Electronic structures of wurtzite ZnO, BeO, MgO and p-type doping in Zn1-xYxO (Y = Mg, Be)

Using the density function theory within the generalized gradient approximation, the band structures of wurtzite ZnO, BeO and MgO have been calculated. The effective-mass parameters are fitted using the calculated eigenvalues. The Dresselhaus spin-orbit effect appears in the k[1 00] direction, and is zero in the high symmetry direction k[00 1]. The orderings of valence band split by the crystal-field and spin-orbit coupling in wurtzite ZnO, BeO and MgO are identified by analyzing the wave function characters calculated by projecting the wave functions onto p-state in the spherical harmonics. For wurtzite ZnO, the ordering of valence band is Still Gamma(7) > Gamma(9) > Gamma(7) due to the negative spin-orbit coupling splitting energy and the positive crystal-field splitting energy. Thus, the Thomas' conclusion is confirmed. For wurtzite BeO and MgO, although their orderings of valence bands are Gamma(7) > Gamma(9) > Gamma(7) too, the origins of their orderings are different from that of wurtzite ZnO. Zn1-x,YxO (Y = Mg, Be) doped with N and P atoms have been studied using first-principles method. The calculated results show that N atom doped in Zn1-x BexO has more shallow acceptor energy level with increasing the concentration of Be atom. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Controllable electron g-factors in HgMnTe quantum spheres

The electronic structure and Lande electron g-factors of manganese-doped HgTe quantum spheres are investigated, in the framework of the eight-band effective-mass model and the mean-field approximation. It is found that the electronic structure evolves continuously from the zero-gap configuration to an open-gap configuration with decreasing radius. The size dependence of electron g-factors is calculated with different Mn-doped effective concentration, magnetic field, and temperature values, respectively. It is found that the variations of electron g-factors are quite different for small and large quantum spheres, due to the strong exchange-induced interaction and spin-orbit coupling in the narrow-gap DMS nanocrystals. The electron g-factors are zero at a critical point of spherical radius R-c; however, by modulating the nanocrystal size their absolute values can be turned to be even 400 times larger than those in undoped cases. Copyright (c) EPLA, 2008.

Room-temperature highly anisotropic ferromagnetism and uniaxial spin amplification in (In,Mn)As quantum dots

The hole-mediated ferromagnetism in (In,Mn)As quantum dots is investigated using the k center dot p method and the mean field model. It is found that the (In,Mn)As quantum dot can be ferromagnetic at room temperature when there is one hole in the dot. For the spherical quantum dots, the Curie temperature decreases as the diameter increases, and increases as the effective composition of magnetic ions increases. It is interesting to find that the (In,Mn)As oblate quantum dot has highly anisotropic Zeeman splitting and ferromagnetism due to the spin-orbit coupling effect, which can be used as an uniaxial spin amplifier. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Investigation of Electronic Energy Levels in InAs Quantum Dot with Shape of Lens by Using B-Spline Technique

The dependence of the electronic energy levels on the size of quantum dots (QDs) with the shape of spherical lens is studied by using the B-spline technique for the first time. Within the framework of the effective-mass theory, the values of electronic energy levels are obtained as a function of the height, radius and volume of QDs, respectively. When the height or radius of QDs increases, all the electronic energy levels lower, and the separations between the energy levels decrease. For lens-shape QDs, height is the key factor in dominating the energy levels comparing with the effect of radius, especially in dominating the ground-state level. These computational results are compared with that of other theoretical calculation ways. The B-spline technique is proved to be an effective way in calculating the electronic structure in QDs with the shape of spherical lens.

Electronic structure and optical property of semiconductor nanocrystallites

Semiconductor nanostructures show many special physical properties associated with quantum confinement effects, and have many applications in the opto-electronic and microelectronic fields. However, it is difficult to calculate their electronic states by the ordinary plane wave or linear combination of atomic orbital methods. In this paper, we review some of our works in this field, including semiconductor clusters, self-assembled quantum dots, and diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots. In semiconductor clusters we introduce energy bands and effective-mass Hamiltonian of wurtzite structure semiconductors, electronic structures and optical properties of spherical clusters, ellipsoidal clusters, and nanowires. In self-assembled quantum dots we introduce electronic structures and transport properties of quantum rings and quantum dots, and resonant tunneling of 3-dimensional quantum dots. In diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots we introduce magnetic-optical properties, and magnetic field tuning of the effective g factor in a diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dot. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electronic structure and optical properties of quantum rods with wurtzite structure

The Hamiltonian of the wurtzite quantum rods with an ellipsoidal boundary is given after a coordinate transformation. The energies, wave functions, and transition possibilities are obtained as functions of the aspect ratio e with the same method we used on spherical dots. With an overall consideration of both the transition matrix element and the Boltzmann distribution we explained why the polarization factor increases with increasing e and approaches a saturation value, which tallies quite well with the experimental result. When e increases more and more S-z states are mixed into the ground, second, and third states of J(z)=1/2, resulting in an increase of the emission of z polarization. It is just the linear terms of the momentum operator in the hole Hamiltonian that cause the mixing of S and P states in the hole ground state. The effects of the crystal field splitting energy, temperature, and transverse radius to the polarization are also considered. We also calculated the band gap variation with the size and shape of the quantum rods.

Quantum confinement of phonon modes in GaAs quantum dots

Phonon modes in spherical GaAs quantum dots (QDs) with up to 11,855 atoms (8 nm in size) are calculated by using an empirical microscopic model. The group theory is employed to reduce the computational intensity, which further allows us to investigate the quantum confinement of phonon modes with different symmetries and reveals a phenomenon that phonon modes with different symmetries have different quantum confinement effect. For zinc-blende structure, the modes with the A(1) symmetry has the strongest quantum confinement effect and the T-1 modes the weakest. This could cause a crossover of symmetries of the highest frequency from A(1) to T-2 when the size of QDs decreases. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.

Binding energy of excitons bound to neutral donors in two-dimensional semiconductors

The binding energies of excitons bound to neutral donors in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors within the spherical-effective-mass approximation, which are nondegenerate energy bands, have been calculated by a variational method for a relevant range of the effective electron-to-hole mass ratio sigma. The ratio of the binding energy of a 2D exciton bound to a neutral donor to that of a 2D neutral donor is found to be from 0.58 to 0.10. In the limit of vanishing sigma and large sigma, the results agree fairly well with previous experimental results. The results of this approach are compared with those of earlier theories.

The effects of electric field on the electronic structure of a semiconductor quantum dot

The effect of electric field on the electronic structure of a spherical quantum dot is studied in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory. The dependence of the energy of electron states and hole states on the applied electric field and on the quantum dot size is investigated; the mixing of heavy holes and light holes is taken into account. The selection rule for the optical transition between the conduction band and valence band states is obtained. The exciton binding energies are calculated as functions of the quantum dot radius and the strength of the electric field. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Spatially separated excitons in quantum-dot quantum well structures

In the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory, the electronic and optical properties of a spherical core-shell quantum-dot quantum well (QDQW) structure with one and two wells have been investigated. The results show that the energies of electron and hole states depend sensitively on the well thickness and core radius of quantum-dot quantum well structure. An interesting spatially separated characteristic of electron and hole in QDQW is found and enhanced significantly in the two-wells case. The normalized oscillator strength for the optical transition between the electron and hole states in QDQW exhibits a deep valley at some special well thickness. The Coulomb interaction between the electron and hole is also taken into account. [S0163-1829(98)02412-6].

One-pot synthesis and self-assembly of colloidal copper(I) sulfide nanocrystals

A simple one-pot method is developed to prepare size-and shape-controlled copper(I) sulfide (Cu2S) nanocrystals by thermolysis of a mixed solution of copper acetylacetonate, dodecanethiol and oleylamine at a relatively high temperature. The crystal structure, chemical composition and morphology of the as-obtained products are characterized by powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The morphology and size of the Cu2S nanocrystals can be easily controlled by adjusting the reaction parameters. The Cu2S nanocrystals evolve from spherical to disk-like with increasing reaction temperature. The spherical Cu2S nanocrystals have a high tendency to self-assemble into close-packed superlattice structures. The shape of the Cu2S nanodisks changes from cylinder to hexagonal prism with prolonged reaction time, accompanied by the diameter and thickness increasing. More interestingly, the nanodisks are inclined to self-assemble into face-to-face stacking chains with different lengths and orientations. This one-pot approach may extend to synthesis of other metal sulfide nanocrystals with different shapes and sizes.

Transverse trapping forces of focused Gaussian beam on ellipsoidal particles

A modified T-matrix method is presented to compute the scattered fields of various realistically shaped particles; then the radiation forces on the particles can be calculated via the Maxwell stress tenser integral. Numerical results of transverse trapping efficiencies of a focused Gaussian beam on ellipsoidal and spherical particles with the same volume are compared, which show that the shape and orientation of particles affect the maximal transverse trapping force and the displacement corresponding to the maximum. The effect of the polarization direction of the incident beam on the transverse trapping forces is also revealed. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Trapping of low-refractive-index particles with azimuthally polarized beam

Azimuthally polarized beams, focused by a high-numerical-aperture (NA) objective lens, form a hollow intensity distribution near the focus, which is appropriate for trapping low-refractive-index particles, in contrast to common linearly polarized or radially polarized beams. In this paper, the field distribution of the azimuthally polarized beam focused by a high-NA objective is described by the vectorial diffraction integral, and then the radiation forces on spherical particles with different parameters such as radius and refractive index are calculated by the T-matrix method. Numerical results show that the azimuthally polarized beam not only can steadily trap low-refractive-index particles at the focus center but also can trap multiple high-refractive-index particles around the focus center by virtue of the hollow-ring configuration. The range of the sizes of low-refractive-index particles that can be trapped steadily are presented, corresponding to different parameters such as the NA of the objective and the relative refractive index, based on which the NA of the objective can be selected to trap the appropriate size of particles. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Exact description of a cylindrically symmetrical complex-argument Laguerre-Gauss beam

Based on the perturbative series representation of a complex-source-point spherical wave an expression for cylindrically symmetrical complex-argument Laguerre-Gauss beams of radial order n is derived. This description acquires the accuracy up to any order of diffraction angle, and its first three corrected terms are in accordance with those given by Seshadri [Opt. Lett. 27, 1872 (2002)] based on the virtual source method. Numerical results show that on the beam axis the number of orders of nonvanishing nonparaxial corrections is equal to n. Meanwhile a higher radial mode number n leads to a smaller convergent domain of radius. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Accurate description of a radially polarized Gaussian beam

An accurate description of a radially polarized fundamental Gaussian beam is presented on the basis of complex-source-point spherical waves (CSPSWs). In contrast to other descriptions based on the perturbative Lax series, the expressions for the electromagnetic field components of this description have explicit and simple mathematical forms. Numerical calculations show that both paraxial and fifth-order corrected beam descriptions have large relative error when the diffraction angle is large, while the accurate description based on the CSPSW approach proposed here can give field expressions which satisfy Maxwell's equations with great accuracy.