Electron-electron interaction effects on the optical excitations of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes

We report correlated-electron calculations of optically excited states in ten semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes with a wide range of diameters. Optical excitation occurs to excitons whose binding energies decrease with increasing nanotube diameter, and are smaller than the binding energy of an isolated strand of poly-(paraphenylene vinylene). The ratio of the energy of the second optical exciton polarized along the nanotube axis to that of the lowest exciton is smaller than the value predicted within single-particle theory. The experimentally observed weak photoluminescence is an intrinsic feature of semiconducting nanotubes.     

Excitons in boron nitride nanotubes: dimensionality effects

We show that the optical absorption spectra of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes are dominated by strongly bound excitons. Our first-principles calculations indicate that the binding energy for the first and dominant excitonic peak depends sensitively on the dimensionality of the system, varying from 0.7 eV in bulk hexagonal BN via 2.1 eV in the single sheet of BN to more than 3 eV in the hypothetical (2, 2) tube. The strongly localized nature of this exciton dictates the fast convergence of its binding energy with increasing tube diameter towards the sheet value. The absolute position of the first excitonic peak is almost independent of the tube radius and system dimensionality. This provides an explanation for the observed "optical gap" constancy for different tubes and bulk hexagonal BN.     

Exciton dispersion and electronic excitations in hcp 4He

We present first measurements of the dispersion of excitons in solid helium, taken on a single hcp 4He crystal along the c axis. In agreement with studies on helium clusters, the major energy-loss peak can be interpreted as an intermediate molecular-type exciton, as we do not observe Wannier-like excitations. The measurements are in the (0 0 2) periodic zone, with the exciton energy dispersing along the c axis with a minimum at the gamma point. A calculated conduction band minimum at 31.0 eV above the valence band at gamma is supported by our data at energies above the exciton energy, leading to an exciton binding energy of 8.4 eV.     

Excitons in carbon nanotubes: an ab initio symmetry-based approach

The optical absorption spectrum of the carbon (4,2) nanotube is computed using an ab initio many-body approach which takes into account excitonic effects. We develop a new method involving a local basis set which is symmetric with respect to the screw-symmetry of the tube. Such a method has the advantages of scaling faster than plane-wave methods and allowing for a precise determination of the symmetry character of the single-particle states, two-particle excitations, and selection rules. The binding energy of the lowest, optically active states is approximately 0.8 eV. The corresponding exciton wave functions are delocalized along the circumference of the tube and localized in the direction of the tube axis.     

Excitons in CdS and CdSe semiconducting quantum wires with dielectric barriers

Features of the photoluminescence spectra observed for various polarizations and intensities of the pumping radiation and the kinetics of photoluminescence of the CdS and CdSe nanocrystals grown in hollow nanochannels of an Al₂O₃ matrix are explained in terms of exciton transitions in semiconducting quantum wires with dielectric barriers. The observed exciton transition energies coincide with the values calculated with an allowance for the effects of quantum confinement and the “dielectric enhancement” of excitons. The latter effect is manifested by a significant increase in the Coulomb attraction between electrons and holes (the exciton binding energy exceeds 100 meV) due to a difference between the permittivities of semiconductor and insulator. It is shown that the exciton transition energy remains constant when the quantum wire diameter varies within broad limits. This is related to the fact that a growth in the one-dimensional bandgap width of the quantum wire caused by a decrease in the diameter is compensated by an increase in the exciton binding energy.     

Diameter-dependent relaxation dynamics of 1D excitons in single-walled carbon nanotubes

We have studied 1D exciton relaxation dynamics in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by femtosecond pump–probe experiments. The time evolution of change in transmittance ΔT/T induced by photo-excitation varies depending on the tube diameter. The decay time decreases with a decrease in the tube diameter. Pressure measurements have been conducted to explore the relaxation mechanism. The deformation potential estimated from the pressure dependence of photoluminescence spectra increases with decreasing tube diameter. This means that the exciton–phonon interaction becomes stronger in the smaller diameter tubes. The diameter dependences of decay time and deformation potential suggest that the exciton–phonon interaction plays an important role in exciton nonradiative relaxation process in semiconducting SWNTs.     

Exciton trapping, binding and diamagnetic shift in T-shaped quantum wires

We determine the exciton states of T-shaped quantum wires. We use anisotropic effective-mass models to describe the electron and hole states. Pair correlation along the wire axis and in the lateral directions is included. We accurately model the measured redshifts between exciton photoluminescence in quantum wells and T-shaped wires. This redshift arises from enhanced exciton binding and the difference between well and wire confinement energy. We predict a large enhancement of binding energy only when lateral correlation is included, indicating that T-shaped wires arequasirather thanquantum1D wires. We calculate exciton shapes and diamagnetic shifts to determine how the exciton is distorted when confined in a T-wire.     

Laser field induced interband absorption in a strained GaAs/GaAlAs double quantum well system

Effect of laser field intensity on exciton binding energies is investigated in a GaAs/ GaAlAs double quantum well system. Calculations have been carried out with the variational technique within the single band effective mass approximations using a two parametric trial wave function. The interband emission energy as a function of well width is calculated in the influence of laser field. The laser field induced photoionization cross-section for the exciton placed at the centre of the quantum well is computed as a function of normalized photon energy. The dependence of the photoionization cross-section on photon energy is carried out for the excitons. The resulting spectra are brought out for light polarized along and perpendicular to the growth direction. The intense laser field dependence of interband absorption coefficient is investigated. The results show that the exciton binding energy, interband emission energy, the photoionization cross-section and the interband absorption coefficient depend strongly on the well width and the laser field intensity. Our results are compared with the other existing literature available.     

Effects of an intense, high-frequency laser field on the binding energy of excitons confined in a GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well

The effects of an intense, high-frequency laser field linearly polarized along the growth direction on the binding energy of excitons confined in a GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well is computed for different nitrogen and indium mole fractions by means of a variational technique within the effective-mass approximation. Our results show that such laser field creates an additional geometric confinement on the electronic and exciton states in the quantum well and the exciton binding energy depends on both the nitrogen and indium concentrations.     

Photoionization of a charged exciton in a GaAs/GaAlAs corrugated quantum well

Binding energies of a charged exciton as a function of well width of a GaAs/GaAlAs corrugated quantum well are investigated. The calculations have been performed by the variational method based on a two parametric trial wave function within a single band effective mass approximation. We have also included the effect of nonparabolicity of the conduction band of GaAs. We study the spectral dependence of the charged exciton in a GaAs/GaAlAs corrugated quantum well as a function of well width. The photoionization cross section for the charged exciton placed at the center of the quantum well is computed as a function of normalized photon energy. The cross-section behavior as a function of incident energy is entirely different in the two cases of radiation being x-direction (along the growth direction) or z-direction. The interband emission energy as a function of well width is calculated and the dependence of the photoionization cross section on photon energy is carried out for the charged excitons. The resulting spectra are brought out for light polarized along and perpendicular to the growth direction. The results show that the charged exciton binding energy, interband emission energy and the photoionization cross section depend strongly on the well width. Our results are compared with the other existing literature available.     

Properties of Excitons Bound to Neutral Donors in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs Quantum-Well Wires

In the effective-mass approximation, using a simple two-parameter wave function and a one-dimensional (1D) equivalent potential model, we calculate variationally the binding energy of an exciton bound to a neutral donor (D⁰,X) in finite GaAs-Al_xGa_1-xAs quantum well wires (QWWs). At the wire width of 25 Å, the binding energy has a peak value, which is also at the position of the peak of the exciton binding energy, and the center-of-mass wave functions of excitons reaches the most centralized distribution. In addition, the changing tendency of the average interparticle distance as the wire width is reverse to that of the binding energy.     

Localization-dependent photoluminescence spectrum of biexcitons in semiconductor quantum wires

We study exciton and biexciton spectra in disordered semiconductor quantum wires by means of nanophotoluminescence spectroscopy. We demonstrate a close link between the exciton localization length along the wire and the occurrence of a biexciton spectral line. The biexciton signature appears only if the corresponding exciton state extends over more than a few tens of nanometers. We also measure a nonmonotonous variation of the biexciton binding energy with decreasing exciton localization length. This behavior is quantitatively well reproduced by the solution of the single-band Schr?dinger equation of the four-particle problem in a one-dimensional confining potential.     

外电场对InGaAsP/InP量子阱内激子结合能的影响

在有效质量近似下采用变分法计算了InGaAsP/InP量子阱内不同In组分下的激子结合能,分析了结合能随阱宽和In组分的变化情况,并且讨论了外加电场对激子结合能的影响. 结果表明：激子结合能是阱宽的一个非单调函数,随阱宽的变化呈现先增加后减小的趋势;随着In组分增大,激子结合能达到最大值的阱宽相应变小,这与材料的带隙改变有关;在一定范围内电场的存在对激子结合能的影响很小,但电场强度较大时会破坏激子效应. 关键词： 激子 InGaAsP/InP量子阱 结合能 电场     

Exciton absorption of light in a smooth random field

A study is made of interband absorption of light in a smooth random field that varies slowly in space. When the exciton energy in the random field is much less than the exciton binding energy, the influence of the random field on the discrete spectrum of the exciton is expressed through the appearance of an exponential “tail” to every exciton line. But if the exciton energy in the random field is much greater than the exciton binding energy, the exciton effects are unimportant because the random field breaks up the excitons.     

Strain- and twist-engineered optical absorption of few-layer black phosphorus

Density functional and many-body perturbation theories calculations were carried out to investigate fundamental and optical bandgap, exciton binding energy and optical absorption property of normal and strain- and twist-engineered few-layer black phosphorus (BP). We found that the fundamental bandgaps of few layer BP can be engineered by layer stacking and in-plane strain, with linear relationships to their associated exciton binding energies. The strain-dependent optical absorption behaviors are also anisotropic that the position of the first absorption peak monotonically blue-shifts as the strain applies to either direction for incident light polarized along the armchair direction, but this is not the case for that along the zigzag direction. Given those striking properties, we proposed two prototype devices for building potentially more balanced light absorbers and light filter passes, which promotes further applications and investigations of BP in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics.     

Radiative life time of an exciton confined in a strained GaN/Ga1-xAlxN cylindrical dot: built-in electric field effects

The binding energy of an exciton in a wurtzite GaN/GaAlN strained cylindrical quantum dot is investigated theoretically.The strong built-in electric field due to the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations of a GaN/GaAlN quantum dot is included.Numerical calculations are performed using a variational procedure within the single band effective mass approximation.Valence-band anisotropy is included in our theoretical model by using different hole masses in different spatial directions.The exciton oscillator strength and the exciton lifetime for radiative recombination each as a function of dot radius have been computed.The result elucidates that the strong built-in electric field influences the oscillator strength and the recombination life time of the exciton.It is observed that the ground state exciton binding energy and the interband emission energy increase when the cylindrical quantum dot height or radius is decreased,and that the exciton binding energy,the oscillator strength and the radiative lifetime each as a function of structural parameters (height and radius) sensitively depend on the strong built-in electric field.The obtained results are useful for the design of some opto-photoelectronic devices.     

ZnSe/ZnS抛物量子阱中激子的极化子效应(英文)

采用推广的LLP方法研究了ZnSe/ZnS抛物量子阱中激子的极化子效应。考虑电子和空穴与LO声子的相互作用,得到了激子基态能量和结合能随阱宽的变化关系。结果表明,阱宽较小时,能量随着阱宽的增大而急剧减小;阱宽较大时,能量减小的比较缓慢。和我们以前的工作对比,我们发现ZnSe/ZnS抛物量子阱对激子的束缚强于GaAs/Ga1-xAlxAs抛物量子阱。     

Structure Dependence of Excitonic Effects in Chiral Graphene Nanoribbons

We explore the excitonic effects in chiral graphene nanoribbons(cGNRs), whose edges are composed alternatively of armchair-edged and zigzag-edged segments. For cGNRs dominated by armchair edges, their energy gaps and exciton energies decrease with increasing chirality angles, and they, as functions of widths, oscillate with the period of three, while the exciton binding energies do not have such distinct oscillation. On the other hand,for cGNRs dominated by zigzag edges, all the energy gaps, exciton energies, and exciton binding energies show oscillation properties with their widths, due to the interactions between the edge states localized at the opposite zigzag edges. In addition, the triplet excitons are energy degenerate when the electrons are spin-unpolarized,while the degeneracy split when the electrons are spin-polarized. All the studied cGNRs show strong excitonic effects with the exciton binding energies of hundreds of meV.     

强耦合表面激子内部激发态的性质

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法,研究极性晶体中强耦合表面激子内部激发态的性质.计算了表面激子的激发态能量、激发能量和平均声子数.     

Brightening of triplet dark excitons by atomic hydrogen adsorption in single-walled carbon nanotubes observed by photoluminescence spectroscopy

Adsorption and desorption of atomic hydrogen on single-walled carbon nanotubes were observed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. A satellite peak appeared at the lower energy side of the E11 photoluminescence emission peak after exposure to atomic hydrogen and then disappeared after annealing at 300?°C in vacuum. The energy difference between the satellite peak and E11 peak was 40-80 meV, depending on the tube diameter. The satellite peak was attributed to the triplet dark exciton that became optically active because of the effectively enhanced spin-orbit interaction induced by adsorbed hydrogen atoms.