197 research outputs found
Ultrafast non-linear optical signal from a single quantum dot: exciton and biexciton effects
We present results on both the intensity and phase-dynamics of the transient
non-linear optical response of a single quantum dot (SQD).
The time evolution of the Four Wave Mixing (FWM) signal on a subpicosecond
time scale is dominated by biexciton effects. In particular, for the
cross-polarized excitation case a biexciton bound state is found. In this
latter case, mean-field results are shown to give a poor description of the
non-linear optical signal at small times. By properly treating exciton-exciton
effects in a SQD, coherent oscillations in the FWM signal are clearly
demonstrated. These oscillations, with a period corresponding to the inverse of
the biexciton binding energy, are correlated with the phase dynamics of the
system's polarization giving clear signatures of non-Markovian effects in the
ultrafast regime.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Experimental imaging and atomistic modeling of electron and hole quasiparticle wave functions in InAs/GaAs quantum dots
We present experimental magnetotunneling results and atomistic
pseudopotential calculations of quasiparticle electron and hole wave functions
of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots. The combination of a predictive
theory along with the experimental results allows us to gain direct insight
into the quantum states. We monitor the effects of (i) correlations, (ii)
atomistic symmetry and (iii) piezoelectricity on the confined carriers and (iv)
observe a peculiar charging sequence of holes that violates the Aufbau
principle.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review B. A version of this paper with figures
can be found at http://www.sst.nrel.gov/nano_pub/mts_preprint.pd
Reducing decoherence of the confined exciton state in a quantum dot by pulse-sequence control
We study the phonon-induced dephasing of the exciton state in a quantum dot
excited by a sequence of ultra-short pulses. We show that the multiple-pulse
control leads to a considerable improvement of the coherence of the optically
excited state. For a fixed control time window, the optimized pulsed control
often leads to a higher degree of coherence than the control by a smooth single
Gaussian pulse. The reduction of dephasing is considerable already for 2-3
pulses.Comment: Final version (moderate changes
Electron microscopic and optical investigations of the indium distribution GaAs capped InxGa1-xAs islands
Results from a structural and optical analysis of buried InxGa1-xAs islands carried out after the process of GaAs overgrowth are presented. It is found that during the growth process, the indium concentration profile changes and the thickness of the wetting layer emanating from a Stranski-Krastanow growth mode grows significantly. Quantum dots are formed due to strong gradients in the indium concentration, which is demonstrated by photoluminescence and excitation spectroscopy of the buried InxGa1-xAs islands. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics
Full configuration interaction approach to the few-electron problem in artificial atoms
We present a new high-performance configuration interaction code optimally
designed for the calculation of the lowest energy eigenstates of a few
electrons in semiconductor quantum dots (also called artificial atoms) in the
strong interaction regime. The implementation relies on a single-particle
representation, but it is independent of the choice of the single-particle
basis and, therefore, of the details of the device and configuration of
external fields. Assuming no truncation of the Fock space of Slater
determinants generated from the chosen single-particle basis, the code may
tackle regimes where Coulomb interaction very effectively mixes many
determinants. Typical strongly correlated systems lead to very large
diagonalization problems; in our implementation, the secular equation is
reduced to its minimal rank by exploiting the symmetry of the effective-mass
interacting Hamiltonian, including square total spin. The resulting Hamiltonian
is diagonalized via parallel implementation of the Lanczos algorithm. The code
gives access to both wave functions and energies of first excited states.
Excellent code scalability in a parallel environment is demonstrated; accuracy
is tested for the case of up to eight electrons confined in a two-dimensional
harmonic trap as the density is progressively diluted and correlation becomes
dominant. Comparison with previous Quantum Monte Carlo simulations in the
Wigner regime demonstrates power and flexibility of the method.Comment: RevTeX 4.0, 18 pages, 6 tables, 9 postscript b/w figures. Final
version with new material. Section 6 on the excitation spectrum has been
added. Some material has been moved to two appendices, which appear in the
EPAPS web depository in the published versio
Excitons, biexcitons, and phonons in ultrathin CdSe/ZnSe quantum structures
The optical properties of CdSe nanostructures grown by migration-enhanced epitaxy of CdSe on ZnSe are studied by time-, energy-, and temperature-dependent photoluminescence and excitation spectroscopy, as well as by polarization-dependent four-wave mixing and two-photon absorption experiments. The nanostructures consist of a coherently strained Zn1−xCdxSe/ZnSe quantum well with embedded islands of higher Cd content with sizes of a few nanometer due to strain-induced CdSe accumulation. The local increase in CdSe concentration results in a strong localization of the excitonic wave function, in an increase in radiative lifetime, and a decrease of the dephasing rate. Local LO-phonon modes caused by the strong modulation of the Cd concentration profile are found in phonon-assisted relaxation processes. Confined biexcitons with large binding energies between 20 and 24 meV are observed, indicating the important role of biexcitons even at room temperature
Exciton spin dynamics in spherical CdS quantum dots
Exciton spin dynamics in quasi-spherical CdS quantum dots is studied in
detail experimentally and theoretically. Exciton states are calculated using
the 6-band k.p Hamiltonian. It is shown that for various sets of Luttinger
parameters, when the wurtzite lattice crystal field splitting and Coulomb
interaction between the electron-hole pair are taken into account exactly, both
the electron and hole wavefunction in the lowest exciton state are of S-type.
This rules out the spatial-symmetry-induced origin of the dark exciton in CdS
quantum dots. The exciton bleaching dynamics is studied using time- and
polarization-resolved transient absorption technique of ultrafast laser
spectroscopy. Several samples with a different mean size of CdS quantum dots in
different glass matrices were investigated. This enabled the separation of
effects that are typical for one particular sample from those that are general
for this type of material. The experimentally determined dependence of the
electron spin relaxation rate on the radius of quantum dots agrees well with
that computed theoretically.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure
Tight-Binding model for semiconductor nanostructures
An empirical tight-binding (TB) model is applied to the
investigation of electronic states in semiconductor quantum dots. A basis set
of three -orbitals at the anions and one -orbital at the cations is
chosen. Matrix elements up to the second nearest neighbors and the spin-orbit
coupling are included in our TB-model. The parametrization is chosen so that
the effective masses, the spin-orbit-splitting and the gap energy of the bulk
CdSe and ZnSe are reproduced. Within this reduced TB-basis the
valence (p-) bands are excellently reproduced and the conduction (s-) band is
well reproduced close to the -point, i.e. near to the band gap. In
terms of this model much larger systems can be described than within a (more
realistic) -basis. The quantum dot is modelled by using the (bulk)
TB-parameters for the particular material at those sites occupied by atoms of
this material. Within this TB-model we study pyramidal-shaped CdSe quantum dots
embedded in a ZnSe matrix and free spherical CdSe quantum dots (nanocrystals).
Strain-effects are included by using an appropriate model strain field. Within
the TB-model, the strain-effects can be artifically switched off to investigate
the infuence of strain on the bound electronic states and, in particular, their
spatial orientation. The theoretical results for spherical nanocrystals are
compared with data from tunneling spectroscopy and optical experiments.
Furthermore the influence of the spin-orbit coupling is investigated
- …