Stark effect of optical properties of excitons in a quantum nanorod with parabolic confinement

Abstract

We study the quantum Stark effect of optical properties of a quasi-one-dimensional quantum rod with parabolic confinement. Interplays between the competing/cooperative forces from confinement, electron–hole (e–h) attraction, and an external field are examined by studying the binding energy, the oscillator strength, and the root-mean-square (RMS) average of the e–h separation in a nonlinear electric field. In a long rod with weak confinement, the e–h interaction dominates over the confinement effect, yielding an abrupt drop of the exciton binding energy, oscillator strength, and a sudden increase of the RMS average e–h separation as the excitons are dissociated at the threshold field as the field increases. The exciton-dissociation transition is gradual in a short rod, where the confinement force dominates over the e–h attraction. We show that a DC field can induce an optically active excited exciton state in a narrow field range, causing a sharp peak in the oscillator strength and a dip in the RMS average of the e–h separation as the field increases. The Stark effects are also investigated as a function of the linear confinement length (i.e., rod length) at fixed fields.