Hydrostatic pressure dependence of excitonic optical transitions in strained wurtzite GaN/AlN quantum disks

In the framework of the effective mass approximation, the effects of hydrostatic pressure on optical transitions associated with the excitons confined in strained wurtzite (WZ) GaN/AlN quantum disks (QDisks) with the confinement potential of finite depth are investigated by using a variational technique, with considering the influences of the built-in electric field (BEF) and the biaxial strain dependence of material parameters. The Schrödinger equation via the proper choice of the exciton trial wave function is solved. The behaviors of the excitonic optical transition are examined at different pressures for different QDisk sizes. In our calculations, the effective masses of electron and hole, dielectric constants, phonon frequencies, energy gaps, and piezoelectric polarizations are taken into account as functions of biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure. Numerical results show that the hydrostatic pressure and the QDisk size have a remarkable influence on exciton states. The calculated pressure coefficient of optical transition energy shows a negative value if the QDisk height L > 3.2 nm, in contrast with the positive pressure coefficient of the GaN band gap. The peculiar pressure behavior is related to the pressure-induced increase of the built-in electric field. For a fixed pressure, the optical transition energy has a red-shift if the QDisk height and radius increase and QDisk height has a more obvious influence on Eph than QDisk radius. Furthermore, the relationship between the radiative decay time and hydrostatic pressure (QDisk height) is also investigated. It is found that the radiative decay time increases with pressure and the increment tendency is more prominent for the large height QDisks. The radiative decay time strongly increases by three orders of magnitude reaching microsecond order if the QDisk height increases from 1 nm to 3 nm.

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► Pressure effects on exciton transitions in GaN/AlN quantum disks (QDisks) are studied.
► Pressure coefficient of transition energy shows a negative value if QDisk height >3.2 nm.
► Optical transition energy has a red-shift with increasing QDisk height and radius.
► Electric field and pressure can significantly modify radiative decay time.