Enhancement of Coulomb interactions in semiconductor nanostructures by dielectric confinement

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how dielectric confinement enhances Coulomb interactions in semiconductor nanostructures, significantly affecting exciton binding and many-body states, with implications for quantum wires and dots.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of dielectric confinement effects on Coulomb interactions in quantum structures, highlighting potential for room temperature excitons and altered electronic states.

Findings

Enhanced electron-hole and electron-electron coupling due to dielectric confinement

Predicted room temperature exciton binding in GaAs quantum wires

Significant changes in many-body ground states and spectra in colloidal quantum dots

Abstract

We present a theoretical analysis of the effect of dielectric confinement on the Coulomb interaction in dielectrically modulated quantum structures. We discuss the implications of the strong enhancement of the electron-hole and electron-electron coupling for two specific examples: (i) GaAs-based quantum wires with remote oxide barriers, where combined quantum and dielectric confinements are predicted to lead to room temperature exciton binding, and (ii) semiconductor quantum dots in colloidal environments, where the many-body ground states and the addition spectra are predicted to be drastically altered by the dielectric environment.