Intraband absorption and emission of light in quantum wells and quantum dots

High-resolution spectroscopy in the mid-infrared spectral range is used to study electronic transitions between size-quantization subbands in stepped quantum wells under picosecond interband excitation. The contributions from intersubband and intrasubband absorption of light are separated by using the difference in time profiles of the absorption coefficient for these cases. For stepped quantum wells, spontaneous interband luminescence and superluminescence are studied for different excitation levels. For structures with quantum dots, the intraband absorption spectra for n-and p-type structures and the spectra of photoinduced intraband absorption and emission (for polarized radiation) for undoped structures are studied.     

Intraband optical transitions in semiconductor quantum dots: Radiative electronic-excitation lifetime

Intraband optical transitions in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) in the forms of a parallelepiped, sphere, and cylinder have been considered. It is shown that the size dependence of the matrix elements of electron-photon interaction, which includes the intraband transitions, differs in the E · r and A · p representations of electron-photon coupling, which are widely used to describe various optical processes. The radiative intraband relaxation rates of QD electron excitations have been calculated, depending on the QD size and shape and the parameters of the QD material. It is shown that the radiative intraband transition rate may reach 10⁹ s⁻¹.     

Intraband transitions in magnetoexcitons in coupled double quantum wells

A theory of far-infrared (FIR) magneto-optical intraband s→p ^± transitions of direct and indirect excitons in semiconductor coupled double quantum wells has been developed. The case of symmetric strained In_xGa_1−x As/GaAs quantum wells with nondegenerate valence band in the regime of both narrow and wide barriers has been analyzed. The energies and dipole matrix elements of transitions between the ground s and excited p ^± states in a quantizing magnetic field B>2 T and electric field ℰ perpendicular to the quantum well plane have been studied. The regimes of direct (in a weak electric field) and indirect (in a strong electric field) transitions, and the transition between the direct and indirect regimes, have been investigated. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 1446–1459 (April 1998)     

Spontaneous far-IR emission accompanying transitions of charge carriers between levels of quantum dots

The spontaneous emission of far-infrared radiation (λ≅10–20 μm) from diode structures with vertically coupled InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots is observed. This emission is due both to transitions of holes and electrons between size-quantization levels in quantum dots and to transitions from the continuum to a level in a quantum dot. It is observed only when accompanied by lasing at short wavelengths (λ≅0.94 μm) and, like the short-wavelength emission, it exhibits a current threshold. The spontaneous emission of long-wavelength radiation is also observed in InGaAs/GaAs quantum-well laser structures. This radiation is approximately an order of magnitude weaker than that from quantum-dot structures, and it has no current threshold. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 4, 256–260 (25 February 1998)     

Infrared radiation from hot holes during spatial transport in selectively doped InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with quantum wells

The infrared radiation from hot holes in In_xGa_1−x As/GaAs heterostructures with strained quantum wells during lateral transport is investigated experimentally. It is found that the infrared radiation intensities are nonmonotonic functions of the electric field. This behavior is due to the escape of hot holes from quantum wells in the GaAs barrier layers. A new mechanism for producing a population inversion in these structures is proposed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 7, 478–482 (10 October 1996)     

Raman scattering of light by optical phonons in Si-Ge-Si structures with quantum dots

Raman scattering of light by optical phonons in Si-Ge-Si structures with pseudomorphic germanium quantum dots has been investigated. Resonance amplification of the scattering intensity on E ₀ (Γ₇−Γ₈) transitions has been observed. It is shown that as a result of the formation of the layer of germanium quantum dots, the resonance energy is ∼0.3 eV higher than in the two-dimensional case. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 3, 203–207 (10 August 1996)     

Squeezed states of long-lived terahertz vibrations in quantum dots

Quantum dots based on materials with long-lived terahertz vibrations are studied. It is shown that squeezed states of such vibrations can result in microwave-frequency modulation of the optical radiation absorbed at electronic transitions in quantum dots. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 2, 199–200 (25 January 1997)     

Resonant and surface polaritons in quantum wells

Summary We show how the breaking of the translational invariance in a quantum well modifies the concept of polariton with respect to that defined for bulk material. Polaritons in quantum wells result from the combination of the exciton states with the radiation field. They are here obtained as the solutions of Maxwell equations with retardation, provided an appropriate nonlocal response function is used for the electric susceptibility, and Maxwell boundary conditions are imposed. We find two types of polaritons depending on the values of the in-plane wavevectork _II: those atk _II<ω/v (wherev=c/n is the velocity of light in the sample) are resonant with the radiation field in the barrier and those atk _II>ω/v cannot be coupled to waves in the barrier. In both cases explicit expressions are given for radiative shifts and radiative broadenings as functions ofk _II. Numerical results are obtained for GaAs-Ga_1−x Al _x As and for CuCl quantum wells and new experiments are suggested. The existence of resonant and surface polaritons justifies an interpretation of the temperature dependence of the radiative lifetime suggested by the same authors. It also decreases the radiative efficiency in the direction perpendicular to the planes and increases the radiative efficiency parallel to the planes with increasing temperature. Due to the relevance of its scientific content, this paper has been given priority by the Journal Direction.     

Magnetoexciton absorption in coupled quantum wells

A Mott exciton in coupled quantum wells in a transverse magnetic field H is considered. An expression for the exciton spectrum in an arbitrary magnetic field for large separations D between quantum wells containing an electron (e) and a hole (h) is given. The exciton spectrum in a strong magnetic field for different Landau levels at arbitrary D has been calculated. Changes in the parameter D/l, where is the magnetic length, cause rearrangement of the magnetoexciton dispersion curves ℰ(P), where P is the conserved “magnetic” momentum, which is a function of the separation between the electron and hole in the plane of the quantum wells. Off-center (“roton”) extrema occur only for D/l,<(D/l)_cr, where (D/l)_cr is a function of the exciton quantum numbers n and m. The magnetoexciton effective mass in states with magnetic quantum number m=0 monotonically increases with H and D, while in states with m≠0 it is a nonmonotonic function of D/l. The probability of generating an exciton in coupled quantum wells increases with H. Absorption of electromagnetic radiation due to transitions between excitonic levels in coupled quantum wells is discussed. For an exciton containing a heavy hole the oscillator strengths increase with H and the oscillator strengths decrease. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1791–1808 (November 1997)     

Two-dimensional electron gas in double quantum wells with tilted bands

When a voltage is applied to double quantum wells based on AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with contact regions (n-i-n structures), a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas appears in one of the quantum wells. Under illumination which generates electron-hole pairs, the photoexcited holes become localized in a neighboring quantum well and recombine radiatively with the 2D electrons (tunneling recombination through the barrier). The appearance, ground-state energy, and density of the degenerate 2D electron gas are determined from the structure of the Landau levels in the luminescence and luminescence excitation spectra as well as from the oscillations of the radiative recombination intensity in a magnetic field with detection directly at the Fermi level. The electron density is regulated by the voltage between the contact regions and increases with the slope of the bands. For a fixed slope of the bands the 2D-electron density has an upper limit determined by the resonance tunneling of electrons into a neighboring quantum well and subsequent direct recombination with photoexcited holes. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 11, 840–845 (10 June 1997)     

Hopping conductivity and activated transport in InxGa1-xAs quantum wells

We present measurements of the diagonal R_xx and off-diagonal R_xy magnetoresistance under quantum Hall conditions on several high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) based on In_xGa_1-xAs quantum wells. From the magnetoresistance tensor we obtain the longitudinal conductivity σ _xx . We study the transport mechanisms near the σ _xx minima at temperatures ranging between 2 K and 35 K; activated transport is the dominant mechanism for temperatures above 7 K while variable range hopping conductivity is significant for lower temperatures. We show that electron-electron correlations should be taken into account to explain the conductivity vs temperature behaviour below 5 K. Finally, we study the behaviour of the localization length as a function of Landau level filling and obtain a critical exponent γ = 3.45±0.15. Received 6 June 2001 and Received in final form 16 October 2001     

Photochromism and magneto-optic response of ZnO:Mn semiconductor quantum dots fabricated by microemulsion route

ZnO:Mn semiconductor quantum dots were prepared by solution casting led microemulsion route. Quantum dots of average size ∼2 nm were noticed in transmission electron micrographs. The present work highlights colour change phenomena (photochromic effect) of quantum dots while subjected to photon illumination. The magneto-optic measurements e.g. magnetic field (H) vs angle of rotation (θ) show step like behavior and is ascribed to the quantum confinement effect of diluted magnetic ZnO:Mn nanostructures. Further, underlying mechanism responsible for exhibiting photochromism and magneto-optic effects are also discussed.      

Saturation of optical transitions in quantum dots and wires of porous silicon

The bleaching bands have been observed in the time-resolved nonlinear transmission spectra of porous silicon. The increase of transmission at discrete frequencies has been attributed to a saturation of optical transitions between the energy levels of electrons and holes spatially confined within quasi-zero-dimensional (quantum dots) and quasi-one-dimensional (quantum wires) nanostructures. The results of independent measurements using transmission electron microscopy have confirmed the existence of quantum dots and wires of corresponding size. The slowed-down energy relaxation from upper to lower levels of size quantization compared with intraband relaxation in the bulk have been observed in the cooled (80K) platelets of porous silicon.     

Transport relaxation time and quantum lifetime in selectively doped GaAs/AlAs heterostructures

Low-temperature dependences of the transport relaxation time (τ_tr) and quantum lifetime (τ_q) on the density of the two-dimensional electron gas (n _e ) in GaAs quantum wells with AlAs/GaAs lateral superlattice barriers have been studied. An exponential increase in the quantum lifetime with increasing electron density has been observed. It has been shown that the sharp increase in the quantum lifetime correlates with the appearance of X electrons in the AlAs/GaAs lateral superlattice barriers. It has been established that the ratio of the transport relaxation time to the quantum lifetime in the studied structures nonmonotonically depends on the density: the ratio τ_tr/τ_q first increases linearly with n _e and then decreases. This behavior is not described by the existing theories.     

Studies of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility for InxGa1−xN/GaN cylinder quantum dots

The resonant third-order susceptibilities at various directions (both parallel and vertical to Z-axis) in self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) have been investigated. The nonlinear susceptibilities associated with the intraband transition in the conduction band are theoretically calculated for wurtzite In_xGa_1−xN/GaN-strained cylinder QDs. The confined wave functions and energies of electrons in the dots have been calculated in the effective-mass approximation by solving the 3D Schrödinger equation, in which a strong built-in electric field effect due to the piezoelectricity and spontaneous polarization has been taken into account. Furthermore, it is shown that the magnitude and the resonant position of the nonlinear susceptibility χ⁽³⁾(3ω) strongly depend on the dots’ size as well as size distribution.     

Inter- and intra-subband relaxation of hot electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

In this work, we have studied the inter- and intra-subband scattering of hot electrons in quantum wells using the hot electron-neutral acceptor luminescence technique. We have observed direct evidence of the emission of confined optical phonons by hot electrons excited slightly above the n=2 subband in GaAs/Al_0.37Ga_0.63As quantum wells. Scattering rates of photoexcited electrons via inter- and intra-subband LO phonon emission were calculated based on the dielectric continuum model. We found that, for wide wells with the Al composition of our experiments, both the calculated and experimental results suggest that the scattering of the electrons is dominated by the confined LO phonon mode. In the calculations, scatterings among higher subbands are also dominated by the same type of phonon at well width of 10 nm.     

Optical absorption and refraction index change of a confined exciton in a spherical quantum dot nanostructure

Electronic energies of an exciton confined in a strained Zn_1−x Cd _x Se/ZnSe quantum dot have been computed as a function of dot radius with various Cd content. Calculations have been performed using Bessel function as an orthonormal basis for different confinement potentials of barrier height considering the internal electric field induced by the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations. The optical absorption coefficients and the refractive index changes between the ground state (L = 0) and the first excited state (L = 1) are investigated. It is found that the optical properties in the strained ZnCdSe/ZnSe quantum dot are strongly affected by the confinement potentials and the dot radii. The intensity of the total absorption spectra increases for the transition between higher levels. The obtained optical nonlinearity brings out the fact that it should be considered in calculating the optical properties in low dimensional semiconductors especially in quantum dots.     

Hanle effect in an asymmetric CdTe/CdMnTe double quantum well

The observation of optical orientation of excitons and the Hanle effect in an asymmetric CdTe/CdMnTe double quantum well is reported. The characteristics of the magnetic depolarization of radiation from CdTe/CdMnTe quantum wells are discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 4, 241–245 (25 February 1996)     

Energy spectra and quantum crystallization in two-electron quantum dots in a magnetic field

Quantum crystallization of electrons in a quantum dot (QD) subjected to an external magnetic field is considered. Two-electron QDs with two-dimensional (2D) parabolic confining potential in an external transverse magnetic field are calculated. The Hamiltonian is numerically diagonalized in the basis of one-particle functions to find the energy spectra and wave functions for the relative motion of electrons with inclusion of electron-electron interaction for a broad range of the confining-potential steepness (α) and external magnetic fields (B). The region of the external parameters (α, B) within which a gradual transition to quantum crystalline order occurs is numerically determined. In contrast to a 2D unbounded system, a magnetic field acts nonmonotonically on “crystallization” in a quantum dot with several electrons because of a competition between two effects taking place with increasing B, namely, decreasing spread of the electron wave functions and increasing effective steepness of the confining potential, which reduces the average separation between electrons. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1753–1759 (September 1998)     

Birefringence and absorption of light during intersubband transitions of hot electrons in quantum wells

The changes in the birefringence and absorption of infrared radiation accompanying direct electron transitions induced between size-quantization subbands in a GaAs/AlGaAs system of doped quantum wells by heating of the electrons by an electric field applied parallel to the layers of the heterostructure are observed and investigated. An explanation of the observed effects is offered whereing the change in the absorption spectrum and the contribution of free electrons to the permittivity are related to the exchange interaction and nonparabolicity of the energy spectrum of the hot electrons. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 7, 525–530 (10 April 1997)