Spin-orbit coupling and crystal-field splitting in the electronic and optical properties of nitride quantum dots with a wurtzite crystal structure

TL;DR

This paper develops an $sp^3$ tight-binding model incorporating strain, piezoelectricity, spin-orbit coupling, and crystal-field effects to analyze the electronic and optical properties of wurtzite nitride quantum dots, focusing on InN/GaN structures.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive tight-binding model that accounts for multiple physical effects to study quantum dot properties.

Findings

Electronic and optical properties depend on structural parameters.

Crystal-field splitting and spin-orbit coupling significantly influence spectra.

Model accurately predicts excitonic absorption spectra.

Abstract

We present an $sp^3$ tight-binding model for the calculation of the electronic and optical properties of wurtzite semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). The tight-binding model takes into account strain, piezoelectricity, spin-orbit coupling and crystal-field splitting. Excitonic absorption spectra are calculated using the configuration interaction scheme. We study the electronic and optical properties of InN/GaN QDs and their dependence on structural properties, crystal-field splitting, and spin-orbit coupling.