Stark and Rashba effects in GaN nanowires

Abstract

The effects of an external electric field on the electronic structure of GaN nanowires, as well as GaAs nanowires for comparison, are investigated theoretically. It is found that there is an anti-crossing effect in GaN nanowires caused by a small electric field, the hole energy levels, hole wave functions, and optical oscillator strengths change dramatically when the radius (R) is around a critical radius (Rc), while this effect is absent in GaAs nanowires. When R is slightly smaller than Rc, the highest hole states are optically dark in the absence of the electric field, and a small electric field can change them to be optically bright, due to the coupling of hole states brought by the field. The Rashba spin-orbit effect is also studied. The electron Rashba coefficient α increases linearly with the electric field. While the hole Rashba coefficients β do not increase linearly, but have complicated relationships with the electric field.