Limited accuracy of conduction band effective mass equations for semiconductor quantum dots.

ABSTRACT: Effective mass equations are the simplest models of carrier states in a semiconductor structures that reduce the complexity of a solid-state system to Schrödinger- or Pauli-like equations resempling those well known from quantum mechanics textbooks. Here we present a systematic derivation of a conduction-band effective mass equation for a self-assembled semiconductor quantum dot in a magnetic field from the 8-band k · p theory. The derivation allows us to classify various forms of the effective mass equations in terms of a hierarchy of approximations. We assess the accuracy of the approximations in calculating selected spectral and spin-related characteristics. We indicate the importance of preserving the off-diagonal terms of the valence band Hamiltonian and argue that an effective mass t

SUBMITTER: Mielnik-Pyszczorski A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5811483 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature