Frenkel Excitons in Random Systems With Correlated Gaussian Disorder

Optical absorption spectra of Frenkel excitons in random one-dimensional systems are presented. Two models of inhomogeneous broadening, arising from a Gaussian distribution of on-site energies, are considered. In one case the on-site energies are uncorrelated variables whereas in the second model the on-site energies are pairwise correlated (dimers). We observe a red shift and a broadening of the absorption line on increasing the width of the Gaussian distribution. In the two cases we find that the shift is the same, within our numerical accuracy, whereas the broadening is larger when dimers are introduced. The increase of the width of the Gaussian distribution leads to larger differences between uncorrelated and correlated disordered models. We suggest that this higher broadening is due to stronger scattering effects from dimers.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 3 ps figures. To appear in Physical Review

Bound states in the continuum driven by AC fields

We report the formation of bound states in the continuum driven by AC fields. This system consists of a quantum ring connected to two leads. An AC side-gate voltage controls the interference pattern of the electrons passing through the system. We model the system by two sites in parallel connected to two semi-infinite lattices. The energy of these sites change harmonically with time. We obtain the transmission probability and the local density of states at the ring sites as a function of the parameters that define the system. The transmission probability displays a Fano profile when the energy of the incoming electron matches the driving frequency. Correspondingly, the local density of states presents a narrow peak that approaches a Dirac delta function in the weak coupling limit. We attribute these features to the presence of bound states in the continuum.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Transport in random quantum dot superlattices

We present a novel model to calculate single-electron states in random quantum dot superlattices made of wide-gap semiconductors. The source of disorder comes from the random arrangement of the quantum dots (configurational disorder) as well as spatial inhomogeneities of their shape (morphological disorder). Both types of disorder break translational symmetry and prevent the formation of minibands, as occurs in regimented arrays of quantum dots. The model correctly describes channel mixing and broadening of allowed energy bands due to elastic scattering by disorder

Non-equilibrium transport through a disordered molecular nanowire

We investigate the non-equilibrium transport properties of a disordered molecular nanowire. The nanowire is regarded as a quasi-one-dimensional organic crystal composed of self-assembled molecules. One orbital and a single random energy are assigned to each molecule while the intermolecular coupling does not fluctuate. Consequently, electronic states are expected to be spatially localized. We consider the regime of strong localization, namely, the localization length is smaller than the length of the molecular wire. Electron-vibron interaction, taking place in each single molecule, is also taken into account. We investigate the interplay between disorder and electron-vibron interaction in response to either an applied electric bias or a temperature gradient. To this end, we calculate the electric and heat currents when the nanowire is connected to leads, using the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. At intermediate temperature, scattering by disorder dominates both charge and heat transport. We find that the electron-vibron interaction enhances the effect of the disorder on the transport properties due to the exponential suppression of tunneling

Enhancing thermoelectric properties of graphene quantum rings

We study the thermoelectric properties of rectangular graphene rings connected symmetrically or asymmetrically to the leads. A side-gate voltage applied across the ring allows for the precise control of the electric current flowing through the system. The transmission coefficient of the rings manifests Breit-Wigner line-shapes and/or Fano line-shapes, depending on the connection configuration, the width of nanoribbons forming the ring and the side-gate voltage. We find that the thermopower and the figure of merit are greatly enhanced when the chemical potential is tuned close to resonances. Such enhancement is even more pronounced in the vicinity of Fano like anti-resonances which can be induced by a side-gate voltage independently of the geometry. This opens a possibility to use the proposed device as a tunable thermoelectric generator.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Transmission resonances and supercritical states in a one dimensional cusp potential

We solve the two-component Dirac equation in the presence of a spatially one dimensional symmetric cusp potential. We compute the scattering and bound states solutions and we derive the conditions for transmission resonances as well as for supercriticality.Comment: 10 pages. Revtex 4. To appear in Phys Rev.

FIBONACCI SUPERLATTICES OF NARROW-GAP III-V SEMICONDUCTORS

We report theoretical electronic structure of Fibonacci superlattices of narrow-gap III-V semiconductors. Electron dynamics is accurately described within the envelope-function approximation in a two-band model. Quasiperiodicity is introduced by considering two different III-V semiconductor layers and arranging them according to the Fibonacci series along the growth direction. The resulting energy spectrum is then found by solving exactly the corresponding effective-mass (Dirac-like) wave equation using tranfer-matrix techniques. We find that a self-similar electronic spectrum can be seen in the band structure. Electronic transport properties of samples are also studied and related to the degree of spatial localization of electronic envelope-functions via Landauer resistance and Lyapunov coefficient. As a working example, we consider type II InAs/GaSb superlattices and discuss in detail our results in this system.Comment: REVTeX 3.0, 16 pages, 8 figures available upon request. To appear in Semiconductor Science and Technolog

Fluorescence decay in aperiodic Frenkel lattices

We study motion and capture of excitons in self-similar linear systems in which interstitial traps are arranged according to an aperiodic sequence, focusing our attention on Fibonacci and Thue-Morse systems as canonical examples. The decay of the fluorescence intensity following a broadband pulse excitation is evaluated by solving the microscopic equations of motion of the Frenkel exciton problem. We find that the average decay is exponential and depends only on the concentration of traps and the trapping rate. In addition, we observe small-amplitude oscillations coming from the coupling between the low-lying mode and a few high-lying modes through the topology of the lattice. These oscillations are characteristic of each particular arrangement of traps and they are directly related to the Fourier transform of the underlying lattice. Our predictions can be then used to determine experimentally the ordering of traps.Comment: REVTeX 3.0 + 3PostScript Figures + epsf.sty (uuencoded). To appear in Physical Review