Layers of Cold Dipolar Molecules in the Harmonic Approximation

We consider the N-body problem in a layered geometry containing cold polar molecules with dipole moments that are polarized perpendicular to the layers. A harmonic approximation is used to simplify the hamiltonian and bound state properties of the two-body inter-layer dipolar potential are used to adjust this effective interaction. To model the intra-layer repulsion of the polar molecules, we introduce a repulsive inter-molecule potential that can be parametrically varied. Single chains containing one molecule in each layer, as well as multi-chain structures in many layers are discussed and their energies and radii determined. We extract the normal modes of the various systems as measures of their volatility and eventually of instability, and compare our findings to the excitations in crystals. We find modes that can be classified as either chains vibrating in phase or as layers vibrating against each other. The former correspond to acoustic and the latter to optical phonons. Instabilities can occur for large intra-layer repulsion and produce diverging amplitudes of molecules in the outer layers. Lastly, we consider experimentally relevant regimes to observe the structures.Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures, accepted versio

GaN Quantum Dots: Physics and Applications

Recent works by our group on hexagonal and cubic GaN/AlN quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy are reviewed. It is shown that the growth of GaN on AlN can occur either in a layerby- layer mode to form quantum wells or in the Stranski-Krastanow mode to form self-assembled quantum dots. High resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that quantum dots are truncated pyramids (typically 3 nm high and 15 nm wide), nucleating on top of a wetting layer. The existence of internal electric elds of 7 MV/cm in hexagonal quantum dots is evidenced by observations of various physical e ects related to the quantum con ned Stark e ect, e.g. energy redshift of the interband transition, decrease of its oscillator strength, or enhancement of the exciton interaction with LO phonons. Prospects for UV and near-IR applications, using interband and intersubband transitions of GaN/AlN quantum dots, respectively, will be discussed also in this presentation