Embedded Energy State in an Open Semiconductor Heterostructure

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that HgCdTe heterostructures can support bound electronic states within the continuum, enabling potential trapping of electrons with infinite lifetime despite being open and penetrable.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of embedded energy states in open semiconductor heterostructures and analyzes their trapping lifetime and conditions for electron capture.

Findings

Support for bound states within the continuum in HgCdTe heterostructures

Existence of trapped states with infinite lifetime despite openness

Analysis of trapping lifetime in detuned resonators

Abstract

In this paper, we show that HgCdTe heterostructures may support bound electronic states embedded in the continuum, such that the discrete energy spectrum overlaps the continuous spectrum. Although the proposed heterostructures are generally penetrable by an incoming electron wave, it is shown that they may support spatially localized trapped stationary states with an infinite lifetime. We discuss the possibility of a free electron being captured by the proposed open resonator, and present a detailed study of the trapping lifetime in the case of a detuned resonator.