Lifetime of resonant state in a spherical quantum dot

Abstract

This paper calculates the lifetime of resonant state and transmission probability of a single electron tunnelling in a spherical quantum dot (SQD) structure by using the transfer matrix technique. In the SQD, the electron is confined both transversally and longitudinally, the motion in the transverse and longitudinal directions is separated by using the adiabatic approximation theory. Meanwhile, the energy levels of the former are considered as the effective confining potential. The numerical calculations are carried out for the SQD consisting of GaAs/InAs material. The obtained results show that the bigger radius of the quantum dot not only leads significantly to the shifts of resonant peaks toward the low-energy region, but also causes the lengthening of the lifetime of resonant state. The lifetime of resonant state can be calculated from the uncertainty principle between the energy half width and lifetime.