Energy loss to intravalley acoustic modes in nano-dimensional wire structures at low temperatures

The theory of rate of loss of energy of non-equilibrium electrons due to inelastic interaction with the intravalley acoustic phonons in a nano-dimensional semiconductor wire has been developed under the condition of low lattice temperature, when the approximations of the well known traditional theory are not valid. Numerical results are obtained for narrow-channel GaAs-GaAlAs wires structures. On comparison with other available results it is revealed that the finite energy of the intravalley acoustic phonons and, the use of the full form of the phonon distribution without truncation to the equipartition law, produce significant changes in the energy loss characteristics at low temperatures.     

Relaxation between electrons and surface phonons of a homogeneously photoexcited metal film

The energy relaxation between the hot degenerate electrons of a homogeneously photoexcited metal film and the surface phonons (phonon wave vectors in two dimensions) is considered under Debye approximation. The state of electrons and phonons is described by equilibrium Fermi and Bose functions with different temperatures. Two cases for electron scattering by the metal surface, namely specular and diffuse scattering, are considered.     

Acoustic phonons transport in a quantum waveguide embedded double defects

By using scattering matrix method, we investigate the acoustic phonons transport in a quantum waveguide embedded double defects at low temperatures. When acoustic phonons propagate through the waveguide, the total transmission coefficient versus the reduced phonon frequency exhibits a series of resonant peaks and dips, and acoustic waves interfere with each other in the waveguide to form standing wave with particular wavelengths. In the waveguide with void defects, acoustic phonons whose frequencies approach zero can transport without scattering. The acoustic phonons propagating in the waveguide with clamped material defects, the phonons frequencies must be larger than a threshold frequency. It is also found that the thermal conductance versus temperature is qualitatively different for different types of defects. At low temperatures, when the double defects are void, the universal quantum thermal conductance and a thermal conductance plateau can be clearly observed. However, when the double defects consist of clamped material, the quantized thermal conductance disappears but a threshold temperature where mode 0 can be excited emerges. The results can provide some references in controlling thermal conductance artificially and the design of phonon devices.     

Interacting electrons on a two-dimensional surface: planar vs. spherical geometries

The center-of-mass excitations are identified in the spectrum of electrons on a two-dimensional surface in the lowest Landau level. The correspondence between the quantum numbers labeling electron states on a sphere and on a plane is drawn. The excitation spectrum on a sphere with increasing radius is shown to converge to that on a plane. In particular, in the presence of a lateral confinement (i.e. for the case of quantum dots), identical series of magic states appear in both cases. Also, a class of interaction potentials which lead to the fractional quantum Hall effect in an extended system are identified.     

Effect of non-equilibrium acoustic phonons on radiative recombination in semiconductors

We report the first direct observation of radiative no-phonon and acoustic phonon-assisted transitions, determination of relative rates of radiative and non-radiative phonon-assisted decay for centres of various types in semiconductors. We also have suggested improvement of experimental approach to get a form of the distribution function for non-equilibrium acoustic phonons in crystals.     

Two-dimensional electron transport in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

We present a theoretical study of electron transport properties of two-dimensional electron gas in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. By assuming a drifted Fermi–Dirac distribution and taking into account all major scattering mechanisms, including polar optical and acoustic phonons, background impurities, dislocation and interface roughness, the momentum- and energy-balance equations derived from Boltzmann equation are solved self-consistently. The dependence of the electron drift velocity and electron temperature as a function of the applied electric field are obtained and discussed.     

Phonon heating of two-dimensional exciton gases in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

We report the first measurements of the interaction of non-equilibrium phonons with two-dimensional exciton gases (2DExGs). The rise in the effective temperature of the 2DExG produced by the phonons depends on the width of the quantum well and the exciton sheet density and hence on the ratio τ^?1 (ex-ph)/τ^?1 (ex-ex). The dependence of the effective temperature rise on this ratio is attributed to the non-equilibrium frequency distribution of the phonons incident on the 2DExG.     

Electronic states in a step quantum well in a magnetic field

The quantum states and energy spectrum of an electron in a rectangular step quantum well in a magnetic field parallel to the plane of two-dimensional electronic gas are investigated. It is shown that the joint effect of a magnetic field and confining potential of quantum well results in radical change of the electron energy spectrum. The energy dependencies on the parameters of the quantum well and magnetic field induction are investigated. Numerical calculations are carried out for an AlAs/ GaAlAs/ GaAs/ AlAs step quantum well.     

Angular and energy dependences of the surface excitation parameter for electrons crossing a solid surface

When fast electrons cross a solid surface, surface plasmons may be generated. Surface plasmon excitations induced by electrons moving in the vacuum are generally characterized by the surface excitation parameter. This parameter was calculated for 200-1000 eV electrons crossing the surfaces of Au, Cu, Ag, Fe, Si, Ni, Pd, MgO and SiO₂ with various crossing angles. Such calculations were performed based on the dielectric response theory for both incident (from vacuum to solid) and escaping (from solid to vacuum) electrons. Calculated results showed that the surface excitation parameter increased with crossing angle but decreased with electron energy. This was due to the longer time for electron-surface interaction by glancing incident or escaping electrons and by slow moving electrons. The results were fitted very well to a simple formula, i.e. , where P_s is the surface excitation parameter, E is the electron energy, α is the angle between the electron trajectory and the surface normal, and a, b and c are material dependent constants.     

Rate of energy loss to intravalley acoustic modes in a degenerate surface layer at low lattice temperatures

The rate of loss of the energy of non-equilibrium electrons due to inelastic interaction with intravalley acoustic phonons in a degenerate surface layer is calculated for low temperatures when the approximations of the well-known traditional theory are not valid. The loss characteristics for GaAs and Si seem to be significantly different compared to what follows from the traditional approximations.     

Anomalous delay of phonons reflected from the surface of a superlattice

We study theoretically the propagation of acoustic phonons in a superlattice (SL) with a free surface. A phonon incident normally on the SL from a substrate is perfectly reflected, but it comes back to the substrate either with a time delay or with a time advance. Specifically the time delay is enhanced considerably if the frequency of the incident phonon coincides with an eigenfrequency of the vibrational modes localized at the surface of the SL. This suggests the observability of the surface vibrational modes by a time-resolved phonon reflection experiment.     

非对称方势阱中的激子及其与声子的相互作用

采用类LLP(Lee-Low-Pines)变换和分数维变分法,在讨论有限深非对称方势阱Ga_1－xAl_xAs/ GaAs/Ga_0.7Al_0.3As的分数维基础上,计算了其中激子的基态能量以及声子对其影响,随着势阱宽度增加,激子能量先减小后增大,出现一个最小值.讨论了一侧势垒高度变化对分数维、激子基态能量的影响,并发现声子作用使得激子能量明显增大.另外,非对称方势阱中的激子结合能随阱宽的减小而增     

Thickness effects on the Coulomb drag rate in double quantum layer systems

In this paper, we have investigated the effect of quantum layer thickness on Coulomb drag phenomenon in a double quantum well (DQW) system, in which the electrons momentum can transfer from one layer to another. We have applied the full random phase approximation (RPA) in dynamical dielectric matrix of this coupled two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) system in order to obtain an improved result for temperature-dependent rate of momentum transfer. We have calculated the drag rate transresistivity for various well thicknesses at low and intermediate temperatures in Fermi-scale and for different electron gas densities. It has been obtained that the Coulomb drag rate increases with increasing the well width when the separation between the wells remains unchanged.     

Dynamics of the collective excitations of the quantum Hall system

Using the non linear optical technique of 3-pulse 4-wave mixing, we study the dynamics of the collective excitations of the quantum Hall system. We excite the system with 100 fs pulses propagating in directions k₁ and k₃ and then probe its time evolution with a delayed pulse k₂. We measure the non-linear optical response from the lowest Landau level along the direction k₁+k₂−k₃. As function of the time delay of pulse k₂, this signal shows striking beats for short time delays (500 fs), followed by a rise (20 ps) and then a decay (100 ps). We identify the microscopic origin of this dynamics by extending the standard theory of ultra fast nonlinear optics to include the effects of the correlations.     

Effects of confined longitudinal and interface optical phonons on excitons in an asymmetric quantum well

The interaction between exciton and confined longitudinal optical (LO) phonons, interface optical (IO) phonons in an asymmetric Ga 1 x Al x As/GaAs/Ga 0.7 Al 0.3 As square quantum well is investigated. By applying the LLP-like transformation and variational approach, the numerical results are obtained as functions of the well width and asymmetric-degree of well. The exciton-optical phonons interaction-energy has a minimum value with the increase of the well width. It is demonstrated that the LO-phonon energ...     

Thermodynamic properties of electron gas in complex-shaped quantum well

Thermodynamic properties of degenerate two-dimensional electron gas in complex-shaped quantum well are studied. We determine the equation of state, chemical potential, entropy and heat capacity of the electron gas. An influence of profile and parameters of the quantum well on thermodynamic characteristics are investigated.     

Single-particle distribution function of a quantum dot system at finite temperature

In the present paper, we shall rigorously re-establish the result of the single-particle function of a quantum dot system at finite temperature. Unlike the proof given in our previous work (Phys. Rev. B 74 195414 (2006)), we take a different approach, which does not exploit the explicit expression of the Gibbs distribution function. Instead, we only assume that the statistical distribution function of the quantum dot system is thermodynamically stable. As a result, we are able to show clearly that the electronic structure in the quantum dot system is completely determined by its thermodynamic stability. Furthermore, the weaker requirements on the statistical distribution function also make it possible to apply the same method to the quantum dot systems in non-equilibrium states.     

Single-particle distribution function of a quantum dot system at finite temperature

In the present paper,we shall rigorously re-establish the result of the single-particle function of a quantum dot system at finite temperature.Unlike the proof given in our previous work(Phys.Rev.B 74 195414(2006)),we take a different approach,which does not exploit the explicit expression of the Gibbs distribution function.Instead,we only assume that the statistical distribution function of the quantum dot system is thermodynamically stable.As a result,we are able to show clearly that the electronic structure in the quantum dot system is completely determined by its thermodynamic stability.Furthermore,the weaker requirements on the statistical distribution function also make it possible to apply the same method to the quantum dot systems in non-equilibrium states.     

Optical control of the mobility of a MODFET with a layer of self-assembled quantum dots

We report an experimental study of GaAs/Al_0.33Ga_0.67As modulation doped field effect (MODFET) transistors, in which an InAs layer of self-assembled quantum dots is placed in one of the Al_0.33Ga_0.67As barrier layers close to the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). We find the source–drain resistance is bistable with the two states controlled by illumination and applied gate bias. Brief illumination induces a large, persistent drop in the resistance, which can be recovered by applying a positive gate bias. Magneto-transport measurements show that while illumination causes only a relatively small change in the 2DEG density, it can greatly enhance its mobility. We suggest this is because the 2DEG mobility is limited by percolation of the electrons through the rough electrostatic potential induced by the charged dots. Illumination reduces the negative charge trapped in the dots, thus smoothing the conduction band potential, which produces a large increase in the mobility.     

A survey of lattice results on finite temperature quantum chromodynamics

The talk summarizes some new results of lattice investigations of QCD at finite temperature. The topics discussed cover the flavor dependence of the critical temperature and the equation-of-state as well as hadronic correlation functions.