanowires can be much larger than that in corresponding bulk material due to the density of states of one-dimensional quantum wires, and when only one conduction subband is filled, the Curie temperature is inversely proportional to the carrier density. The T-C in DMS nanoslabs is dependent on the carrier density through the number of the occupied subbands. A transverse electric field can change the DMS nanowires from the paramagnet to ferromagnet, or vice versae. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Observation of electric current induced by optically injected spin current

Linearly polarized light at normal incidence injects a spin current into a strip of two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The authors report observation of an electric current when such light is shed on the vincinity of the junction in a crossbar-shaped InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well Rashba system. The polarization dependence of this electric current was experimentally observed to be the same as that of the spin current. The authors attribute the observed electric current to the scattering of the optically injected spin current at the crossing. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Electric field tunable electron g factor and high asymmetrical Stark effect in InAs1-xNx quantum dots

The electronic structure, electron g factor, and Stark effect of InAs1-xNx quantum dots are studied by using the ten-band k center dot p model. It is found that the g factor can be tuned to be zero by the shape and size of quantum dots, nitrogen (N) doping, and the electric field. The N doping has two effects on the g factor: the direct effect increases the g factor and the indirect effect decreases it. The Stark effect in quantum ellipsoids is high asymmetrical and the asymmetry factor may be 319. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

The wave function evolution of an exciton in a bilayer system: Turning on a static in-plane electric field

The time evolution of the ground state wave function of an exciton in an ideal bilayer system is investigated within the framework of the effective-mass approximation. All of the moduli squared of the ground state wave functions evolve with time as cosine functions after an in-plane electric field is applied to the bilayer system. The variation amplitude and period of the modulus squared of the ground state wave function increase with the in-plane electric field F-r for a fixed in-plane relative coordinate r and fixed separation d between the electron and hole layers. Moreover, the variation amplitude and period of the modulus squared of the ground state wave function increase with the separation d for a fixed r and fixed in-plane electric field. Additionally, the modulus squared of the ground state wave function decreases as r increases at a given time t for fixed values of d and F-r. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

The influence of internal electric fields on the transition energy of InGaN/gaN quantum well

We present a new way to meet the amount of strain relaxation in an InGaN quantum well layer grown on relaxed GaN by calculating and measuring its internal field. With perturbation theory, we also calculate the transition energy of InGaN/GaN SQWs as affected by internal fields. The newly reported experimental data by Graham et al. fit our calculations well on the assumption that the InGaN well layer suffered a 20% strain relaxation, we discuss the differences between our calculated results and the experimental data. Our calculation suggests that with the increase of indium mole fraction in the InGaN/GaN quantum well, the effect of polarization fields on the luminescence of the quantum well will increase. Moreover, our calculation also suggests that an increase in the quantum well width by only one monolayer can result in a large reduction in the transition energy. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tunable spin transport in magnetic-electric superlattice

We study the spin-dependent electron transport in a special magnetic-electric superlattice periodically modulated by parallel ferromagnetic metal stripes and Schottky normal-metal stripes. The results show that, the spin-polarized current can be well controllable by modulating the magnetic strength of the ferromagnetic stripes or the voltage applied to the Schottky normal-metal stripes. It is obvious that, to the system of the magnetic superlattice, the polarized current can be enhanced by the magnetic strength of ferromagnetic stripes. Nevertheless, it is found that, for the magnetic-electric superlattice, the polarized current can also be remarkably advanced by the voltage applied to the Schottky normal-metal stripes. These results may indicate a useable approach for tunable spintronic devices. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Semiconductor-metal transition in InSb nanowires and nanofilms under external electric field

The electronic structures, Rashba spin-orbit couplings, and transport properties of InSb nanowires and nanofilms are investigated theoretically. When both the radius of the wire (or the thickness of the film) and the electric field are large, the electron bands and hole bands overlap, and the Fermi level crosses with some bands, which means that the semiconductors transit into metals. Meanwhile, the Rashba coefficients behave in an abnormal way. The conductivities increase dramatically when the electric field is larger than a critical value. This semiconductor-metal transition is observable at the room temperature. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Rashba spin-orbit coupling in InSb nanowires under transverse electric field

We investigate the Rashba spin-orbit coupling brought by transverse electric field in InSb nanowires. In small k(z) (k(z) is the wave vector along the wire direction) range, the Rashba spin-orbit splitting energy has a linear relationship with k(z), so we can define a Rashba coefficient similarly to the quantum well case. We deduce some empirical formulas of the spin-orbit splitting energy and Rashba coefficient, and compare them with the effective-mass calculating results. It is interesting to find that the Rashba spin-orbit splitting energy decreases as k(z) increases when k(z) is large due to the k(z)-quadratic term in the band energy. The Rashba coefficient increases with increasing electric field, and shows a saturating trend when the electric field is large. As the radius increases, the Rashba coefficient increases at first, then decreases. The effects of magnetic fields along different directions are discussed. The case where the magnetic field is along the wire direction or the electric field direction are similar. The spin state in an energy band changes smoothly as k(z) changes. The case where the magnetic field is perpendicular to the wire direction and the electric field direction is quite different from the above two cases, the k(z)-positive and negative parts of the energy bands are not symmetrical, and the energy bands with different spins cross at a k(z)-nonzero point, where the spin splitting energy and the effective g factor are zero.

Influence of longitudinal electric field on the hot-phonon effect in quantum wells

Using the Huang-Zhu model [K. Huang and B.-F. Zhu, Phys. Rev. B 38, 13377 (1988)] for the optical phonons and associated carrier-phonon interactions in semiconductor superlattices, the effects of longitudinal electric field on the energy-loss rates (ELRs) of hot carriers as well as on the hot-phonon effect (HPE) in GaAs/AlAs quantum wells (QWs) are studied systematically. Contributions of various bulklike and interface phonons to the hot-carrier relaxation are compared in detail, and comprehensively analyzed in relation to the intrasubband and intersubband scatterings for quantum cascade lasers. Due to the broken parity of the electron (hole) states in the electric field, the bulklike modes with antisymmetric potentials are allowed in the intrasubband relaxation processes, as well as the modes with symmetric potentials. As the interface phonon scattering is strong only in narrow wells, in which the electric field affects the electron (hole) states little, the ELRs of hot carriers through the interface phonon scattering are not sensitive to the electric field. The HPE on the hot-carrier relaxation process in the medium and wide wells is reduced by the electric field. The influence of the electric field on the hot-phonon effect in quantum cascade lasers is negligible. When the HPE is ignored, the ELRs of hot electrons in wide QWs are decreased noticeably by the electric field, but slightly increased by the field when considering the HPE. In contrast with the electrons, the ELRs of hot holes in wide wells are increased by the field, irrespective of the HPE. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Spin-polarized transport in one-dimensional waveguide structures with spatially periodic electric fields

We investigate theoretically spin-polarized transport in a one-dimensional waveguide structure under spatially periodic electric fields. Strong spin-polarized current can be obtained by tuning the external electric fields. It is interesting to find that the spin-dependent transmissions exhibit gaps at various electron momenta and/or gate lengths, and the gap width increases with increasing the strength of the Rashba effect. The strong spin-polarized current arises from the different transmission gaps of the spin-up and spin-down electrons. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Effects of electric field on the electronic structure and optical properties of quantum rods with wurtzite structure

The Hamiltonian of wurtzite quantum rods with an ellipsoidal boundary under electric field is given after a coordinate transformation. The electronic structure and optical properties are studied in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory. The quantum-confined Stark effect is illustrated by studying the change of the electronic structures under electric field. The transition probabilities between the electron and hole states decrease sharply with the increase of the electric field. The polarization factor increases with the increase of the electric field. Effects of the electric field and the shape of the rods on the exciton effect are also investigated. The exciton binding energy decreases with the increase of both the electric field and the aspect ratio. In the end, considering the exciton binding energy, we calculated the band gap variation of size- and shape-controlled colloidal CdSe quantum rods, which is in good agreement with experimental results.

Electronic structure of coupled vertically stacked self-assembled InAs quantum disks in a vertical electric field

In the framework of the effective-mass and adiabatic approximations, by setting the effective-mass of electron in the quantum disks (QDs) different from that in the potential barrier material, we make some improvements in the calculation of the electronic energy levels of vertically stacked self-assembled InAs QD. Comparing with the results when an empirical value was adopted as the effective-mass of electron of the system, we can see that the higher levels become heightened. Furthermore, the Stark shifts of the system of different methods are compared. The Stark shifts of holes are also studied. The vertical electric field changes the splitting between the symmetric level and the antisymmetric one for the same angular momentum. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transport properties through quantum dot in a vertical electric field

The transport properties through a quantum dot are calculated using the recursion method. The results show that the electric fields can move the conductive peaks along the high- and low-energies. The electric field changes the intensity of conductance slightly. Our theoretical results should be useful for researching and making low-dimensional semiconductor optoelectronic devices. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Role of amorphous silicon domains on Er3+ emission in the Er-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon suboxide film

An investigation on the correlation between amorphous Si (a-Si) domains and Er3+ emission in the Er-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon suboxide (a-Si:O:H) film is presented. On one hand, a-Si domains provide sufficient carriers for Er3+ carrier-mediated excitation which has been proved to be the highest excitation path for Er3+ ion; on the other hand, hydrogen diffusion from a-Si domains to amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiOx) matrix during annealing has been found and this possibly decreases the number of nonradiative centres around Er3+ ions. This study provides a better understanding of the role of a-Si domains on Er3+ emission in a-Si:O:H films.