Hole subband dispersions in a cylindrical Ge nanowire: exact results based on the axial Luttinger–Kohn Hamiltonian

Abstract

Based on the Luttinger–Kohn Hamiltonian in the axial approximation, the transcendental equations determining the hole subband dispersions in a cylindrical Ge nanowire are analytically derived. These equations are more general than that derived using the spherical approximation, and are suitable to study the growth direction dependence of the subband dispersions. The axial approximation almost gives rise to the accurate low-energy subband dispersions for high-symmetry nanowire growth directions [001] and [111]. The perturbation correction from the non-axial term is negligible for these two directions. The lowest two subband dispersions can be regarded as two shifted parabolic curves with an energy gap at kz=0 for both growth directions [001] and [111]. At the position of the energy gap, the eigenstates for growth direction [111] are inverted in comparison with the normal eigenstates for growth direction [001]. A nanowire growth direction where the energy gap closes at kz=0 is predicted to exist between directions [001] and [111].