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Valence band localized states in double quantum wells from first principles
Author(s) -
Medina Arcesio Castañeda,
Gutiérrez Rafael M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201147246
Subject(s) - heterojunction , condensed matter physics , quantum well , valence band , ab initio , electronic structure , effective mass (spring–mass system) , valence (chemistry) , electron , envelope (radar) , physics , chemistry , band gap , quantum mechanics , laser , telecommunications , radar , computer science
The electrostatic potentials and electronic structure of an AlAs/GaAs double quantum well (DQW) heterostructure are determined through ab initio computations. The study of the potentials along the growth direction establishes a clear relation between the microscopic structure and the relevant macroscopic properties of the heterostructure, namely, the DQW dimensions and the band offsets. At nanometric scale, the one electron effective potential energy is a DQW and the valence band edge electronic states are confined along the growth direction. Such states coincide qualitatively with those analytically obtained through the so‐called envelope function/effective mass approximation.