Density of states in a cylindrical GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs quantum well wire under tilted laser field

Within the effective-mass approximation the subband electronic levels and density of states in a semiconductor quantum well wire under tilted laser field are investigated. The energies and wave functions are obtained using a finite element method, which accurately takes into account the laser-dressed confinement potential. The density of states obtained in a Green's function formalism is uniformly blueshifted under the laser's axial field whereas the transverse component induces an additional non-uniform increase of the subband levels. Our results confirm that the tilted laser field destroys the cylindrical symmetry of the quantum confinement potential and breaks down the electronic states' degeneracy. Axial and transversal effects of the non-resonant laser field on the density of states compete, bringing the attention to a supplementary degree of freedom for controlling the optoelectronic properties: the angle between the polarization direction of the laser and the quantum well wire axis.     

Impurity states in a cylindrical quantum dot with the modified Pöschl-Teller potential

We study impurity states in a cylindrical quantum dot with two confining potentials: in the direction of cylinder axis modified Pöschl-Teller potential and in radial direction parabolic potential. Studies of impurity states are performed in the frames of variational method and by using numerical methods, the dependences of the particle energy on the geometrical parameters of the cylindrical quantum dot are derived. Dependences of the electron binding energy on the half-width and depth of the potential wall are revealed.     

Where is the luttinger liquid in one-dimensional semiconductor quantum wire structures?

We present the theoretical basis for analyzing resonant Raman scattering experiments in one-dimensional systems described by the Luttinger-liquid fixed point. We make experimentally testable predictions for distinguishing Luttinger liquids from the Fermi liquid and argue that presently available quantum wire systems are not in the regime where Luttinger-liquid effects are important.     

Spin polarization of electrons in a magnetic impurity doped semiconductor quantum dot – The effect of electron–phonon interaction

A theoretical model is presented in this paper for degree of spin polarization in a light emitting diode (LED) whose epitaxial region contains quantum dots doped with magnetic impurity. The model is then used to investigate the effect of electron–phonon interaction on degree of spin polarization at different temperatures and magnetic fields. It is found that magnetic impurity increases the degree of spin polarization irrespective of temperature, while the electron–phonon interaction decreases the degree of spin polarization. Results are found to be in better agreement with experiments.     

Relaxation processes and mobility of electrons in a semiconductor quantum well with the modified Pöschl-teller confining potential

Relaxation processes and mobility of electrons in a semiconductor quantum well are studied. The modified Pöschl-Teller potential is used as a confining potential. Scattering rates due to impurity ions, acoustic and piezoacoustic phonons are calculated taking into account the screening of scattering potentials by charge carriers. It is shown that when degenerate electrons are scattered by acoustic phonons, the dependence of scattering rate on electron wave number ν_ac(k) is almost linear. At small k, the acoustic phonon piezoelectric scattering rate of degenerate electrons increases with k, and then it decreases slightly when k > 8 × 10⁷ m⁻¹. The ionized impurity scattering rate of degenerate electrons does not depend on temperature, is directly proportional to the electron density, and decreases with increasing k. Dependences of electron mobility on surface ion density and temperature are studied. It is shown that in the case of non-degenerate or slightly degenerate electron gas, a maximum appears in the temperature dependence of the mobility, and the screening effect is negligible. The screening significantly increases the mobility of electrons in the case of high degeneration. Obtained results are applied to GaAs-based quantum wells.     

New interpretation of C–V measurements for determining the concentration profile in a semiconductor

The well-known C–V technique for determining the doping profile in a semiconductor is re-examined. Based on an analysis of the Poisson equation, a modification of the conventional procedure for evaluating the space-charge density distribution within the depletion layer of a semiconductor is presented. This procedure involves a developed integral-capacitance technique, which proves to be generally valid and gives the correct basis for determining the space-charge density near the edge of the depletion layer rather than the real doping profile. The relationship between the proposed method and the conventional differential-capacitance technique is revealed and a comparison of the effectiveness of both of them is also made. The method proves to be useful if shallow diffusion profiles within low-doped substrates are analyzed, when the conventional C–V profiling technique is not applicable. Experimental results obtained with an n⁺/n epitaxial layer are given and discussed as an illustration of the represented study. Received: 18 September 2000 / Accepted: 4 December 2000 / Published online: 3 May 2001     

A note on statistical model for BPS D4–D2–D0 states

We construct a statistical model that reproduces the BPS partition function of D4–D2–D0 bound states on a class of toric Calabi–Yau three-folds. The Calabi–Yau three-folds we consider are obtained by adding a compact two-cycle to _AN−1-ALE×C$A_{N-1}\text{-ALE}\times \mathbb{C}$. We show that in the small radii limit of the Calabi–Yau the D4–D2–D0 partition function is correctly reproduced by counting the number of triangles and parallelograms.     

Optimal structure for resonant THz detection of plasmons–polaritons in the 2D quantum wells

We investigate terahertz plasmon?Cpolariton (PP) resonances for hetero-structures (AlGaN/GaN, SiGe/Si/SiGe, AlGaAs/GaAs, and InAlN/GaN) with a grating coupler in order to find the overall optimal structure showing the strongest absorption for terahertz detection (THz). We show by a parametric study (influence of geometric dimensions, electron concentration, temperature, etc.) that refined and intense resonances can be obtained at specific frequency. GaN based heterostructures present the higher PP resonances at room temperature. The roles of the finite thicknesses of lossy metal grating and a two-dimensional gas (2DEG) layer on observed absorption are also investigated. Absorption spectra for three kinds of heterogeneous charge density profiles (piecewise, linear, and parabolic) of 2DEG was investigated and compared for an AlGaAs/GaAs structure because some physical parameters such as the Fermi level pinning at the interface semiconductor/air are well established only for this heterostructure. We show that the PP resonance (amplitude and frequency position) is modulated by the charge concentration but also by the metallization biasing.     

Electron–hole two-stream instability in a quantum semiconductor plasma with exchange-correlation effects

The electron–hole two-stream instability in a quantum semiconductor plasma has been studied including electrons and holes quantum recoil effects, exchange-correlation potentials, and degenerate pressures of the plasma species. Typical values of GaAs and GaSb semiconductors are used to estimate the growth rate of the two-stream instability. The effects of electron– and hole–phonon collision, quantum recoil effects, the streaming velocities, and the corresponding threshold on the growth rate are investigated numerically. Considering the phonon susceptibility allows the acoustic mode to exist and the collisional instability arises in combination with drift of the holes.     

Frequency and density dependent radiative recombination processes in III–V semiconductor quantum wells and superlattices

In this paper we review the radiative recombination processes occurring in semiconductor quantum wells and superlattices under different excitation conditions. We consider processes whose radiative efficiency depends on the photogenerated density of elementary excitations and on the frequency of the exciting field, including luminescence induced by multiphoton absorption, exciton and biexciton radiative decay, luminescence arising from inelastic excitonic scattering, and electron-hole plasma recombination.

Semiconductor quantum wells are ideal systems for the investigation of radiative recombination processes at different carrier densities owing to the peculiar wavefunction confinement which enhances the optical non-linearities and the bistable behaviour of the crystal. Radiative recombination processes induced by multi-photon absorption processes can be studied by exciting the crystal in the transparency region under an intense photon flux. The application of this non-linear spectroscopy gives direct access to the excited excitonic states in the quantum wells owing to the symmetry properties and the selection rules for artificially layered semiconductor heterostructures.

Different radiative recombination processes can be selectively tuned at exciting photon energies resonant with real states or in the continuum of the conduction band depending on the actual density of photogenerated carriers. We define three density regimes in which different quasi-particles are responsible for the dominant radiative recombination mechanisms of the crystal: (i) The dilute boson gas regime, in which exciton density is lower than 10¹⁰ cm^-2. Under this condition the decay of free and bound excitons is the main radiative recombination channel in the crystal. (ii) The intermediate density range (n < 10¹¹ cm^-2) at which excitonic molecules (biexcitons) and inelastic excitonic scattering processes contribute with additional decay mechanisms to the characteristic luminescence spectra. (iii) The high density range (n ?10¹² cm^-2) where screening of the Coulomb interaction leads to exciton ionization. The optical transitions hence originate from the radiative decay of free-carriers in a dense electron-hole plasma.

The fundamental theoretical and experimental aspects of the radiative recombination processes are discussed with special attention to the GaAs/Al _x Ga_1-x As and Ga _x In_1-x As/Al _y In_1-y As materials systems. The experimental investigations of these effects are performed in the limit of intense exciting fields by tuning the density of photogenerated quasi-particles and the frequency of the exciting photons. Under these conditions the optical response of the quantum well strongly deviates from the well-known linear excitonic behaviour. The optical properties of the crystal are then no longer controlled by the transverse dielectric constant or by the first-order dielectric susceptibility. They are strongly affected by many-body interactions between the different species of photogenerated quasi-particles, resulting in dramatic changes of the emission properties of the semiconductor.

The systematic investigation of these radiative recombination processes allows us to selectively monitor the many-body induced changes in the linear and non-linear optical transitions involving quantized states of the quantum wells. The importance of these effects, belonging to the physics of highly excited semiconductors, lies in the possibility of achieving population inversion of states associated with different radiative recombination channels and strong optical non-linearities causing laser action and bistable behaviour of two-dimensional heterostructures, respectively.     

Impurity magneto-optical absorption with the participation of resonance states of D 2 − centers in quantum wells

The dependence of the average binding energy of the resonance g-state of a D ₂ ^? center on the induction of an external magnetic field in a quantum well with a parabolic confining potential is studied using the zero-range potential method. It has been shown that with an increasing exchange interaction, the character of the dependence of the average binding energy of the resonance g-state of the D ₂ ^? center on the induction of the external magnetic field changes. It has been assumed that in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells alloyed with small Si donors, resonance D ₂ ^? states can exist under conditions of exchange interaction. It has been found that in spectra of impurity magneto-optical absorption in multiwall quantum structures, exchange interaction manifests itself as oscillations of interference origin.     

Characterization of semiconductor detectors of (1–30)-keV monoenergetic and backscattered electrons

Semiconductor detectors of backscattered electrons are basic elements of all modern scanning electron microscopes. Their quality is determined by the properties of planar p-n junctions and the parameters of the protective layer on the detector surface. The main characteristics of semiconductor detectors are considered, their response functions are calculated, and the threshold signal cutoff energies are found both for a monoenergetic electron beam and for detection of the total energy spectrum of backscattered electrons. The experimental results are in good agreement with the computational model data.     

Critical Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction energy density for the skyrmion states formation in ultrathin ferromagnetic layer

We investigate the condition for the skyrmion state formation in ultrathin ferromagnetic layers with the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI). By using micromagnetic simulations with DMI term, we found skyrmion state is a ground state instead of a collinear single domain when DMI is larger than a critical value. When the skyrmion arrays are formed, a specific length scale of skyrmion is governed the spin configurations. We found that the critical DMI energy density for the skyrmion state is related with not only crystalline anisotropy energy, but also the dipole–dipole interaction.     

Electron–hole transition in a spherical quantum dot confined at the center of a cylindrical nano-wire: Comparison of isotropic and anisotropic effective mass

Electronic structure of an InAs spherical quantum dot placed at the center of a GaAs cylindrical nano-wire is investigated. The Schrodinger equation within the effective mass approximation is solved and the energy eigenvalues and transition energies are calculated as a function of quantum dot and nano-wire radii using the finite element method. The two types of heavy holes, hhI and hhII, with isotropic and anisotropic effective masses are considered, respectively. The effect of spherical and nano-wire confining potentials, the size of the dot and the nano-wire on ground and first excited state energies of the electron, heavy hole I and heavy hole II are investigated. The results show that the electron and heavy holes energies decrease as the dot and the nano-wire radii increase. The emitted wavelength of transitions between el-hhI and el-hhII are also calculated and compared. The results show that the anisotropy of the effective mass has great effect on the emitted wavelength.     

Scattering states of Woods–Saxon interaction in minimal length quantum mechanics

We propose a very simple approach to deal with the problems of the modified Schrödinger equation due to minimal length and thereby solve the minimal length Schrödinger equation in the presence of a non-minimal Woods–Saxon interaction. The transmission and reflection coefficients are reported as well.     

Combined exciton–electron excitation in quantum wells with a two-dimensional electron gas of low density

A combined exciton–cyclotron resonance is found in the photoluminescence excitation and reflectivity spectra of semiconductor quantum wells with an electron gas of low density. In external magnetic fields an incident photon creates an exciton in the ground state and simultaneously excites an electron between Landau levels. A theoretical model is developed and suggests the dominating contribution of the exchange exciton–electron interaction.