Miniband Structure And Photon Absorption In Regimented Quantum Dot Systems

In this paper, we investigate the physics of electronic states in cubic InAs quantum dot periodic nanostructures embedded in GaAs. This study aims to provide an understanding of the physics of these systems so that they may be used in technological applications. We have focused on the effect of dot densities and dot sizes on the material properties, evaluating the miniband structure of electron states coming from the bulk conduction band, and have calculated the intraband photon absorption coefficient for several light polarizations. Strain is included in this analysis in order to obtain the conduction band offset between the materials by solving the Pikus-Bir 8 x 8 k.p Hamiltonian. We offer a comparison with approaches used by previous authors and clarify their range of validity. Finally, we draw our conclusions and propose future technological applications for these periodic arrangements. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3562160]