MULTIBAND FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF WAVEFUNCTION-ENGINEERED ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEVICES

Abstract

Recent advances in the modeling of semiconductor heterostructures with complex geometries allow one to go beyond band-structure engineering to the more general concept of wavefunction engineering. In this work, we illustrate how tailoring the band mixing and spatial distribution of the carriers leads to an expanded degree of control over such properties as the dispersion relations, interband and intersubband transition matrix elements, nonlinear optical and electro-optical coefficients, and lifetimes. The computations are based on a multiband finite element method (FEM) approach which readily yields energy levels, electron and hole wavefunctions, and optical matrix elements for heterostructures with arbitrary layer thickness, material composition, and internal strain. Application of the FEM to laterally-patterned heterostructures is also discussed.