Strain distributions and electronic structure of three-dimensional InAs/GaAs quantum rings

This paper presents a finite element calculation for the electronic structure and strain distribution of self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum rings. The strain distribution calculations are based on the continuum elastic theory. An ideal three-dimensional circular quantum ring model is adopted in this work. The electron and heavy-hole energy levels of the InAs/GaAs quantum rings are calculated by solving the three-dimensional effective mass Schr?dinger equation including the deformation potential and piezoelectric potential up to the second order induced by the strain. The calculated results show the importance of strain and piezoelectric effects, and these effects should be taken into consideration in analysis of the optoelectronic characteristics of strain quantum rings.     

Electronic states of InAs/GaAs tyre-shape quantum ring

In the framework of the effective mass theory, this paper calculates the electron energy levels of an InAs/GaAs tyre-shape quantum ring （TSQR） by using the plane wave basis. The results show that the electron energy levels axe sensitively dependent on the TSQR＇s section thickness d, and insensitively dependent on TSQR＇s section inner radius R1 and TSQR＇s inner radius R2. The model and results provide useful information for the design and fabrication of InAs/GaAs TSQRs.     

Electron spectral properties of the InAs/GaAs quantum ring

A 3D model of semiconductor quantum ring (QR) based on the single sub-band approach with an energy-dependent electron effective mass is considered. The non-linear energy confinement problem is numerically solved iteratively by using the finite elements method. We calculate the energy spectrum of the electron states for the InAs/GaAs QR using the geometrical parameters obtained in the fabrication of such rings by A. Lorke, et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 (2000) 2223). The calculated energies are compared with the experimental data.     

Exciton states in asymmetric GaInNAs/GaAs coupled quantum wells in an applied electric field

The electronic and optical properties of exciton states in GaInNAs/GaAs coupled quantum well (CQW) structure have been theoretically investigated by solving the Schrödinger equation in real space. The effect of well width on the exciton states has been also studied by varying the well width from 5?nm to 10?nm in asymmetric structures. The electron, hole and exciton states are calculated in the presence of an applied electric field. It is found that there are two direct (bright) exciton states with the largest oscillator strengths. Their energies weakly depend on the electric field due to the compensation between the blue shift and red shift of the electron–hole pair states. In addition, these two states are overlap in the case of symmetric CQWs and one of them is then shifted to higher energy in asymmetric CQWs. The ground state exciton has the binding energy of approximately 7.3?meV and decrease to around 3.0?meV showing the direct to indirect transition of the ground state. The direct–indirect crossover is observed at different electric field for different structure. It happens at the electric field when the e1–e2 electron anticrossing or h1–h2 hole anticrossings is observed, so that the crossover can be controlled by the well width of CQWs structure.     

The electronic structure of a quantum well under an applied electric field

The effects of an applied electric field on quantum well subband energies are calculated variationally within the effective mass approximation for model potential profiles. The concept of a quasi-bound state is examined critically. For higher electric field values it is shown that the quasi-bound state approximation for the ground and first excited state of the electron, and for the ground state of the hole is valid.     

Current instabilities in GaAs/InAs self-aggregated quantum dot structures

Excess current was obtained in GaAs/InAs quantum dot structures at low temperatures and low current levels. This excess current exhibited instabilities with changing the bias, and over the time. It has been concluded that the excess current is a minority injection current connected with recombination through defects originated from the formation of QDs. The instabilities are connected with unstable occupation of energy levels induced by the above defects, which depend on temperature and on the current level.     

Optical non-linearities associated to hydrogenic impurities in InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots under applied electric fields

Abstract

The effects of the hydrogenic impurity on the electron-related non-linear optical processes in a InAs/GaAs dome-shaped quantum dot with a wetting layer under applied electric fields are studied within the density-matrix formalism. The one-electron energy levels and wave functions are calculated using the effective mass approximation and the finite element method. The non-linear optical absorption, relative refractive index change and non-linear optical rectification associated with interlevel transitions are calculated under a strong probe field excitation for both in-plane and z-polarisation of the incident light. According to our results as the electric field increases the absorption and dispersion peaks decrease and exhibit red shift. Hydrogenic impurity located at the origin induces a blue shift in the optical responses. For the optical absorption coefficient the peaks magnitude is enhanced by the impurity presence independent of the electric field strengths, whereas the non-linear optical rectification is larger in the case with impurity only for zero applied electric field.     

Effect of built-in electric field in photovoltaic InAs quantum dot embedded GaAs solar cell

In this paper, three p–i–n GaAs solar cells were grown and characterized, one with InAs quantum dot (QD) layers embedded in the depletion region (sample A), one with QD layers embedded in the n ⁻ base region (B), and the third without QDs (control sample C). QD-embedded solar cells (samples A and B) show broad photoluminescence spectra due to QD multi-level emissions but have lower open-circuit voltages V _oc and lower photovoltaic (PV) efficiencies than sample C. On the other hand, the short-circuit current density J _sc in sample A is increased while it is decreased in sample B. Theoretical analysis shows that in sample B where the built-in electric field in QDs is zero, electrons tend to occupy QDs and strong potential variations exist around QDs which deteriorate the electron mobility in the n ⁻ base region so that J _sc in sample B is decreased. Hole trapping and electron–hole recombination in QDs are also enhanced in sample B, resulting in a reduced V _oc and thus a worse PV effect. In sample A, a strong built-in field exists in QD layers, which facilitates photo-carrier extraction from QDs and thus J _sc is increased. However, QDs in the depletion region in sample A act also as recombination-generation centers so that the dark saturated current density is drastically increased, which reduces V _oc and the total PV effect. In conclusion, a nonzero built-in electric field around QDs is vital for using QDs to increase the PV effect in conventional p–i–n GaAs solar cells.     

Electronic structures of GaAs/AlGaAs concentric double rings in applied electric and magnetic field

The electronic structures of GaAs/Al_0.35Ga_0.65As concentric double rings are calculated based on the effective mass envelope function theory, with and without the applied electric and magnetic field along the growth direction. The Hamiltonian matrix elements are determined through the Fourier transform method. As the heterostructure evolves from a single ring to the concentric double rings, our simulation is performed on the bound state energies of the electron and the hole. The results show that the energy levels undulate with the evolution of the ring. The applied magnetic field increases the ground state energies both of the electron and of the hole, as well as the transition energy between the first conduction subband and valence subband. However, the electric field decreases the electronic energies linearly.     

The effect of the external lateral electric field on the luminescence intensity of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We report on low-temperature microphotoluminescence (μ-PL) measurements of InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) exposed to a lateral external electric field. It is demonstrated that the QDs’ PL signal could be increased severalfold by altering the external and/or the internal electric field, which could be changed by an additional infrared laser. A model which accounts for a substantially faster lateral transport of the photoexcited carriers achieved in an external electric field is employed to explain the observed effects. The results obtained suggest that the lateral electric fields play a major role for the dot luminescence intensity measured in our experiment—a finding which could be used to tailor the properties of QD-based optoelectronic applications. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Tilted electric field effects on the electronic states in a GaAs quantum disk

In the present work we report the effects of a geometrical confinement and tilted applied electric field on the electronic energy levels in a semiconducting quantum disk. Calculations are performed in the effective mass approximation and using a variational method. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) due to the infinite confinement along the all directions of the heterostructure, the variational calculation with two parameters for tilted applied electric field can be treated with two independent each other variational parameters; (2) the magnitude of the energy shift is an increasing function of the applied electric field; (3) the effects of the applied electric field are magnified as the dimensions of the heterostructure (height and radius) grow; and finally (4) for large enough applied electric field the energy shift is a linear function of the applied electric field.     

Strain effects on optical properties of pyramidal InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Strain distribution and optical properties in a self-assembled pyramidal InAs/GaAs quantum dot grown by epitaxy are investigated. A model, based on the theory of linear elasticity, is developed to analyze three-dimensional induced strain field. In the model, the capping material in the heterostructure is omitted during the strain analysis to take into account the sequence of the fabrication process. The mismatch of lattice constants is the driving source of the induced strain and is treated as initial strain in the analysis. Once the strain analysis is completed, the capping material is added back to the heterostructure for electronic band calculation. The strain-induced potential is incorporated into the three-dimensional steady-state Schrödinger equation with the aid of Pikus–Bir Hamiltonian with modified Luttinger–Kohn formalism for the electronic band structure calculation. The strain field, the energy levels and wave functions are found numerically by using of a finite element package FEMLAB. The energy levels as well as the wave functions of both conduction and valence bands of quantum dot are calculated. Finally, the transition energy of ground state is also computed. Numerical results reveal that not only the strain field but also all other optical properties from current model show significant difference from the counterparts of the conventional model.     

Effects of a longitudinal magnetic field on spin injection and detection in InAs/GaAs quantum dot structures

Effects of a longitudinal magnetic field on optical spin injection and detection in InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structures are investigated by optical orientation spectroscopy. An increase in the optical and spin polarization of the QDs is observed with increasing magnetic field in the range 0-2?T, and is attributed to suppression of exciton spin depolarization within the QDs that is promoted by the hyperfine interaction and anisotropic electron-hole exchange interaction. This leads to a corresponding enhancement in spin detection efficiency of the QDs by a factor of up to 2.5. At higher magnetic fields, when these spin depolarization processes are quenched, the electron spin polarization in anisotropic QD structures (such as double QDs that are preferably aligned along a specific crystallographic axis) still exhibits a rather strong field dependence under non-resonant excitation. In contrast, such a field dependence is practically absent in more 'isotropic' QD structures (e.g.?single QDs). We attribute the observed effect to stronger electron spin relaxation in the spin injectors (i.e.?wetting layer and GaAs barriers) of the lower-symmetry QD structures, which also explains the lower spin injection efficiency observed in these structures.     

Photoluminescence of n-i-n GaAs/AlAs single quantum well structures under electric field bias

GaAs/AlAs single quantum well structures designed with well thickness near the type-I/type-II crossover show distinctive photoluminescence peaks corresponding to both type-I and type-II recombinations. Photoluminescence measurements as a function of applied electric field and temperature ranging from 23 to 180 K and current–voltage measurements are presented for two MBE-grown structures clad with Si-doped Al_0.45Ga_0.55As layers onn ⁺  -GaAs [100] substrates. The large and field-dependent energy separation between type-I and type-II luminescence peaks is understood to arise from the build-up of electrons at the X point in the AlAs barrier.     

Electrical transport and persistent photoconductivity in quantum dot layers in InAs/GaAs structures

The conductivity of quantum dot layers is studied in InAs/GaAs structures in the temperature range from 300 to 0.05 K in the dark and using two types of illumination in magnetic fields up to 6 T. Depending on the initial concentration of current carriers, the conductivity of the structures varied from metallic (the Shubnikov-de Haas effect was observed) to hopping conductivity. At low temperatures, the temperature dependence of the resistance changed from the Mott dependence to the dependence described by the Shklovskii-Efros law for hopping conductivity in the presence of the Coulomb gap in the density of states. The conductivity of samples was studied upon their illumination at λ = 791 nm and λ > 1120 nm. All the samples exhibited a positive persistent photoconductivity at T < 250 K. The structures were also studied using photoluminescence and an atomic force microscope.     

Influence of nanomechanical force on the electronic structure of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We show nanomechanical force is useful to dynamically control the optical response of self-assembled quantum dots, giving a method to shift electron and heavy hole levels, interval of electron and heavy hole energy levels, and the emission wavelength of quantum dots (QDs). The strain, the electron energy levels, and heavy hole energy levels of InAs/GaAs(001) quantum dots with vertical nanomechanical force are investigated. Both the lattice mismatch and nanomechanical force are considered at the same time. The results show that the hydrostatic and the biaxial strains inside the QDs subjected to nanomechanical force vary with nanomechanical force. That gives the control for tailoring band gaps and optical response. Moreover, due to strain-modified energy, the band edge is also influenced by nanomechanical force. The nanomechanical force is shown to influence the band edge. As is well known, the band offset affects the electronic structure, which shows that the nanomechanical force is proven to be useful to tailor the emission wavelength of QDs. Our research helps to better understand how the nanomechanical force can be used to dynamically control the optics of quantum dots.     

Electric field effect in the spin dynamics of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We identify fundamental mechanisms of electron and hole dynamics in self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) subject to vertical electric fields by photocurrent investigations. We propose a spin–flip mechanism involving a spin exchange between neighboring QDs. The spin–flip process is revealed in the photocurrent dynamics when the exciton population increases unexpectedly with reverse bias.     

InAs/GaAs透镜形量子点超晶格材料的纵向和横向周期对应变场分布的影响

对量子点超晶格材料中量子点纵向周期和同层量子点的横向周期间距对量子点及其周围应变场分布的影响进行了系统的研究.结果表明，横向和纵向周期通过衬底材料之间的长程相互作用对量子点沿中心轴路径应变分布的影响效果正好相反，在适当条件下，两者对量子点应变场分布的影响可以部分抵消.同时也论证了在单层量子点和超晶格量子点材料中，计算量子点的电子结构时，应综合考虑量子点空间周期分布对载流子限制势的影响，不能简单的利用孤立量子点模型来代替. 关键词： 应变 半导体量子点 自组织