Dielectric confinement of excitons in type-I and type-II semiconductor nanorods

We theoretically study the effect of the dielectric environment on the exciton ground state of CdSe and CdTe/CdSe/CdTe nanorods. We show that insulating environments enhance the exciton recombination rate and blueshift the emission peak by tens of meV. These effects are particularly pronounced for type-II nanorods. In these structures, the dielectric confinement may even modify the spatial distribution of electron and hole charges. A critical electric field is required to separate electrons from holes, whose value increases with the insulating strength of the surroundings.Comment: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (in press

Two-dimensional Bloch electrons under strong magnetic modulation

The band structure of a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas patterned with a square lattice of holes (antidots) is studied theoretically under the influence of a magnetic modulation consisting of perpendicular magnetic flux tubes with the same period and nonzero net flux per unit cell. The magnetic field pierces the system through the patterned holes only, so that the coupling with the electrons is purely quantum mechanical. The model takes implicitly into account the coupling between the different Bloch bands. The flux-dependent energy structure exhibits a Hofstadter butterfly-type spectrum. Such a structure is repeated indefinitely without distortion with a period of one magnetic flux quantum through a lattice hole. Rectangular deviations from the square lattice are also studied. It is found that the number and width of the magnetic gaps decrease, and even disappear for large antidot filling fractions

Magnetic modulation of the tunneling between defects states in antidot superlattices

We show theoretically that the tunnelling between properly designed defects in periodic antidot lattices can be strongly modulated by applied magnetic fields. Further, transport channels made up of linear arrangements of tunnel-coupled defects can accommodate Aharonov-Bohm cages, suggesting a magnetic control of the transport through the system. Evidence supporting an unusual robustness of the caging effect against electron-electron interactions is also provided

Delocalized image surface states in defects free SiO2 hollow nanospheres

Delocalized image surface states in free-standing hollow silica nanospheres populated with one or two electrons or an exciton are theoretically predicted for a wide range of internal radii and shell thicknesses. The driving force building up these surface states is the image self-polarization potential originating from the dielectric mismatch between the nanoshell and the surrounding air. The surface states are localized in a spherical crown beyond the nanoshell border. The transition from volume to surface state will then have to overcome the spatial confining potential barrier of the nanoshell. Owing to the different spatial confining barriers of electrons and holes in the silica nanoshell, electron but no hole density can be concentrated in surface distributions. The self-polarization potential looks like a double well potential, each well located just beyond the nanoshell border, with the internal well deeper than the external one, so that an excess carrier is attracted more strongly by the inner interface. This leads the electron density of a surface state to be located mainly in the internal surface of the hollow nanosphere. The shorter the inner nanoshell radius is, the stronger the binding of the excess electron to the surface will be. The volume/surface ground state phase diagrams of the one-electron, two-electron, and exciton systems have been calculated. All three diagrams are quite similar, thus revealing the monoelectronic character of the driving force for the transition from volume to surface state

Dielectric Confinement Enables Molecular Coupling in Stacked Colloidal Nanoplatelets

We show theoretically that carriers confined in semiconductor colloidal nanoplatelets (NPLs) sense the presence of neighbor, cofacially stacked NPLs in their energy spectrum. When approaching identical NPLs, the otherwise degenerate energy levels red-shift and split, forming (for large stacks) minibands that are several millielectronvolts in width. Unlike in epitaxial structures, the molecular behavior does not result from quantum tunneling but from changes in the dielectric confinement. The associated excitonic absorption spectrum shows a rich structure of bright and dark states, whose optical activity and multiplicity can be understood from reflection symmetry and Coulomb tunneling. We predict spectroscopic signatures that should confirm the formation of molecular states, whose practical realization would pave the way for the development of nanocrystal chemistry based on NPLs

Coupled donors in quantum dots: quantum size and dielectric mismatch effects

Spatial and dielectric confinement modulations of the spontaneous emission rates, transition energies, and charge-density distributions of a singly ionized double donor system (D2+) in a spherical quantum dot are calculated within the framework of the effective-mass envelope function approximation. Dipole moments, energy splittings, transition moments, electron-density distributions, and spontaneous emission rates involving bonding and antibonding lowest-lying molecular states are addressed for different dielectric environments, quantum dot radii, and relative locations of the coupled impurities inside the dot. The results indicate that the donor molecule behaves as heteropolar when the spatial confinement breaks the inversion symmetry, which is paralleled by a strong reduction in the excited-state radiative lifetime. Dielectric confinement, acting on a larger length scale than spatial confinement, may recover the bulklike homopolar character when the dot is embedded in a low dielectric constant medium. In the weak spatial confinement regime, dielectric effects can increase the corresponding bulk radiative lifetimes significantly and simultaneously modulate the charge-density distributio

The topological magnetoelectric effect in semiconductor nanostructures: quantum wells, wires, dots and rings

Electrostatic charges placed near the interface between ordinary and topological insulators induce magnetic fields, through the so-called topological magnetoelectric effect. Here, we present a numerical implementation of the associated Maxwell equations. The resulting model is simple, fast and quantitatively as accurate as the image charge method, but with the advantage of providing easy access to elaborate geometries when pursuing specific effects. The model is used to study how magnetoelectric fields are influenced by the dimensions and the shape of the most common semiconductor nanostructures: quantum wells, quantum wires, quantum dots and quantum rings. Point-like charges give rise to magnetic fields of the order of mT, whose sign and spatial orientation is governed by the geometry of the nanostructure and the location of the charge. The results are rationalized in terms of the Hall currents induced on the surface, which constitute a simple yet valid framework for the deterministic design of magnetoelectric fields.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Generalized method of image dyons for quasi-two dimensional slabs with ordinary-topological insulator interfaces

Electrostatic charges near the interface bewteen topological (TI) and ordinary (OI) insulators induce magnetic fields in the medium that can be described through the so-called method of image dyons (electric charge - magnetic monopole pairs), the magnetoelectric extension of the method of image charges in classical electrostatics. Here, we provide the expressions for the image dyons and ensuing magnetoelectric potentials in a system comprised by two planar-parallel OI-TI interfaces conforming a finite-width slab. The obtained formulae extend earlier work in that they account for all different combinations of materials forming the slab and its surroundings, including asymmetric systems, as well as all possible combinations of external magnetization orientations on the interfaces. The equations are susceptible of implementation in simple computational codes, to be solved recurrently, in order to model magnetoelectric fields in topological quantum wells, thin films, or layers of two-dimensional materials. We exemplify this by calculating the magnetic fields induced by a point charge in nanometer-thick quantum wells, by means of a Mathematica code made available in repositories.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Generalized method of image dyons for quasi-two dimensional slabs with ordinary - topological insulator interfaces

Electrostatic charges near the interface between topological (TI) and ordinary (OI) insulators induce magnetic fields in the medium that can be described through the so-called method of image dyons (electric charge - magnetic monopole pairs), the magnetoelectric extension of the method of image charges in classical electrostatics. Here, we provide the expressions for the image dyons and ensuing magnetoelectric potentials in a system comprised by two planar-parallel OI-TI interfaces conforming a finite-width slab. The obtained formulae extend earlier work in that they account for all different combinations of materials forming the slab and its surroundings, including asymmetric systems, as well as all possible combinations of external magnetization orientations on the interfaces. The equations are susceptible of implementation in simple computational codes, to be solved recurrently, in order to model magnetoelectric fields in topological quantum wells, thin films, or layers of two-dimensional materials. We exemplify this by calculating the magnetic fields induced by a point charge in nanometer-thick quantum wells, by means of a Mathematica code made available in repositories.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume