The correlation energies and nonlinear optical absorptions of an exciton in a disc-like quantum dot

Using exact diagonalization techniques, the low-lying states of an exciton, and the linear and nonlinear optical absorptions in a disc-like quantum dot are theoretically studied. The numerical results for the typical GaAs material show the so-called quantum size effect. Also, our study is restricted on the transition between the S state (L = 0) and the P state (L = 1). The optical absorption coefficients are greatly enhanced because of the induced size confinement. Meantime, we find that the total optical absorption coefficient is about two times bigger than that obtained by without considering exciton effects. Additionally, the optical absorption saturation intensity can be controlled by the incident optical intensity I.     

On the possibility of a flare-up of discrete exciton absorption structure in n-CdxHg1−xTe crystals in a magnetic field

A discrete absorption peak with an exciton-like behavior was observed to flare up in Cd_xHg_1?xTe with x≈0.3 when a magnetic field H was applied. Its diamagnetic shift, which is replaced at high H by a close-to-linear relationship typical for diamagnetic exciton spectroscopy, and the splitting permit one to evaluate ?_g=0.2579±0.0001 eV and to calculate the band parameters of the material. Evaluation of the fluctuation potential well depth for the electrons and holes suggests, however, a high probability of exciton trapping at potential wells at H = 0 and x ≈ 0.3. Application of a magnetic field above 40 k0e can break the Coulomb bond between the electron and the hole, whereas at lower fields the existence of excitons is possible.     

Impurity and exciton effects on the nonlinear optical properties of a disc-like quantum dot under a magnetic field

A detailed investigation of the nonlinear optical properties of the (D⁺, X) complex in a disc-like quantum dot (QD) with the parabolic confinement, under applied magnetic field, has been carried by using the perturbation method and the compact density-matrix approach. The linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients between the ground (L = 0) and the first excited state (L = 1) have been examined based on the computed energies and wave functions. The competition between the confinement and correlation effects on the one hand, and the magnetic field effects on the other hand, is also discussed. The results show that the confinement strength of QDs and the intensity of the illumination have drastic effects on the nonlinear optical properties. In addition, we note that the absorption coefficients of an exciton in QDs depend strongly on the impurity but weakly on the magnetic field. Furthermore, the light and heavy hole excitons should be taken into account when we study the optical properties of an exciton in a disc-like QD.     

Exciton band structure of crystalline anthracene

The density of states in the first exciton band of crystalline anthracene has been obtained at room, dry-ice-alcohol, and liquid nitrogen temperatures by applying a thermal modulation technique to observe the hot band-first exciton band optical transition (1-0 transition). The density of states function obtained has been interpreted in terms of the exciton band structure and the Davydov splitting. The K dependent selection rule for the 1-0 transition is discussed. The bandwidth of the first exciton band is 0.09 eV.     

Stimulated self-trapped exciton emission in CsI:Pb

Defects of the type of V_K and Pb⁺ centres were created in CsI:Pb under the 4.03 eV XeCl laser line irradiation at 10 K. After irradiation, the self-trapped and localized exciton emission excited by the same XeCl laser line was observed as a result of the recombination of electrons, optically released from Pb⁺, with the V_K centres. A strongly superlinear dependence of the emission intensity on the excitation intensity was found for the 3.65 eV emission of the self-trapped exciton. A much weaker superlinearity was observed for the visible localized exciton emission. Optical amplification of the exciton emission was considered as the most probable reason of the observed phenomenon. At 10 K, optical gain G=3.74 was calculated for the self-trapped exciton emission.     

Optical spectra and energy band structure of AgAsS2 crystals

Ground and excited states of three exciton series are observed in the region of fundamental absorption edge of AgAsS₂ crystals. The contours of exciton reflection spectra are calculated and the main parameters of excitons and energy bands are determined in the center of Brillouin zone. The optical reflection spectra are investigated at 30 K in E∥c and E⊥c polarizations in AgAsS₂ crystals in the region of 2-6 eV. The optical functions are calculated from the reflection spectra and a scheme of electronic transitions responsible for peculiarities of reflection spectra deep into the absorption band is proposed.     

The kinetics of the sensitized flourescence of naphthalene single crystals doped with 2-methylnaphthalene and anthracene

The kinetics of the sensitized flourescence in naphthalene crystals doped with 2-methylnaphthalene (2-MN) and anthracene (A) was studied as a function of the temperature. These experiments yield singlet exciton diffusion constants of (2 ± 1) × 10^-4cm²s^-1 at 4.2 K and roughly 10^-5 cm² s^-1 at 300 K. The exciton trapping radii can be estimated to be of the order of 60 Å for A and 10 Å for 2-MN. At temperatures below 40 K a partially coherent exciton motion can be inferred, above 40 K the exciton motion appears to be purely incoherent.     

Diploe-allowed optical absorption of an exciton in a spherical parabolic quantum dot

A investigation of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of an exciton in a spherical parabolic quantum dot has been performed by using the matrix diagonalization method. The optical absorption coefficients between the ground state (L=0,π=+1) and the first excited state (L=1,π=-1) have been examined based on the computed energies and wave functions. The results are presented as a function of the incident photon energy for the different values of the incident optical intensity and the confinement strength. We found the optical absorption coefficient is strongly affected by the incident optical intensity and the confinement strength.     

Excitonic optical absorption in wurtzite InGaN/GaN quantum wells

Within the framework of the effective-mass and envelope function theory, exciton states and optical properties in wurtzite (WZ) InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) are investigated theoretically considering the built-in electric field effects. Numerical results show that the built-in electric field, well width and in composition have obvious influences on exciton states and optical properties in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs. The built-in electric field caused by polarizations leads to a remarkable reduction of the ground-state exciton binding energy, the interband transition energy and the integrated absorption probability in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs with any well width and In composition. In particular, the integrated absorption probability is zero in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs with any In composition and well width L > 4 nm. In addition, the competition effects between quantum confinement and the built-in electric field (between quantum size and the built-in electric field) on exciton states and optical properties have also been investigated.     

Excitons in molecular J-aggregates of cyanine dyes: Simulation of trapping and energy transfer

A theoretical model is provided to simulate the energy transfer and trapping of excitons in cyanine J-aggregates for various geometrical configurations. Intermolecular interactions are calculated using the extended dipole method. Frenkel exciton states are obtained by a numerical diagonalization of the aggregate Hamiltonian taking into account the static disorder. A model of exciton–phonon coupling is used to describe the trapping and the energy transfer processes among the exciton states. Scattering rates are calculated and used in a Master Equation to obtain the time evolution of the excitonic populations after initial excitation. Configurationally averaged absorption lineshapes and time-resolved fluorescence decays are obtained. Our simulation model is applied to describe the excitation energy transfer between two closely spaced linear chains of pseudoisocyanine (PIC) molecules and to a two-dimensional monolayer composed of a mixing of oxacyanine and thiacyanine molecules.     

Exciton states and optical transitions in InGaN/GaN quantum dot nanowire heterostructures: Strong built-in electric field and dielectric mismatch effects

Considering the strong built-in electric field (BEF), dielectric-constant mismatch and 3D confinement of the electron and hole, the exciton states and interband optical transitions in [0 0 0 1]-oriented Ga-rich wurtzite In_xGa_1−xN/GaN strained quantum dot (QD) nanowire heterostructures are investigated theoretically using a variational approach under the effective mass approximation. We find that the strong BEF gives rise to an obvious reduction of the effective band gap of QDs and leads to a remarkable electron-hole spatial separation. The BEF, QD height and radius, and dielectric mismatch effects have a significant influence on exciton binding energy, electron interband optical transitions, and the radiative decay time. Our calculations show that the radiative decay time of the redshifted transitions is large and increases almost exponentially when the QD height increases, which is in good agreement with the previous experimental and theoretical results.     

Crossover from strong to weak exciton confinement and third-harmonic generation on one-dimensional quantum dots

We study the effects of exciton confinement on the nonlinear optical susceptibility of one-dimensional quantum dots. We use a direct numerical diagonalization to obtain the eigenenergies and eigenstates of the discretized Hamiltonian representing an electron–hole pair confined by a semiparabolic potential and interacting with each other via a Coulomb potential. Density matrix perturbation theory is used to compute the nonlinear optical susceptibilities due to third-harmonic generation and the corresponding nonlinear corrections to the refractive index and absorption coefficient. These quantities are analyzed as a function of ratio between the confinement length L and the exciton Bohr radius a₀. The Coulomb potential degrades the uniformity of the level separation. We show that this effect promotes the emergence of multiple resonance peaks in the third-harmonic generation spectrum. In the weak confinement regime β = L/a₀ ? 1, the third-order susceptibility is shown to decay as 1/β⁸ due to the prevalence of the hydrogenoid character of the exciton eigenstates.     

Exciton effects on the refractive index and optical absorption in wurtzite quantum wells via a fractional-dimensional space approach

The optical refractive index changes and absorption coefficients of quantum wells (QWs) are theoretically investigated with considering exciton effects within the framework of the fractional-dimensional space approach. The exciton wave functions and bound energies are obtained as a function of spatial dimensionality, and the dimension increases with the well width increasing. Then optical properties are obtained by using the compact-density matrix approach and an iterative method. Numerical results are presented for wurtzite ZnO/Mg_xZn_1−xO QWs. The calculated results show that the changes of refractive index and absorption coefficients are greatly enhanced due to the quantum confinement of exciton. And the smaller the QW width (dimension) is, the larger influence of exciton on the optical properties will be. Furthermore, the exciton effects make the resonant peaks move to a lower energy. In addition, the optical properties are related to the QW width, the incident optical intensity and carrier density.     

Size dependent effective band gap,optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes in a wide ZnS/Zn1−xMgxS strained quantum well

Exciton binding energy of a confined heavy hole exciton is investigated in a Zn_1−xMg_xS/ZnS/Zn_1−xMg_xS single strained quantum well with the inclusion of size dependent dielectric function for various Mg content. The effects of interaction between the exciton and the longitudinal optical phonon are brought out. The effect of exciton is described by the effective potential between the electron and hole. The interband emission energy as a function of well width is calculated for various Mg concentration with and without the inclusion of dielectric confinement. Non-linear optical properties are carried out using the compact density matrix approach. The dependence of nonlinear optical processes on the well width is investigated for different Mg concentration. The linear, third order non-linear optical absorption coefficients values and the refractive index changes of the exciton are calculated for different concentration of magnesium content. The results show that the exciton binding energy is found to exceed LO phonon energy of ZnS for x>0.2 and the incorporation of magnesium ions and the effect of phonon have great influence on the optical properties of ZnS/Zn_1−xMg_xS quantum wells.     

The non-linear refractive index of colloidal PbSe nanocrystals: Spectroscopy and saturation behaviour

A spectroscopic study of the optical non-linearities of PbSe colloidal solutions was performed with the Z-scan technique, at wavelengths between 1200 and 1750 nm. No non-linear absorption is observed, while the third-order non-linear refractive index n₂ shows clear resonances, somewhat blueshifted relative to the exciton transitions in the absorbance spectrum. The occurrence of thermal effects is ruled out by time-resolved measurements. At resonance, measured n₂ values exceed typical bulk semiconductor values by two orders of magnitude. At high optical intensity, the refractive index change saturates, indicating that state filling lies at the origin of the observed effect.     

Localized exciton dynamics in AlInGaN alloy

Carrier recombination dynamics in AlInGaN alloy has been studied by photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL (TRPL) at various temperatures. The fast red-shift of PL peak energy is observed and well fitted by a physical model considering the thermal activation and transfer processes. This result provides evidence for the exciton localization in the quantum dot (QD)-like potentials in our AlInGaN alloy. The TRPL signals are found to be described by a stretched exponential function of exp[(−t/τ)^β], indicating the presence of a significant disorder in the material. The disorder is attributed to a randomly distributed QDs or clusters caused by indium fluctuations. By studying the dependence of the dispersive exponent β on temperature and emission energy, we suggest that the exciton hopping dominate the diffusion of carriers localized in the disordered QDs. Furthermore, the localized states are found to have 0D density of states up to 250 K, since the radiative lifetime remains almost unchanged with increasing temperature.     

Electric field induced exciton binding energy and its non-linear optical properties in a narrow InSb/InGaxSb1−x quantum dot

The effect of electric field on the binding energy, interband emission energy and the non-linear optical properties of exciton as a function of dot radius in an InSb/InGa_xSb_1?x quantum dot are investigated. Numerical calculations are carried out using single band effective mass approximation variationally to compute the exciton binding energy and optical properties are obtained using the compact density matrix approach. The dependence of the nonlinear optical processes on the dot sizes is investigated for various electric field strength. The linear, third order non-linear optical absorption coefficients, susceptibility values and the refractive index changes of electric field induced exciton as a function of photon energy are obtained. It is found that electric field and the geometrical confinement have great influence on the optical properties of dots.     

Optical activity of CdS crystals in exciton spectral region

Natural optical activity of wurtzite CdS crystals has been studied for the first time both theoretically and experimentally in the spectral region of the B_n=1 exciton resonance. It has been shown that the observed optical activity is due to mixing the longitudinal Γ_5L exciton state with the transverse Γ₁ state by the energy terms linear in wave vector.     

Exciton and polaron properties in GaxIn1−xAs ternary mixed crystals

Based on the pseudopotential method under the virtual crystal approximation that takes into account the effect of compositional disorder, the electron and heavy-hole effective masses and the dielectric constants in Ga_xIn_1−xAs (0≤x≤1) have been calculated. The results are firstly used in the Wannier equation, which allowed the determination of the exciton reduced mass, binding energy and Bohr radius; then, the polaron properties have been investigated. In this respect, the Fröhlich coupling parameter, Debye temperature and polaron effective mass are calculated and their dependence on the Ga concentration is examined. For InAs and GaAs, our results are generally in reasonable agreement with the known data in the literature, while for compositions x in the range 0-1, our treatment represents the first theoretical predictions. It is found that the exciton and polaron properties for compositions 0<x<1 differ from those of the parent compounds suggesting thus more diverse opportunities to describe most exciton and polaron properties in ternary mixed crystals of interest.     

Excitons in optical spectra of boron-nitride (BN) nanotubes

Exciton effects are studied in single-wall boron-nitride nanotubes. The Coulomb interaction dependence of the band gap, the optical gap, and the binding energy of excitons are discussed. The optical gap of the (5,0) nanotube is about 6 eV at the on-site interaction U=2t with the hopping integral t=1.1 eV. The binding energy of the exciton is 0.50 eV for these parameters. This energy agrees well with that of other theoretical investigations. We find that the energy gap and the binding energy are almost independent of the geometries of nanotubes. This novel property is in contrast with that of the carbon nanotubes, which show metallic and semiconducting properties depending on the chiralities.