Photocurrents in gaas quantum wires including excitonic effects

Communications in Physics, Vol.31, No. 1 (2021), pp. 77-83
DOI:10.15625/0868-3166/15328
PHOTOCURRENTS IN GaAs QUANTUM WIRES INCLUDING EXCITONIC
EFFECTS
CONG NGO AND HUYNH THANH DUC†
Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Physics,
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology,
1 Mac Dinh Chi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
E-mail: †htduc@hcmip.vast.vn
Received 3 August 2020
Accepted for publication 4 September 2020
Published 6 January 2021
Abstract. Photocurrent induced by ultrafast laser pulses in [001]-oriented GaAs quantum wires
with a square cross section is investigated using the multiband semiconductor Bloch equations
with the inclusion of electron-hole interaction. Influences of excitonic effects and quantum con-
finement effects on the photocurrent are evaluated and discussed.
Keywords: exciton, photocurrent, semiconductor III-V, quantum wires..
Classification numbers: 71.35.-y, 72.40.+w, 78.66.Fd, 78.67.Lt..
I. INTRODUCTION
 Electric currents can be optically generated in noncentrosymmetric materials due to the lack
of inversion symmetry in their crystal structure. Depending on the formation mechanism, pho-
tocurrents can be classified into different types: ballistic, shift, and rectification currents. These
photocurrents have been investigated in bulk materials [1–14] and quantum wells (QW) [15–21]
but have not received much attention in one-dimensional (1D) systems such as quantum wires
(QWR). Here, we present a theoretical study of the photocurrents in semiconductor QWRs. Our
method is based on solving the multiband semiconductor Bloch equations (SBE) formulated in the
basis of QWR eigenfunctions. Among several models to compute the electronic band structure,
we choose to use the 14-band k · p model because it is able to describe the inversion asymmetry
of GaAs and can be easily applied to semiconductor heterostructures. Using this approach, we re-
cently obtained photocurrents including excitonic effects in bulk GaAs [11] and GaAs QWs [21].
It is shown that excitonic effects not only drastically change the existing shift current but also give
©2021 Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
78 C. NGO AND H. T. DUC
rise to a ballistic current which is absent if the electron-hole attraction is not included. Further-
more, the beats between coherently excitonic states can lead to oscillations of the ballistic current.
These excitonic effects are expected to be more pronounced in semiconductor QWRs because the
quantum confinement in two dimensions increases the attraction between an electron and a hole
leading to greater exciton binding energy and exciton oscillator strength. Beside excitonic effects,
quantum confinement effects such as valence-band mixing and the effect of symmetries deter-
mined by the crystallographic orientation and cross-sectional shape of the QWR on the generation
of photocurrents are also considered in the present paper.
II. THEORETICAL APPROACH
 To determine the electronic band structure of GaAs QWRs we employ the 14-band k · p
theory in envelope function approximation [22–24]. The wave function of an electron in a QWR
 λ ikx λ
oriented along the x-axis is described by ψk (r) = e uk (r), where λ is the subband index and k
 λ
is the 1D wave vector. By expressing function uk (r) through the set of 14 periodic basis functions
{un(r)},
 14
 λ λ
 uk (r) = ∑ fnk(y,z)un(r), (1)
 n=1
one obtains the Schrodinger¨ equation for the slowly varying envelope function f λ (y,z),
 nkx
 14
 h k.p conf i λ λ
 ∑ Hnm (k) +Vn (y,z)δnm fmk(y,z) = ελ (k) fnk(y,z). (2)
 m=1
 k.p
Here, H (k) is the 14×14 k·p Hamiltonian with k = (kx,ky,kz) is replaced by k = (k,−i∂y,−i∂z),
 conf
and Vn (y,z) are the finite band-offset potentials. We numerically solve the Eq. (2) for GaAs
/Al0.35Ga0.65As QWRs using material papameters given in Ref. 24. The energy dispersions of sev-
eral highest valence bands and lowest conduction bands for a [001]-oriented QWR with a square
cross section of Ly = Lz = 12 nm at room temperature (T = 300 K) are plotted in Fig. 1. The cross
section and orientation of the QWR with respect to crystallographic directions are shown in the
inset plot.
 The dynamics of the photoexcited system is described by the multiband semiconductor
Bloch equations [25]. By using the velocity gauge for the light-matter interaction and treating the
many-body Coulomb interaction within the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation (HFA),
we obtain the equation of motion for the density matrix in the basis consisting of QWR eigenfunc-
tions
 d i  
  
 ρλ µ (k,t) = εµ (k) − ελ (k) ρλ µ (k,t) + i∑ ρλν (k,t)Ωνµ (k,t) − Ωλν (k,t)ρνµ (k,t)
 dt h¯ ν
   
 d 
 + ρ(k,t) , (3)
 dt scatt λ µ
where
 " #
 1 e λλ 0µ0µ 0 0
 Ω (k,t) = A(t) · p (k) − V (k,k )ρ 0 0 (k ,t) . (4)
 λ µ h m λ µ ∑ λ µ
 ¯ 0 λ 0,µ0,k0
 PHOTOCURRENT IN GaAs QUANTUM WIRES INCLUDING EXCITONIC EFFECTS 79
 1.54
 1.52
 1.50
 1.48
 AlGaAs
 1.46
 z=[110]
 GaAs 
 12 nm
 0.00
 Energy (eV) Energy
 y=[1-10]
 12 nm
 x=[001]
 -0.01
 -0.02
 -0.03
 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
 -1
 k (nm )
 Fig. 1. Band structure of a [001]-oriented GaAs/Al0.35Ga0.65As QWR with a square
 cross section. The inset shows the cross section and orientation of the QWR.
Here, A(t) is the vector potential of the light field and p(k) is the canonical momentum matrix. In
our k · p model, the momentum matrix elements are defined by
 Z Z 14
 λ∗ m0 k·p  µ
 pλ µ (k) = dy dz ∑ fnk (y,z) ∇kH (k) fmk(y,z). (5)
 n=1 h¯ nm
The 1D Coulomb matrix elements between QWR eigenfunctions read
 2 Z Z Z Z  q 
 λλ 0µ0µ 0 2e 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
 V (k,k ) = dy dy dz dz K0 |k − k| (y − y) + (z − z)
 ∞
 14 14
 λ∗ λ 0 µ0∗ 0 0 µ 0 0
 × ∑ fmk (y,z) fmk0 (y,z) ∑ fnk0 (y ,z ) fnk(y ,z ), (6)
 m=1 n=1
80 C. NGO AND H. T. DUC
 d 
where K0 is modified Bessel function of second kind. The last term in Eq. (3), dt ρ(k,t)scatt,
denotes the constribution from scattering processes and is approximately given by
  d    −ρ (k,t) − f FD(ε (k),T)/τ λ = µ
 ρ(k,t) = λλ λ 1 , (7)
  −ρ (k,t)/τ λ 6= µ
 dt scatt λ µ λ µ 2
 FD
where τ1 and τ2 are phenomenological relaxation and dephasing times, respectively. f (ελ (k),T)
is the Fermi-Dirac distribution at temperature T. The chemical potential of this thermal distribu-
tion is chosen to yield the same density as the actual distribution. Since the scattering in one
dimension is less effective than that in higher dimensions, we use long relaxation and dephasing
times of τ1 = τ2 = 0.5 ps in our calculations [26].
 In velocity gauge, the vector potential A(t) is related to the electric field E(t) by A(t) =
R t 0 0
 −∞ E(t )dt . We represent the electric field for the excitation laser pulse as
  −t2/2τ2 iωt 
 E(t) = E0e e L e + c.c. , (8)
where E0 is the amplitude, e is the polarization direction, τL is the pulse duration, and ω is the
 3
frequency of light. In our numerical calculations, we use E0 = 5 × 10 V/cm and τL = 150 fs.
 From the density matrix obtained by solving the multiband SBE (3), we can compute the
electric current
 e e
 j(t) = Tr[pρ] = p (k)ρ (k,t). (9)
 m m ∑ λ µ µλ
 0 0 λ,µ,k
 The diagonal (ballistic) contribution (λ = µ) to the total current j(t) can be expressed in
the form
 d
 j = e∑vλ (k) fλ (k), (10)
 λ,k
 −1
where vλ (k) = h¯ ∂ελ (k)/∂k is the group velocity and fλ (k) = ρλλ (k) is the electron occupa-
tion. Since vλ (k) is an odd function of k, nonvanishing ballistic current requires an asymmetric
population of photoexcited carriers in k-space.
 The off-diagonal contribution (λ 6= µ) to j(t) can also be represented as [2, 3, 9]
 o.d 0 0
 j = e ∑ Rλ µ (k,k )Wλ µ (k,k ), (11)
 λ6=µ,k,k0
where R is the shift vector and W is the electron transition rate. This term describes the shift of
electron wave packet in real space during the interband transition, and hence is called the shift
current.
III. NUMERICAL RESULTS
 In the following, we present and discuss numerical results on the photocurrent in a square
GaAs/AlGaAs QWR excited by linearly polarized laser pulses. The description of the QWR and
its band structure is given as in Fig. 1. The direction and strength of the photocurrent depend on the
excitation geometry. In the square QWR with the symmetry of C4v point group, the photocurrent
vanishes when the light polarization is parallel to the wire axis x = [001]. This kind of photocurrent
however is present in lower symmetry systems such as rectangular QWRs. To maximize the
current strength we choose the light polarization parallel to either y = [110¯ ] or z = [110] axis.
 PHOTOCURRENT IN GaAs QUANTUM WIRES INCLUDING EXCITONIC EFFECTS 81
These two excitation geometries produce photocurrents with the same strength but flowing in
opposite directions.
 3
 (a) (b) w/o Coulomb
 6 HFA
 4
 2 −
 h ω = 1.491 eV
 2
 Absorption (arb. units)
 1 0
 − 8 (c)
 h ω = 1.486 eV
 6
 0 4
 −
 h ω = 1.481 eV
 2
 DC Amplitude (arb. units)
 Current density (arb. units) −1 0
 6 (d) w/o Coulomb
 HFA
 − ω 4
 −2 h = 1.476 eV
 2
 −3 AC Amplitude (arb. units) 0
 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 1.46 1.47 1.48 1.49 1.5 1.51 1.52
 Time (ps) Photon energy (eV)
 Fig. 2. (a) Time evolution of the photocurrent in the QWR for different photon energies.
 (b) Linear absorption spectra of the QWR. (c) DC amplitude and (d) AC amplitude of the
 photocurrent versus photon energy. The solid (dashed) lines are obtained by calculations
 with (without) Coulomb interaction. The vertical solid lines mark the bandgap energy
 Eg = 1.486 eV and the vertical dashed lines at 1.47 eV and 1.49 eV highlight the heavy-
 hole and light-hole exciton energies, respectively.
 Figure 2(a) shows the time evolution of the photocurrent for different photon energies.
Without Coulomb interaction, the photocurrent consists of only the shift current (see dashed lines
in Fig. 2(a)). The oscillation of the shift current is due to the coherence between the heavy-hole
and light-hole valence bands. When electron-hole interaction is included, besides an enhancement
of the shift current, an oscillatory ballistic current arises and makes an important contribution to
the total current. We note that, in noncentrosymmetric media of GaAs, Coulomb matrix elements
(6) are not inversion invariant. This asymmetric Coulomb interaction between electrons and holes
leads to an asymmetric occupation of photoexcited carriers in k-space, and thus a ballistic current.
 For further analysis of the photocurrent dynamics, we perform a Fourier transformation
| j(ω)| = |F [ j(t)]|. The low-frequency spectrum of | j(ω)| basically displays two peaks. The
peak at ω = 0 represents the direct current component while the other peak at a finite ω describes
82 C. NGO AND H. T. DUC
the alternating current component. Amplitudes of DC and AC components as a function of pho-
ton energy are shown in Figs. 2(c) and (d), respectively. Unlike the linear absorption plotted in
 −1/2
Fig. 2(b), which follows the law (h¯ω − Eg) of the 1D density of states (see the red dashed
line) and shows peaks at exciton energies (see the blue solid line), the dependence of photocurrent
amplitude on photon energy is more complex. Without Coulomb interaction, the variation of pho-
tocurrent amplitudes when photon energy increases does not well reflect the 1D density of states.
In particular, the amplitude does not reach the maximum at h¯ω = Eg as in the case of absorption,
but does at a greater photon energy. As demonstrated in Ref. [20], this difference is due to the
stronger influence of mixing between heavy- and light-hole valence bands on the photocurrent
than the absorption. With electron-hole attraction, due to the excitonic enhancement of absorp-
tion, the current amplitude is strongly enhanced for excitations near the bandgap. Regarding the
photocurrent spectrum, we obtain a spectral shift to lower energies corresponding to the exciton
binding energy. Moreover, in between the heavy-hole and light-hole exciton energies, we find an
interesting zero crossing at h¯ω = 1.48 eV (see Fig. 2(c)) that corresponds to a directional reversal
of the photocurrent.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
 We have investigated the photocurrents induced by linearly-polarized laser pulses in GaAs
QWRs. We show that the existence of ballistic current is entirely due to asymmetric electron-hole
scatterings. The formation of bound excitons strongly enhances the strength of ballistic and shift
currents for excitations slightly below the bandgap and causes oscillations in the transient of these
currents. Together with excitonic effects, the valence-band mixing influences the photocurrent
resulting in a complex dependence of current amplitudes on the excitation photon energy.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
 This work is funded by Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Devel-
opment (NAFOSTED) under Grant No. 103.01-2017.42. We thank the Center for Informatics and
Computing, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology for providing computing time.
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