320 research outputs found
The effect of small elongations on the electronic and optical signatures in InAs nanocrystal quantum dots
We present a detailed theoretical investigation of the electronic structure and
optical properties of InAs nanocrystals at the transition from spheres to rods. Using
a semiempirical pseudopotential approach, we predict that, despite the qualitative
similarity of both intra- and inter-band optical spectra, for NCs with R > 15 °A even
slight elongations should result in shifts of the order of hundreds of meV in the spacings
between STM peaks measured in the positive bias regime, in the position of the intra-
band absorption peaks associated with transitions in the conduction band and in the
separation between the first and the fifth peak in PLE experiments. Our results show
that, based on the spectroscopic data, it should be possible to discriminate between
spherical and elongated NCs with aspect ratios of length over diameter as small as
1.2. Indeed our results suggest that many nominally spherical experimental samples
contained a large fraction of slightly elongated structures
Collective effects in charge transfer within a hybrid organic-inorganic system
A collective electron transfer (ET) process was discovered by studying the
current noise in a field effect transistor with light-sensitive gate formed by
nanocrystals linked by organic molecules to its surface. Fluctuations in the ET
through the organic linker are reflected in the fluctuations of the transistor
conductivity. The current noise has an avalanche character. Critical exponents
obtained from the noise power spectra, avalanche distributions, and the
dependence of the average avalanche size on avalanche duration are consistent
with each other. A plausible model is proposed for this phenomenonComment: 15 pages 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Size dependent tunneling and optical spectroscopy of CdSe quantum rods
Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy
are used to study the electronic states in CdSe quantum rods that manifest a
transition from a zero dimensional to a one dimensional quantum confined
structure. Both optical and tunneling spectra show that the level structure
depends primarily on the rod diameter and not on length. With increasing
diameter, the band-gap and the excited state level spacings shift to the red.
The level structure was assigned using a multi-band effective-mass model,
showing a similar dependence on rod dimensions.Comment: Accepted to PRL (nearly final version). 4 pages in revtex, 4 figure
A pseudopotential study of electron-hole excitations in colloidal, free-standing InAs quantum dots
Excitonic spectra are calculated for free-standing, surface passivated InAs
quantum dots using atomic pseudopotentials for the single-particle states and
screened Coulomb interactions for the two-body terms. We present an analysis of
the single particle states involved in each excitation in terms of their
angular momenta and Bloch-wave parentage. We find that (i) in agreement with
other pseudopotential studies of CdSe and InP quantum dots, but in contrast to
k.p calculations, dot states wavefunction exhibit strong odd-even angular
momentum envelope function mixing (e.g. with ) and large
valence-conduction coupling. (ii) While the pseudopotential approach produced
very good agreement with experiment for free-standing, colloidal CdSe and InP
dots, and for self-assembled (GaAs-embedded) InAs dots, here the predicted
spectrum does {\em not} agree well with the measured (ensemble average over dot
sizes) spectra. (1) Our calculated excitonic gap is larger than the PL measure
one, and (2) while the spacing between the lowest excitons is reproduced, the
spacings between higher excitons is not fit well. Discrepancy (1) could result
from surface states emission. As for (2), agreement is improved when account is
taken of the finite size distribution in the experimental data. (iii) We find
that the single particle gap scales as (not ), that the
screened (unscreened) electron-hole Coulomb interaction scales as
(), and that the eccitonic gap sclaes as . These scaling
laws are different from those expected from simple models.Comment: 12 postscript figure
Higher-Derivative Terms in N=2 Supersymmetric Effective Actions
We show how to systematically construct higher-derivative terms in effective
actions in harmonic superspace despite the infinite redundancy in their
description due to the infinite number of auxiliary fields. Making an
assumption about the absence of certain superspace Chern-Simons-like terms
involving vector multiplets, we write all 3- and 4-derivative terms on Higgs,
Coulomb, and mixed branches. Among these terms are several with only
holomorphic dependence on fields, and at least one satisfies a
non-renormalization theorem. These holomorphic terms include a novel
3-derivative term on mixed branches given as an integral over 3/4 of
superspace. As an illustration of our method, we search for Wess-Zumino terms
in the low energy effective action of N=2 supersymmetric QCD. We show that such
terms occur only on mixed branches. We also present an argument showing that
the combination of space-time locality with supersymmetry implies locality in
the anticommuting superspace coordinates of for unconstrained superfields.Comment: 30 pages. Added references and simplified final form of WZ ter
Driving current through single organic molecules
We investigate electronic transport through two types of conjugated
molecules. Mechanically controlled break-junctions are used to couple thiol
endgroups of single molecules to two gold electrodes. Current-voltage
characteristics (IVs) of the metal-molecule-metal system are observed. These
IVs reproduce the spatial symmetry of the molecules with respect to the
direction of current flow. We hereby unambigously detect an intrinsic property
of the molecule, and are able to distinguish the influence of both the molecule
and the contact to the metal electrodes on the transport properties of the
compound system.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Electrical transport through single-molecule junctions: from molecular orbitals to conduction channels
We present an atomistic theory of electronic transport through single organic
molecules that reproduces the important features of the current-voltage
characteristics observed in recent experiments. We trace these features to
their origin in the electronic structure of the molecules and their local
atomic environment. We demonstrate how conduction channels arise from the
molecular orbitals and elucidate which specific properties of the individual
orbitals determine their contribution to the current.Comment: Revtex4, 4 pages, 4 figures. Version with color figures in
http://www-tfp.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/~cuevas/Publications.htm
Electron and hole states in quantum-dot quantum wells within a spherical 8-band model
In order to study heterostructures composed both of materials with strongly
different parameters and of materials with narrow band gaps, we have developed
an approach, which combines the spherical 8-band effective-mass Hamiltonian and
the Burt's envelope function representation. Using this method, electron and
hole states are calculated in CdS/HgS/CdS/H_2O and CdTe/HgTe/CdTe/H_2O
quantum-dot quantum-well heterostructures. Radial components of the wave
functions of the lowest S and P electron and hole states in typical quantum-dot
quantum wells (QDQWs) are presented as a function of radius. The 6-band-hole
components of the radial wave functions of an electron in the 8-band model have
amplitudes comparable with the amplitude of the corresponding 2-band-electron
component. This is a consequence of the coupling between the conduction and
valence bands, which gives a strong nonparabolicity of the conduction band. At
the same time, the 2-band-electron component of the radial wave functions of a
hole in the 8-band model is small compared with the amplitudes of the
corresponding 6-band-hole components. It is shown that in the CdS/HgS/CdS/H_2O
QDQW holes in the lowest states are strongly localized in the well region
(HgS). On the contrary, electrons in this QDQW and both electron and holes in
the CdTe/HgTe/CdTe/H_2O QDQW are distributed through the entire dot. The
importance of the developed theory for QDQWs is proven by the fact that in
contrast to our rigorous 8-band model, there appear spurious states within the
commonly used symmetrized 8-band model.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, E-mail addresses: [email protected],
[email protected]
Imaging and spectroscopy of artificial-atom states in core/shell nanocrystal quantum dots
Current imaging scanning tunneling microscopy is used to observe the
electronic wavefunctions in InAs/ZnSe core/shell nanocrystals. Images taken at
a bias corresponding to the s conduction band state show that it is localized
in the central core region, while images at higher bias probing the p state
reveal that it extends to the shell. This is supported by optical and tunneling
spectroscopy data demonstrating that the s-p gap closes upon shell growth.
Shapes of the current images resemble atom-like envelope wavefunctions of the
quantum dot calculated within a particle in a box model.Comment: to be published in Physical Review Letter
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