Mechanisms for extra conductance plateaus in quantum wires

Spin-density-functional theory is employed to calculate the conductance G through a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire. In addition to the usual subband quantization plateaus at G=n(2e(2)/h), we find additional structures at (n+1/2)(2e(2)/h). The extra structures appear whether or not the electrons in the wire spin polarize. However, only the spin-polarized case reproduces the experimental temperature and magnetic field dependences.

Self-assembled InAs quantum wires on InP(001)

Self-assembled InAs quantum wires (QWRs) embedded in In0.52Al0.48As, In0.53Ga0.47As, and (In0.52Al0.48As)(n)/(In0.53Ga0.47As)(m)-short-period-lattice matrices on InP(001) were fabricated with molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). These QWR lines are along [110], x 4 direction in the 2 x 4 reconstructed (001) surface as revealed with reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Alignment of quantum wires in different layers in the InAs/spacer multilayer structures depends on the composition of spacer layers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Metamorphosis of self-organized quantum dots into quantum wires

Spontaneous formation of InAs quantum wires in InAlAs on InP(001) via sequential chain-like coalescence of quantum dots along [1 (1) over bar 0] is realized. Theoretical calculations based on the energetics of interacting steps provide a qualitative explanation for the experimental results. Sequential coalescence of initially isolated dots reduces the total free energy strikingly. Thus the wire-like structure is energetically favorable. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Quantum-confined Stark effects of exciton states in V-shaped GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wires

Quantum-confined Stark effects are investigated theoretically in GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wires formed in V-grooved structures. The electronic structures of the V-shaped quantum wires are calculated within the effective mass envelope function theory in the presence of electric field. The binding energies of excitons are also studied by two-dimensional Fourier transformation and variational method. The blue Stark shifts are found when the electric field is applied in the growth direction. A possible mechanism in which the blueshifts of photoluminescence peaks are attributed to two factors, one factor comes from the asymmetric structure of quantum wire along the electric field and another factor arises from the electric-field-induced change of the Coulomb interaction. The numerical results are compared with the recent experiment measurement.

Tunneling transmission in two quantum wires coupled by a magnetically defined barrier

A numerical analysis of an electron waveguide coupler based on two quantum wires coupled by a magnetically defined barrier is presented with the use of the scattering-matrix method. For different geometry parameters and magnetic fields, tunneling transmission spectrum is obtained as a function of the electron energy. Different from that of conventional electron waveguide couplers, the transmission spectrum of the magnetically coupled quantum wires does not have the symmetry with regard to those geometrically symmetrical ports, It was found that the magnetic field in the coupling region drastically enhances the coupling between the two quantum wires for one specific input port while it weakens the coupling for the other input port. The results can be well understood by the formation of the edge states in the magnetically defined barrier region. Thus, whether these edge states couple or decouple to the electronic propagation modes in the two quantum wires, strongly depend on the relative moving directions of electrons in the propagating mode in the input port and the edge states in the magnetic region. This leads to a big difference in transmission coefficients between two quantum wires when injecting electrons via different input ports. Two important coupler specifications, the directivity and uniformity, are calculated which show that the system we considered behaves as a good quantum directional coupler. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Franz-Keldysh effect and dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect of cylindrical quantum wires

We investigate the interband optical absorption spectra near the band edge of a cylindrical semiconductor quantum wire in the presence of a static electric field and a terahertz electric field polarized along the axis. Optical absorption spectra are nonperturbatively calculated by solving the low-density semiconductor Bloch equations in real space and real time. The influence of the Franz-Keldysh (FK) effect and dynamical FK effect on the absorption spectrum is investigated. To highlight the physics behind the FK effect and dynamical FK effect, the spatiotemporal dynamics of the polarization wave packet are also presented. Under a reasonable static electric field, substantial and tunable absorption oscillations appear above the band gap. A terahertz field, however, will cause the Autler-Townes splitting of the main exciton peak and the emergence of multiphoton replicas. The presented results suggest that semiconductor quantum wires have potential applications in electro-optical devices.

EFFECTIVE-MASS THEORY FOR GAAS/GA1-XALXAS QUANTUM WIRES AND CORRUGATED SUPERLATTICES GROWN ON (311)-ORIENTED SUBSTRATES

The electronic structures of GaAs/Ga1-xAlxAs quantum wires (corrugated superlattices) grown on (311)-oriented substrates are studied in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function method. The electron and hole subband structure and optical transition matrix elements are calculated. When x=1, the results are compared with experiments, and it is found that the direct transition becomes an indirect transition as the widths of well and barrier become smaller.

RAMAN PHONONS OF SILICON WIRES

Using the Keating model and the Raman polarizability of Alben et al., the phonon Raman spectra of silicon wires are calculated. With the calculation results, the Raman spectra of porous silicon of some published papers are analyzed. Until now different authors have had different views on the luminescence mechanism of porous silicon, which may mainly result from the fact that they had different samples.

OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GAAS/ALGAAS RIDGE-QUANTUM-WELL-WIRES GROWN BY MBE ON NONPLANAR SUBSTRATES

With conventional photolithography and wet chemical etching, we have realized GaAs/AlGaAs buried ridge-quantum-well-wires (RQWWs) with vertically stacked wires in lateral arrays promising for device application, which were grown in situ by a single-step molecular beam epitaxy growth and formed at the ridge tops of mesas on nonplanar substrates. Confocal photoluminescence (CPL) and polarization-dependent photoreflectance (PR) are applied to study optical characteristics of RQWWs. Lateral bandgap modulation due to lateral variation of QW layer thickness is demonstrated not only by CPL but also by PR. As one evidence for RQWWs, a large blue shift is observed at the energy level positions for electronic transitions corresponding to quantum wells (QWs) at the ridge tops of mesas compared with those corresponding to QWs on nonpatterned areas of the same sample. The blue shift is in contradiction with the fact that the GaAs QW layers at the tops of the mesas are thicker than those on nonpatterned areas. The other evidence for RQWWs, optical anisotropy is provided by the polarization-dependent PR, which results from lateral quantum size effect existing at the tops of the mesas.

OPTICAL PHONON MODES IN QUANTUM WIRES

Based on numerical results, the characteristics of each type of optical phonon mode in one-dimensional (1D) quantum wires are illustrated. The analytical formulae for 1D bulk-like optical displacements and associated electrostatic potentials are presented. Compared with the two-dimensional (2D) case, both the optical displacements and Frohlich potentials for the bulk-like modes vanish at the interfaces, but the finite dispersion of bulk phonons has a more pronounced effect on the 1D phonon modes.

ELECTRONIC-STRUCTURES OF QUANTUM WIRES FORMED BY LATERAL STRAIN

The electronic structures of quantum wires formed by lateral strain are studied in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function method. The hole energy levels, wave functions, and optical transition matrix elements are calculated for the real quantum-wire structure, and the results are compared with experiment. It is found that one-dimensional confinement effects exist for both electronic and hole states related to the n (001) = 1 state. The lateral strained confinement causes luminescence-peak redshifts and polarization anisotropy, and the anisotropy is more noticeable than that in the unstrained case. The variation of hole energy levels with well widths in the [110] and [001] directions and wave vector along the [110BAR] direction are also obtained.

OPTICAL-PHONON MODES AND FROHLICH POTENTIAL IN ONE-DIMENSIONAL QUANTUM-WELL WIRES

By extending our microscopic model on optical-phonon modes in quantum wells to one-dimensional (1D) quantum-well wires (QWW), the optical displacements and associated electrostatic potentials of optical-phonon modes in 1D QWW are calculated. The modes can be clearly divided into confined LO bulklike, TO bulklike modes, and extended interfacelike modes provided the bulk phonon dispersion is ignored. The character of each type of mode is illustrated with special attention to the interfacelike modes, which are hybrids of longitudinal- and transverse-optical waves from the corresponding bulk materials. Based on the numerical results, approximate analytical formulas for bulklike modes are presented. As in 2D wells, both the optical displacements and Frohlich potentials for the bulklike modes vanish at the interfaces. The finite dispersion of bulk phonons has a more pronounced effect on the 1D phonon modes because interfacelike modes show mixed characteristics of 2D interface and bulklike modes.

Collective excitations in the coupled quantum wires

The dielectric response of an electron system composed of an array of parallel quantum wires with weak coupling and strong coupling are studied, and the dispersions of the collective excitations and the single particle excitations (SPE) as functions of wave-vectors are given. It is found that for the nearly isolated quantum wires with several subbands occupation, there are a series of intra-subband collective excitations between corresponding intra-subband SPE spectra. There also exist inter-subband collective excitations when q(x) not equal 0 (q(x) is the wave-vector component in the modulation direction), whose energies are close by the corresponding inter-subband SPE spectra. The energy of the intra-subband mode decreases and that of inter-subband mode increases with q(x) increasing. The collective excitation dispersions show obvious anisotropy in the 1D quantum limit. The calculated results agree with the experiment well. The coupling between quantum wires affects markedly both the collective and single-particle excitations spectra. The system changes to a near-two-dimensional electron system gradually with increasing coupling.