Low-lying exciton states in a type-II broken-gap quantum well structure: A variation-basis-set approach

Abstract

The exciton binding energy and the low-lying exciton states in a type-II broken-gap quantum well structure are studied. The conduction electron and the hole that form the exciton are spatially separated and are each confined by a quantum well. A variation-basis-set approach is proposed in which a set of variation basis set wavefunctions are constructed from the eigenstates of a variation Hamiltonian. The calculation of the exciton states can be carried out systematically and the accuracy of the state energies can be estimated. Numerical examples are presented, showing the rapid convergence of the excitonic levels with respect to the size of the variation basis set in and beyond the small well width regime. The effective binding energies for the states are found to increase with the decreasing of the well width. The low-lying exciton states in and beyond the small well width regime are presented.