On the propagation characteristics of metal clad waveguides with a quantum well

The electromagnetic modes of planar metal clad dielectric waveguides containing an n-doped quantum well (QW) are studied theoretically. Special attention is paid on the coupling between metal surface plasmons and intersubband plasmons and the manifestation of this coupling in the propagation characteristics of metal/QW/dielectric and multimode metal/QW/dielectric/metal waveguide structures. The results obtained indicate that the modification of the propagation characteristic induced by the above-mentioned coupling is substantial only in the case of metal/QW/dielectric waveguide structures.     

Magnetic field-induced charge transfer to a GaAs/(Ga,Al)As quantum well interface studied by C(e,A0i) photoluminescence

The photoluminescence (PL) from a 300 Å GaAs((Ga,Al)As quantum well (QW) has been studied for a range of excitation powers, in magnetic fields up to 16 T applied both perpendicular to and in the plane of the QW. Particular attention was paid to the intensity of the (e,A₀ⁱ) transition due to Carbon acceptors located at one interface of the QW, in the presence of in-plane fields. The low power in-plane field dependence of the PL is a competition between two effects. At fields up to 12 T charge transfer is observed to and from the interface of the QW, resulting in an increase and subsequent decrease of the acceptor PL intensity. For field values exceeding 12 T the acceptor PL intensity is found to increase again. Whereas the first effect is well described by a composite oscillator model, the latter is suggested to be due to the decreased efficiency of electronic traps, located at the QW interface, for in-plane magnetic fields. These suggestions are confirmed by the excitation power dependence of the PL intensity for in-plane fields.     

An exciton in a quantum well in the presence of crossed electric and magnetic fields

An analytical approach to the problem of the Wannier–Mott exciton in a semiconductor quantum well (QW) in the presence of external magnetic and electric fields is developed. The magnetic field is taken to lie in the heteroplanes while the electric field is directed perpendicular to the heteroplanes. Explicit dependencies of the energy levels and wave-functions of the exciton on the magnitudes of the fields for a wide range of the width of the QW are obtained. For the narrow QW, the results are valid for arbitrary electron and hole effective masses. In the case of intermediate and wide QWs, the adiabatic approximation implying the extreme difference of the electron and hole masses is used. In the intermediate QW, the states of the relative motion are the standard Coulomb states affected by the external fields while the states of the centre of mass are the size-quantized states in the QW. We focus particularly on the delocalized states caused by the external electric field and the motion of the excitons centre of mass in the magnetic field. These states are localized far away from the Coulomb centre. A strong influence of the boundaries of the wide QW on the delocalized exciton states is found to occur. Estimates of the expected values are made using typical parameters associated with GaAs QW.     

Bound States and the Third Harmonic Generation in an Electric Field Biased Semi-parabolic Quantum Well

Within the framework of the compact density matrix approach, the third-harmonic generation (THG) in an electric-field-biased semi-parabolic quantum well (QW) has been deduced and investigated. Via variant of displacement harmonic oscillation, the exact electronic states in the semi-parabolic QW with an applied electric field have also been obtained and discussed. Numerical results on typical GaAs material reveal that, electric fields and confined potential frequency of semi-parabolic QW have obvious influences on the energy levels of electronic states and the THG in the semi-parabolic QW systems.     

Recent Advances of Light Propagation in Surface Plasmon Enhanced Quantum Dot Devices

Surface plasmons are of particular interest recently as their performance is approaching the enhancement of light emission efficiencies, after synthesized close to the vicinity of solid state materials, i.e., semiconductor structure. As other scientific works have been proposed to improve the light-emitting efficiency, such as the use of resonant cavities, photon recycling, and thin-light emitting layers with periodic surface texturing, surface plasmon possesses a promising way to the light enhancement, due to the energy coupling effect between the emitted photons from the semiconductor and the metallic nanoparticles fabricated by nanotechnology. The usual pathway of plasmon enhanced light emitting devices is the use of Ag/Au nanoparticles coating the surface of semiconductor quantum dot (QD) or quantum well (QW) structures. However, apart from efforts to extract as much light as possible from single-driven surface plasmon-QD/QW, it is possible to enhance the light emission rate with double optical-excitations. This approach is based on the quantum interference between the external lasers and the localized quantum light, and promised to stimulate the development of plasmon-enhanced optical sensors. In this review, we describe the quantum properties of light propagation in hybrid nanoparticle and semiconductor materials, i.e., quantum dot or nanomechanical resonator coupled to Ag/Au nanoparticles, driven by two optical fields. Distinct with single excitation, plasmon-assisted complex driven by two optical fields, exhibit specific quantum interference characteristics that can be used as sensitive all-optical devices, such as the slow light switch, nonlinear optical Kerr modulator, and ultra-sensitive mass sensing. We summarize the recent advances of light propagation in surface plasmon-enhanced quantum dot devices, driven by two optical fields, which would stimulate the development of novel optical materials, deeper theoretical insights, innovative new devices, and plasmonic applications with potential for significant technological and societal impact.     

Efficient weak-light amplification through phase control in a quantum well waveguide with electron spin coherence

We propose and analyze a new scheme to realize efficient weak-light amplification via phase control in a GaAs quantum well (QW) waveguide when driven coherently by two orthogonally polarized optical fields (a σ-polarized probe field and a π-polarized control field). It is shown that the amplification and absorption properties of the system are very sensitive to the relative phase between these driving fields. By choosing the relative phase appropriately, the enhanced amplification of the weak σ-polarized radiated field can be achieved in such a QW waveguide. We support our results by numerical calculation and analytical explanation. These theoretical investigations may find applications in devising the QW waveguide amplifier at room temperature.     

Internal electric fields due to piezoelectric and spontaneous polarizations in CdZnO/MgZnO quantum well with various applied electric field effects

The strain-induced piezoelectric polarization and the spontaneous polarization can be reduced effectively using the applied electric field in the CdZnO/ZnMgO quantum well (QW) structure with high Cd composition. That is, optical properties as a function of internal and external fields in the CdZnO/ZnMgO QW with various applied electric field result in the increased optical gain due to the fact that the QW potential profile is flattened as a result of the compensation of the internal field by the reverse field as confirmed. These results demonstrate that a high-performance optical device operation can be realized in CdZnO/MgZnO QW structures by reducing the droop phenomenon.     

Dependence of the heavy-hole exciton reduced mass on quantum-well size in InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures

We present low temperature photoluminescence investigations of the exciton ground state of In_0.14Ga_0.86As/GaAs quantum wells (QW) in the presence of pulsed magnetic fields up to 50 T. The exciton in-plane reduced mass and the heavy-hole in-plane mass are determined from the best fit of theoretical calculations to the magnetic field dependence of PL peaks. When the QW thickness decreases, their masses increases due to valence-band mixing effect.     

Optical properties of AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs Woods–Saxon quantum well in the presence of hydrostatic pressure and applied electric field

The third harmonic generation (THG), linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients (OACs), and refractive index changes (RICs) are investigated in a Woods–Saxon quantum well (QW) modulated by the hydrostatic pressure and applied electric field. The effect of non-uniform aluminum doping (position-dependent effective mass (PDEM)) on the mass of the system is discussed, and further to explore the influence of PDEM on the nonlinear THG, OACs, and RICs of the Woods–Saxon QW. These nonlinear optical properties above are obtained using the compact-density matrix formalism. The electron states in a Woods–Saxon QW under the constant effective mass (CEM) and PDEM are calculated by solving the Schrödinger equation via the finite difference technique. The contributions from competing effects of the hydrostatic pressure and applied electric field to the nonlinear optical properties with CEM and PDEM are reported, as well as the comparison with each other. The observations reveal that the regulation of external fields and the influence of PDEM play an important role in the photoelectric properties of QW.     

Anisotropic spin transport in (110) GaAs quantum wells

Mobile piezoelectric potentials are used to coherently transport electron spins in GaAs (110) quantum wells (QW) over distances exceeding 60 microm. We demonstrate that the dynamics of mobile spins under external magnetic fields depends on the direction of motion in the QW plane. This transport anisotropy is an intrinsic property of moving spins associated with the bulk inversion asymmetry of the underlying GaAs lattice.     

Band gap engineering approaches to increase InGaN/GaN LED efficiency

Nitride-based quantum well (QW) LEDs for lighting applications suffer from efficiency issues related to the strong built-in fields due to the difference in electric polarization of the constituent materials. In this paper we present a study based on device simulation showing the beneficial impact of band gap engineering approaches on device performance in particular for green LEDs.     

Bound States and the Third Harmonic Generation in an Electric Field Biased Semi-parabolic Quantum Well

Within the framework of the compact density matrix approach, the third-harmonic generation (THG) in an electric-field-biased semi-parabolic quantum well (QW) has been deduced and investigated. Via variant of displacement harmonic oscillation, the exact electronic states in the semi-parabolic QW with an applied electric field have also been obtained and discussed. Numerical results on typical GaAs material reveal that, electric fields and confined potential frequency of semi-parabolic Q W have obvious influences on the energy levels of electronic states and the THG in the semi-parabolic Q W systems.     

Analysis of reflectance and modulation spectroscopic lineshapes in optoelectronic device structures

We discuss the spectral lineshapes of reflectance and modulated reflectance (MR) measurements on optoelectronic device structures such as epi-layers, quantum wells (QWs), vertical-cavity surface emitting-lasers (VCSELs) and resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes (RCLEDs). We consider the various methods for the extraction of built-in electric fields and band-gap energies from Franz-Keldysh oscillations (FKO), using the example of a tensilely strained InGaAs QW system, whose InGaAsP barriers yield strong FKO. We describe how critical point transition energies can be easily obtained by eye from Kramers-Kronig (KK) transforms of low field or QW modulation spectra, using the example of the modulated transmittance spectra of dilute-nitrogen InGaAsN p-i-n structures. We also discuss how the ordinary reflectivity spectrum, usually acquired at the same time as the MR signal, may also be exploited to extract layer thicknesses and compositions, and information about the active QW absorption spectrum in VCSEL and RCLED structures.     

Electric field effect on the linear and nonlinear intersubband refractive index changes in asymmetrical semiparabolic and symmetrical parabolic quantum wells

By using the displacement harmonic variant method and the compact density matrix approach, the linear and nonlinear intersubband refractive index changes (RICs) in a semiparabolic quantum well (QW) with applied electric field have been investigated in detail. The simple analytical formulae for the linear and nonlinear RICs in the system were also deduced. The symmetrical parabolic QWs with applied electric fields were taken into account for comparison. Numerical calculations on typical GaAs QWs were performed. The dependence of the linear and nonlinear RICs on the incident optical intensity, the frequencies of the confined potential of the QWs and the strength of the applied electric field were discussed. Results reveal that the RICs in the semiparabolic quantum well system sensitively depend on these factors. The calculation also shows that the semiparabolic QW is a more ideal nonlinear optical system relative to the symmetric parabolic QW systems.     

Acoustically driven charge separation in semiconductor heterostructures sensed by optical spectroscopy techniques

We demonstrate a method of using a two-layer sandwich structure, which includes a LiNbO₃ plate and a semiconductor heterostructure to create an inhomogeneous stress and piezoelectric harmonic potential in the semiconductor. Both the GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well (QW) structures and SiGe/Si heterostructures are attempted, working with and without using a piezoelectric field in the semiconductor layer. The standing-wave fields generated in the semiconductor and the electron and hole distributions driven by the piezoelectric field are computed by finite element method (FEM) techniques. It is experimentally shown that, in a GaAs/Al_xGa_1-x As asymmetric double quantum well structure, the resonance enhancement of the narrower QW photoluminescence band is observed, which may be explained by the resonant charge transfer between the wider and narrower QWs. It is also shown that the piezoelectric fields quench the pure LO-phonon lines in the Raman spectra, whereas the coupled LO-phonon-plasmon mode strengthens. Experimental results indicate that the charge separation occurs in the plane of the QWs due to the piezoelectric fields. The recombination of carriers in the SiGe/Si heterostructures can be effectively enhanced by the presence of ultrasonic stress, displaying features consistent with varying electrical activity at dislocations.     

Angle-resolved photoemission study for double Ag nanofilm structures

We have carried out an angle-resolved photoemission study for Ag/Cu/Ag/Cu(1 1 1) system in order to investigate the electronic coupling between the two quantum-well (QW) states in the double Ag nanofilm structures. It is found that the outer nanofilm thickness dependence of QW state in double Ag nanofilm structures can be explained as the electronic coupling through the thin Cu barrier layer between the QW states in the inner and outer Ag nanofilms. It is also found that the coupling strength depends on the Cu barrier thickness. From these results, we discuss the electronic coupling between the two QW states in the double Ag nanofilm structures.     

Exchange interaction effects in electron spin resonance: Larmor theorem violation in narrow-gap quantum well heterostructures

We report a theoretical study of the exchange interaction effects in the electron spin resonance (ESR) in n-type narrow-gap quantum well (QW) heterostructures. Using the Hartree-Fock approximation, based on the eight-band k?p Hamiltonian, the many-body correction to the ESR energy is found to be nonzero, providing theoretical evidence of Larmor theorem violation in symmetric narrow-gap QWs. We predict the exchange enhancement of the ESR g-factor and its divergence in low magnetic fields. The 'enhanced' ESR g-factor and quasiparticle g-factor, measured in magnetotransport, coincide at even-valued filling factors of the Landau levels in moderate and quantizing magnetic fields.     

A Novel Phase Sensitive Quantum Well Nanostructure Scheme for Controlling Optical Bistability

A novel four-level lambda-type quantum well (QW) nanostructure is proposed based on phase sensitive optical bistability (OB) and multistability (OM) with a closed-loop configuration. The influence of controlling parameters of the system on OB and OM is investigated. In particular, it is found that the OB behavior is strongly sensitive to the relative phase of applied fields. It is also shown that under certain parametric conditions, the OB can be switched to OM or vice versa. The controllability of OB/OM in such a QW nanostructure may bring some new possibilities for technological applications in solid-state quantum information science and optoelectronics.     

Crystal orientation effects on electronic and optical properties of wurtzite ZnO/MgZnO quantum well lasers

Crystal orientation effects on electronic and optical properties of ZnO/MgZnO QW structures are investigated by taking into account the non-Markovian gain model with many-body effects. These results are compared with those for GaN-based QW structures. In a range of small crystal angles, ZnO/MgZnO QW structures have a lower internal field than GaN/AlGaN and InGaN/GaN QW structures. However, ZnO/MgZnO QW structures show a larger internal field than GaN-based QW structures at crystal angles near ${\theta =50^{\circ}}$ . The WZ ZnO/MgZnO QW structures are shown to have much larger optical gain than the GaN-based QW structures for small crystal angles. This is because WZ ZnO/MgZnO QW structures have larger matrix element and smaller effective masses than InGaN/GaN QW structures near the (0001) crystal orientation. On the other hand, in the case of the (10 ${\bar{1}}$ 0) crystal orientation, the optical gain of ZnO/MgZnO QW structures becomes smaller than that of InGaN/GaN QW structures due to the increase of the effective mass. In addition, the ZnO/MgZnO QW structures have a maximum in the optical gain near ${\theta =50^{\circ}}$ , which can be explained by the fact that the average hole effective mass increases although the matrix element at high carrier density is improved with increasing crystal angle.     

Resonant elastic scattering of light from single quantum wells in semiconductor multilayers

A theory is developed for steady-state elastic scattering of light via quasi-2D excitons from a quantum well (QW) whose interfaces are randomly rough. The study is mainly focused on the angle dependences of radiation giving direct information about static disorder responsible for the elastic scattering. A nonlocal excitonic susceptibility is expressed in terms of random profile functions of QW interfaces. Treated is elastic scattering of light from a disordered QW in the following actual dielectric environments: (i) a uniform background, (ii) a Fabry–Perot film with rough boundaries, and (iii) a semiconductor microcavity. The cross-sections are derived analytically for scattering of linearly polarized light to the lowest (Born's) approximation with arbitrary roughness statistics. The spectral and angle dependencies of scattering intensity are analyzed numerically in the absolute-value scale with Gaussian correlation of interface roughness. The probability 10⁻² was found for the exciton-mediated scattering of a photon from a QW interface roughness whose root-mean-square height is on the level of 2×10⁻¹ nm. This probability is shown to exceed by two orders of magnitude that is typical of resonant scattering from either a single semiconductor surface or rough boundaries of a semiconductor Fabry–Perot film containing the QW. The scattering spectrum of a QW placed in a microcavity is predicted to have a doublet structure whose components are associated with the cavity exciton–polaritons.