Optical properties of an elliptic quantum ring: Eccentricity and electric field effects

• Published in: Optical materials 2018-04, Vol.78, p.207-219
• Main Authors: Bejan, Doina, Stan, Cristina, Niculescu, Ecaterina C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Eccentricity; Electric field; Nonlinear optical absorption; Quantum ring; Second harmonic generation; Third harmonic generation
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2018.02.008

We have theoretically studied the electronic and optical properties of a GaAs/AlGaAs elliptic quantum ring under in-plane electric field. The effects of an eccentric internal barrier -placed along the electric field direction, chosen as x-axis- and incident light polarization are particularly taken into account. The one-electron energy spectrum and wave functions are found using the adiabatic approximation and the finite element method within the effective-mass model. We show that it is possible to repair the structural distortion by applying an appropriate in-plane electric field, and the compensation is almost complete for all electronic states under study. For both concentric and eccentric quantum ring the intraband optical properties are very sensitive to the electric field and probe laser polarization. As expected, in the systems with eccentricity distortions the energy spectrum, as well as the optical response, strongly depends on the direction of the externally applied electric field, an effect that can be used as a signature of ring eccentricity. We demonstrated the possibility of generating second harmonic response at double resonance condition for incident light polarized along the x-axis if the electric field or/and eccentric barrier break the inversion symmetry. Also, strong third harmonic signal can be generated at triple resonance condition for a specific interval of electric field values when using y-polarized light. •Optical properties of concentric and eccentric elliptic rings under electric field are studied.•The structural distortion of eccentric ring can be repaired by appropriate electric field.•Absorption spectra show clear redshift or blueshift at the electric field increment.•Second harmonic response at double resonance condition is obtained for x-polarized light.•Third harmonic signal at triple resonance condition is obtained for y-polarized light.