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.

Intraband relaxation and its influences on quantum dot lasers

A comprehensive two-level numerical model is developed to describe carrier distribution in a quantum-dot laser. Light-emission spectra with different intraband relaxation rates (2ps, 7.5ps and 20ps) are calculated and analysed to investigate the influence of relaxation rates on performance of the quantum-dot laser. The results indicate that fast intraband relaxation favours not only the ground state single mode operation but also the higher injection efficiency.

Theoretical analysis of gate voltage-controlled subband states in an AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructure

The subband structure and inter-subband transition as a function of gate voltage are determined by solving the Schrodinger and Poisson equations self-consistently in an AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructure. Different aluminum mole fraction and thickness of AlxGa1-xN barrier are considered. Calculation results show that energy difference between the first and second subband covers a wide range (from several tens to hundreds milli-electron volt) by applying different gate voltage, which corresponds to the midinfrared and long-wave infrared wavelength scope. Furthermore, such a modulation on the subband transition energy is much more pronounced for the structure with thin barrier. When the applied positive gate voltage is increased, the triangle well formed at the interface turns to be deeper and narrower, which enhances the confinement for electrons. As a result, the overlap between electron wave function at two subbands increases, and thus the optical intersubband transition also enhances its intensity. This tendency is in good agreement with the available data in the literature. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Origin of the blueshift in the infrared absorbance of intersubband transitions in AlxGa1-x/GaN multiple quantum wells

A self-consistent calculation of the subband energy levels of n-doped quantum wells is studied. A comparison is made between theoretical results and experimental data. In order to account for the deviations between them, the ground-state electron-electron exchange interactions, the ground-state direct Coulomb interactions, the depolarization effect, and the exciton-like effect are considered in the simulations. The agreement between theory and experiment is greatly improved when all these aspects are taken into account. The ground-to-excited-state energy difference increases by 8 meV from its self-consistent value if one considers the depolarization effect and the exciton-like effect only. It appears that the electron-electron exchange interactions account for most of the observed residual blueshift for the infrared intersubband absorbance in AlxGa1-xN/GaN multiple quantum wells. It seems that electrons on the surface of the k-space Fermi gas make the main contribution to the electron-electron exchange interactions, while for electrons further inside the Fermi gas it is difficult to exchange their positions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of level filling on optical properties of quantum well

In a specially- designed three-barrier-double-well tunneling structure, electron injecting from the emitter in combination with escaping through a resonant-tunneling structure were used to adjust and control the filling of electrons in different subbands. It was observed that the occupation in the first-excited electron state can result in a suppression to quantum confinement Stark effect. Moreover, at very low bias, a series of intrigue photoluminescence peaks appeared as a small quantity of excess electron was filled in the ground state of the quantum well, that cannot be explained by the theory of hand-to-hand transition in the framework of single electron picture.

Calculation of energy levels in InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot array

The subbands of the ground state E-c1, the first excited state E-c2 and heavy hole state E-HH1 are calculated by solving the eigenvalues of effective-mass Hamiltonian H-0 which is derived from eight-band k . p theory and the calculations are performed at k(x) = k, = k = 0 for the three-dimensional array of InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). With indium content in InGaAs QDs gradually increasing from 30% to 100%,the intersubband transition wavelength of E-c2 to E-c1, blue-shifts from 18.50 to 11.87 mu m,while the transition wavelength of E-c1, to E-HH1, red-shifts from 1. 04 to 1. 73 mu m. With the sizes of Ir-0.5 Ga-0.5 As and InAs QDs increasing from 1.0 to 5.0 nm, the intersubband transition from E-c1, to E-C2 transforms from bound-state-to-continuum-state to bound-state-to-bound-state, and the corresponding intersubband transition wavelengths red-shift from 8.12 pm (5.90 pm) to 53.47 mu m (31.87 pm), respectively, and the transition wavelengths of E-C1 to E-HH1 red-shift from 1. 13 mu m (1.60 mu m) to 1.27 mu m (2.01 mu m), respectively.

Tunable ultra-narrow band-gap of anomalous dispersion photonic crystals

We use the transfer-matrix method to research the band structures in one-dimensional photonic crystals composed of anomalous dispersion material ( saturated atomic cesium vapor). Our calculations show that that type of photonic crystal possesses an ultra-narrow photonic band gap and this band gap is tunable when altering the electron population in the atomic ground state of the anomalous dispersion material by the optical pumping method. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2007.

Energy of a polaron in a wurtzite nitride finite parabolic quantum well

The effects of electron-phonon interaction oil energy levels of a. polaron in a wurtzite nitride finite parabolic quantum well (PQW) are studied by using a modified Lee-Low-Pines variational method. The ground state, first excited state, and transition energy of the polaron in the GaN/Al0.3Ga0.7N wurtzite PQW are calculated by taking account of the influence of confined LO(TO)-like phonon modes and the half-space LO(TO)-like phonon modes and considering the anisotropy of all kinds of phonon modes. The numerical results are given and discussed. The results show that the electron phonon interaction strongly affects the energy levels of the polaron, and the contributions from phonons to the energy of a polaron hi a wurtzite nitride PQW are greater than that in all AlGaAs PQW. This indicates that the electron-phonon interaction in a wurtzite nitride PQW is not negligible.

Unveiling the morphology of buried In(Ga)As nanostructures by selective wet chemical etching: From quantum dots to quantum rings

The three-dimensional morphology of In(Ga)As nanostructures embedded in a GaAs matrix is investigated by combining atomic force microscopy and removal of the GaAs cap layer by selective wet etching. This method is used to investigate how the morphology of In(Ga)As quantum dots changes upon GaAs capping and subsequent in situ etching with AsBr3. A wave function calculation based on the experimentally determined morphologies suggests that quantum dots transform into quantum rings during in situ etching. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Loschmidt echo and Berry phase of a quantum system coupled to an XY spin chain: Proximity to a quantum phase transition

We study the Loschmidt echo (LE) of a coupled system consisting of a central spin and its surrounding environment described by a general XY spin-chain model. The quantum dynamics of the LE is shown to be remarkably influenced by the quantum criticality of the spin chain. In particular, the decaying behavior of the LE is found to be controlled by the anisotropy parameter of the spin chain. Furthermore, we show that due to the coupling to the spin chain, the ground-state Berry phase for the central spin becomes nonanalytical and its derivative with respect to the magnetic parameter lambda in spin chain diverges along the critical line lambda=1, which suggests an alternative measurement of the quantum criticality of the spin chain.

Hole Rashba effect and g-factor in InP nanowires

The hole Rashba effect and g-factor in InP nanowires in the presence of electric and magnetic fields which bring spin splitting are investigated theoretically in the framework of eight-band effective-mass envelop function theory, by expanding the lateral wave function in Bessel functions. It is well known that the electron Rashba coefficient increases nearly linearly with the electric field. As the Rashba spin splitting is zero at zero k(z) ( the wave vector along the wire direction), the electron g-factor at k(z) = 0 changes little with the electric field. While we find that as the electric field increases, the hole Rashba coefficient increases at first, then decreases. It is noticed that the hole Rashba coefficient is zero at a critical electric field. The hole g-factor at k(z) = 0 changes obviously with the electric field.

Design of shallow acceptors in ZnO: First-principles band-structure calculations

p-type doping is a great challenge for the full utilization of ZnO as short-wavelength optoelectronic material. Due to a large electronegative characteristic of oxygen, the ionization energy of acceptors in ZnO is usually too high. By analyzing the defect wave-function character, we propose several approaches to lower the acceptor ionization energy by codoping acceptors with donor or isovalent atoms. Using the first-principles band-structure method, we show that the acceptor transition energies of V-Zn-O-O can be reduced by introducing F-O next to V-Zn to reduce electronic potential, whereas the acceptor transition energy of N-O-nZn(Zn) (n=1-4) can be reduced if we replace Zn by isovalent Mg or Be to reduce the anion and cation kinetic p-d repulsion, as well as the electronic potential.

Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Two types of InAs self-assembled Quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by Molecular beam epitaxy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements showed that, compared to QDs grown on GaAs substrate, QDs grown on InGaAs layer has a significantly enhanced density. The short spacing (several nanometer) among QDs stimulates strong coupling and leads to a large red-shift of the 1.3 mu m photoluminescence (PL) peak. We study systematically the dependence of PL lifetime on the QDs size, density and temperature (1). We found that, below 50 K, the PL lifetime is insensitive to temperature, which is interpreted from the localization effects. As T increases, the PL lifetime increases, which can be explained from the competition between the carrier redistribution and thermal emission at higher temperature. The increase of carriers in QDs migrated from barriers and wetting layer (WL), and the redistribution of carriers among QDs enhance the PL lifetime as T increases. The thermal emission and non-radiative recombination have effects to reduce the PL lifetime at higher T. As a result, the radiative recombination lifetime is determined by the wave function overlapping of electrons and holes in QDs, and QDs with different densities have different PL lifetime dependence on the QDs size. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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.

Abnormal temperature dependence of photoluminescence from self-assembled InAs quantum dots covered by an InAlAs/InGaAs combination layer

In this report we have investigated the temperature dependence of photoluminescence (PL) from self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) covered by an InAlAs/InGaAs combination layer. The ground state experiences an abnormal variation of PL linewidth from 15 K up to room temperature. Meanwhile, the PL integrated intensity ratio of the first excited state to the ground state for InAs QDs unexpectedly decreases with increasing temperature, which we attribute to the phonon bottleneck effect. We believe that these experimental results are closely related to the partially coupled quantum dots system and the large energy separation between the ground and the first excited states. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.