Effective-mass theory for hierarchical self-assembly of GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dots

The electronic structures in the hierarchical self-assembly of GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dots are investigated theoretically in the framework of effective-mass envelope function theory. The electron and hole energy levels and optical transition energies are calculated. In our calculation, the effect of finite offset, valence-band mixing, the effects due to the different effective masses of electrons and holes in different regions, and the real quantum dot structures are all taken into account. The results show that (1) electronic energy levels decrease monotonically, and the energy difference between the energy levels increases as the GaAs quantum dot (QD) height increases; (2) strong state mixing is found between the different energy levels as the GaAs QD width changes; (3) the hole energy levels decrease more quickly than those of the electrons as the GaAs QD size increases; (4) in excited states, the hole energy levels are closer to each other than the electron ones; (5) the first heavy- and light-hole transition energies are very close. Our theoretical results agree well with the available experimental data. Our calculated results are useful for the application of the hierarchical self-assembly of GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dots to photoelectric devices.

Electronic structures of N quantum dot molecule

The electronic structures of N quantum dot molecules (QDMs) are investigated theoretically in the framework of effective-mass envelope function theory. The electron and hole energy levels are calculated. In the calculations, the effects of finite offset and valence-band mixing are taken into account. The theoretical method can be used to calculate the electronic structures of any QDM. The results show that (1) electronic energy levels decrease monotonically and the energy difference between the N QDMs decreases as the quantum dot (QD) radius increases; (2) the electron energy level is lower and quantum confinement is smaller for the larger N QDM; (3) the hole ground state energy level is lower for the one dot QDM than N (greater 1) QDMs if the QD radius is larger than about 5 nm due to the valence-band mixing. The results are useful for the application of the N QDM to photoelectric devices.

Electronic states of a hydrogenic donor impurity in semiconductor nano-structures

We propose a method for uniformly calculating the electronic states of a hydrogenic donor impurity in low-dimensional semiconductor nano-structures in the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory, and we study the electronic structures of this systems. Compared to previous methods, our method has the following merits: (a) It can be widely applied in the calculation of the electronic states of hydrogenic donor impurities in nano-structures of various shapes; (b) It can easily be extended to study the effects of external fields and other complex cases; (c) The excited states are more easily calculated than with the variational method; (d) It is convenient to calculate the change of the electronic states with the position of a hydrogenic donor impurity in nano-structures; (e) The binding energy can be calculated explicitly. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Binding energy of a hydrogenic donor impurity in a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped quantum dot: Quantum confinement and Stark effects

We calculate the binding energy of a hydrogenic donor impurity in a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped quantum dot (QD) in the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory using the plane wave basis. The variation of the binding energy with edge length, position of the impurity, and external electric field is studied in detail. A finite potential model is adopted in our calculations. Compared with the infinite potential model [C. I. Mendoza , Phys. Rev. B 71, 075330 (2005)], the following results are found: (1) if the impurity is located in the interior of the QD, our results give a smaller binding energy than the infinite potential model; (2) the binding energies are more sensitively dependent on the applied electric field in the finite potential model; (3) the infinite potential model cannot give correct results for a small QD edge length for any location of the impurity in the QD; (4) some degeneracy is lifted when the dot is no longer cubic. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Effective-mass theory for coupled quantum dots grown on (11N)-oriented substrates

The electronic structures of coupled quantum dots grown on (11N)-oriented substrates are studied in the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory. The results show that the all-hole subbands have the smallest widths and the optical properties are best for the (113), (114), and (115) growth directions. Our theoretical results agree with the available experimental data. Our calculated results are useful for the application of coupled quantum dots in photoelectric devices.

Electronic structures of GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum double

In the framework of effective mass envelope function theory, the electronic structures of GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum double rings(QDRs) are studied. Our model can be used to calculate the electronic structures of quantum wells, wires, dots, and the single ring. In calculations, the effects due to the different effective masses of electrons and holes in GaAs and AlxGa1-xAs and the valence band mixing are considered. The energy levels of electrons and holes are calculated for different shapes of QDRs. The calculated results are useful in designing and fabricating the interrelated photoelectric devices. The single electron states presented here are useful for the study of the electron correlations and the effects of magnetic fields in QDRs.

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.

Electronic structure and binding energy of a hydrogenic impurity in a hierarchically self-assembled GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dot

We calculate the electronic structures and binding energy of a hydrogenic impurity in a hierarchically self-assembled GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dot (QD) in the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory. The variation of the electronic structures and binding energy with the QD structure parameters and the position of the impurity are studied in detail. We find that (1) acceptor impurity energy levels depend more sensitively on the size of the QD than those of a donor impurity; (2) all impurity energy levels strongly depend on the GaAs quantum well (QW) width; (3) a donor impurity in the QD has only one binding energy level except when the GaAs QW is large; (4) an acceptor impurity in the QD has two binding energy levels, which correspond to heavy- and light-hole quantum states; (5) the binding energy has a maximum value when the impurity is located below the symmetry axis along the growth direction; and (6) the binding energy has a minimum value when the impurity is located at the top corner of the QD. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Application of plane wave method to the calculation of electronic states of nano-structures

The electronic states of nano-structures are studied in the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory using the plane wave basis. The barrier width and the number of plane waves are proposed to be 2.5 times the effective Bohr radius and 15(n), respectively, for n-dimensional nano-structures (n = 1,2,3). Our proposals can be widely applied in the design of various nano-structure devices.

Optical properties of GaN wurtzite quantum wires

The electronic structure and optical properties of freestanding GaN wurtzite quantum wires are studied in the framework of six-band effective-mass envelope function theory. It is found that the electron states are either twofold or fourfold degenerate. There is a dark exciton effect when the radius R of GaN wurtzite quantum wires is in the range of [0.7, 10.9] nm. The linear polarization factors are calculated in three cases, the quantum confinement effect (finite long wire), the dielectric effect and both effects (infinitely long wire). It is found that the linear polarization factor of a finite long wire whose length is much less than the electromagnetic wavelength decreases as R increases, is very close to unity (0.979) at R = I nm, and changes from a positive value to a negative value around R = 4.1 nm. The linear polarization factor of the dielectric effect is 0.934, independent of radius, as long as the radius remains much less than the electromagnetic wavelength. The result for the two effects shows that the quantum confinement effect gives a correction to the dielectric effect result. It is found that the linear polarization factor of very long (treated approximately as infinitely long) quantum wires is in the range of [0.8, 1]. The linear polarization factors of the quantum confinement effect of CdSe wurtzite quantum wires are calculated for comparison. In the CdSe case, the linear polarization factor of R = I nm is 0.857, in agreement with the experimental results (Hu et al 2001 Science 292 2060). This value is much smaller than unity, unlike 0.979 in the GaN case, mainly due to the big spin-orbit splitting energy Delta(so) of CdSe material with wurtzite structure.

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.

Dephasing rate in an InAs/GaAs single-electron quantum dot qubit

We have obtained the parameter-phase diagram, which unambiguously defines the parameter region for the use of InAs/GaAs quantum dot as two-level quantum system in quantum computation in the framework of the effective-mass envelope function theory. Moreover, static electric field is found to efficiently prolong decoherence time. As a result, decoherence time may reach the order of magnitude of milli-seconds as external static electric field goes beyond 20 kV/cm if only vacuum fluctuation is taken as the main source for decoherence. Our calculated results are useful for guiding the solid-state implementation of quantum computing.

Valence band structures of the InAs/GaAs quantum ring

In the framework of effective-mass envelope function theory, the valence energy subbands and optical transitions of the InAs/GaAs quantum ring are calculated by using a four-band valence band model. Our model can be used to calculate the hole states of quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots. The effect of finite offset and valence band mixing are taken into account. The energy levels of the hole are calculated in the different shapes of rings. Our calculations show that the effect of the difference between effective masses of holes in different materials on the valence subband structures is significant. Our theoretical results are consistent with the conclusion of the recent experimental measurements and should be useful for researching and making low-dimensional semiconductor optoelectronic devices. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

InAs/GaAs single-electron quantum dot qubit

The time evolution of the quantum mechanical state of an electron is calculated in the framework of the effective-mass envelope function theory for an InAs/GaAs quantum dot. The results indicate that the superposition state electron density oscillates in the quantum dot, with a period on the order of femtoseconds. The interaction energy E-ij between two electrons located in different quantum dots is calculated for one electron in the ith pure quantum state and another in the jth pure quantum state. We find that E-11]E-12]E-22, and E-ij decreases as the distance between the two quantum dots increases. We present a parameter-phase diagram which defines the parameter region for the use of an InAs/GaAs quantum dot as a two-level quantum system in quantum computation. A static electric field is found to efficiently prolong the decoherence time. Our results should be useful for designing the solid-state implementation of quantum computing. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

InxGa1-xAs/AlyGa1-yAs/AlzGa1-zAs asymmetric step quantum-well middle wavelength infrared detectors

InxGa1-xAs/AlyGa1-yAs/AlzGa1-zAs asymmetric step quantum-well middle wavelength (3-5 mum) infrared detectors are fabricated. The components display photovoltaic-type photocurrent response as well as the bias-controlled modulation of the peak wavelength of the main response, which is ascribed to the Stark shifts of the intersubband transitions from the local ground states to the extended first excited states in the quantum wells, at the 3-5.3 mum infrared atmospheric transmission window. The blackbody detectivity (D-bb*) of the detectors reaches to about 1.0x10(10) cm Hz(1/2)/W at 77 K under bias of +/-7 V. By expanding the electron wave function in terms of normalized plane wave basis within the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory, the linear Stark effects of the intersubband transitions between the ground and first excited states in the asymmetric step well are calculated. The obtained results agree well with the corresponding experimental measurements. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.