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The Fine-Structure Constant as a Ruler for the Band-Edge Light Absorption Strength of Bulk and Quantum-Confined Semiconductors
- Source :
- Nano Letters, Nano Letters, 2021, 21 (22), pp.9426-9432. ⟨10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02682⟩, Nano Letters, American Chemical Society, 2021, ⟨10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02682⟩, Nano Letters: a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 21(22), NANO LETTERS, Nano Letters, 21(22), 9426. American Chemical Society
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- HAL CCSD, 2021.
-
Abstract
- International audience; Low-dimensional semiconductors have found numerous applications in optoelectronics. However, a quantitative comparison of the absorption strength of lowdimensional versus bulk semiconductors has remained elusive. Here, we report generality in the band-edge light absorptance of semiconductors, independent of their dimensions. First, we provide atomistic tight-binding calculations that show that the absorptance of semiconductor quantum wells equals mπα (m = 1 or 2 with α as the fine-structure constant), in agreement with reported experimental results. Then, we show experimentally that a monolayer (superlattice) of quantum dots has similar absorptance, suggesting an absorptance quantum of mπα per (confined) exciton diameter. Extending this idea to bulk semiconductors, we experimentally demonstrate that an absorptance quantum equal to mπα per exciton Bohr diameter explains their widely varying absorption coefficients. We thus provided compelling evidence that the absorptance quantum πα per exciton diameter rules the band-edge absorption of all direct semiconductors, regardless of their dimension.
- Subjects :
- Letter
Materials science
Exciton
Superlattice
Bioengineering
02 engineering and technology
01 natural sciences
Condensed Matter::Materials Science
0103 physical sciences
General Materials Science
Quantum coupling
fine-structure constant
[PHYS.COND]Physics [physics]/Condensed Matter [cond-mat]
010306 general physics
Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)
dielectric screening
optical transitions
Condensed matter physics
business.industry
Condensed Matter::Other
Mechanical Engineering
Fine-structure constant
General Chemistry
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Condensed Matter Physics
Condensed Matter::Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect
Chemistry
quantum coupling
Semiconductor
Quantum dot
Absorptance
light absorption
PBSE
0210 nano-technology
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 15306984 and 15306992
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nano Letters, Nano Letters, 2021, 21 (22), pp.9426-9432. ⟨10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02682⟩, Nano Letters, American Chemical Society, 2021, ⟨10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02682⟩, Nano Letters: a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 21(22), NANO LETTERS, Nano Letters, 21(22), 9426. American Chemical Society
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....bb36f8b00f4a14ed266fecd25fe3e06c