Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 115302 (7pp)

doi:10.1088/0953-8984/26/11/115302

A quantum dot in topological insulator

nanofilm
Thakshila M Herath1 , Prabath Hewageegana2 and Vadym Apalkov1
1
2

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
Department of Physics, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya 11600, Sri Lanka

E-mail: vapalkov@gsu.edu
Received 11 November 2013, revised 8 January 2014
Accepted for publication 16 January 2014
Published 3 March 2014

Abstract

We introduce a quantum dot in topological insulator nanofilm as a bump at the surface of the
nanofilm. Such a quantum dot can localize an electron if the size of the dot is large enough,
&5 nm. The quantum dot in topological insulator nanofilm has states of two types, which
belong to two (conduction and valence) bands of the topological insulator nanofilm. We
study the energy spectra of such defined quantum dots. We also consider intraband and
interband optical transitions within the dot. The optical transitions of the two types have the
same selection rules. While the interband absorption spectra have multi-peak structure, each of
the intraband spectra has one strong peak and a few weak high frequency satellites.
Keywords: quantum dot, topological insulator, absorption spectrum
(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction

confinement potential with smooth boundaries. Such nonconventional behavior of electrons in graphene is determined
by their unique low energy dispersion, which is gapless
and relativistic, while the corresponding states are chiral
[5, 6]. The electrons in graphene behave as massless Dirac
fermions.
Another system showing a dispersion law similar to that of
graphene and correspondingly similar localization properties
is that of the 3D topological insulators (TI) [713], which were
first predicted theoretically and then observed experimentally
in Bix Sb1x , Bi2 Te3 , Sb2 Te3 , and Bi2 Se3 materials. The
unique features of 3D TIs are gapless surface states with
a low energy dispersion; its law is similar to the dispersion
law of a massless Dirac fermion. Such relativistic dispersion
laws have been observed by different experimental techniques
[9, 10, 1221].
Like for graphene, the conventional quantum dots, which
can localize an electron, cannot be realized in TIs through an
electrostatic confinement potential. To introduce a quantum
dot in TI, one can consider a TI of finite nanoscale size
[22, 23] or introduce a gap in the dispersion law of the
surface states. Such a gap in the energy dispersion is opened
for TI nanofilm [2426]. Due to the finite extension of
the surface states into the bulk, the surface states at two

Unique properties of semiconductor quantum dots, or

artificial atoms, are determined by their discrete energy
spectrum, which can be tuned externally through the nature
and the strength of the confinement potential [1]. Such
zero-dimensional systems show both specific electron transport with nonlinear features and controllable optical properties. The main interest in the quantum dots is related to
their potential for applications, ranging from those in novel
lasers and photodetectors to those in quantum information
processing.
In conventional semiconductor systems, quantum dots
are introduced either by placing one nanosized material
into another material, e.g. by the StranskiKrastanov growth
technique, or by applying a specially designed electrostatic
confinement potential to low-dimensional systems. In both
cases the confinement potential is introduced, which results in
electron localization within the quantum dot region. Recently,
quantum dots of a new type, graphene quantum dots [24]
with electrostatic confinement potential, were considered. In
such quantum dots, due to the Klein paradox, the electrons
cannot be localized, and can only be trapped for a long
enough time [3]. The longest trapping time is realized in a
0953-8984/14/115302+07$33.00

c 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd

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J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 115302

T M Herath et al

surfaces of TI nanofilm are coupled. Such coupling introduces

a gap in the energy dispersion law. Below we consider
only TIs for which the gap is opened for the nanofilm
system. For example, our results are applicable to Bi2 Se3
and we will use the parameters of this TI for numerical
analysis.
We introduce a quantum dot in such TI nanofilm as a
finite region of TI nanofilm with a larger thickness. Due to
the gapped structure of the energy dispersion in TI nanofilm,
such a quantum dot can localize an electron. We consider only
a single-electron problem and for a single electron calculate
both the energy spectra and the optical transitions within the
TI quantum dot.
The paper is organized as follows. In section 2, we
introduce a quantum dot in TI nanofilm and describe a method
of calculating the energy and optical spectra of such a quantum
dot. In section 3, we present the results of calculations. In
section 4 we present the concluding discussion of the results
obtained.
2. The model and main equations

Figure 1. (a) A schematic illustration of a TI quantum dot of

cylindrical symmetry. The TI nanofilm has a thickness L 2 . The

quantum dot is introduced as a region of nanofilm with thickness L 1
and is characterized by its height h = L 1 L 2 and radius R.
(b) A band edge profile of a TI quantum dot is shown schematically
for conduction and valence bands of the system. The bandgaps 1g,1
and 1g,2 are the bandgaps of TI nanofilm with thicknesses L 1 and
L 2 , respectively.

We employ a TI nanofilm, which is characterized by nanoscale

thickness L, to design a TI quantum dot. A quantum dot in such
nanofilm is introduced as a region of the nanofilm of larger
thickness. We assume that the quantum dot has cylindrical
symmetry and is characterized by its height h and radius
Rsee figure 1. Thus the quantum dot can be described as
topological insulator nanofilm with thickness L at > R and
thickness L + h at < R, where is the 2D distance from the
center of the quantum dot. Below we consider only one set of
thicknesses of the system, i.e., L = 20 and h = 20 , and we
vary the radius R of the quantum dot.
To find the energy spectrum of the quantum dot system
and the corresponding optical transitions, we introduce a 4 4
matrix Hamiltonian which represents the effective low energy
model of topological insulator nanofilm. The Hamiltonian
describes the 2D in-plane electron dynamics in TI nanofilm
and has the following form [25]:


H+
0
H=
0 H

For homogeneous TI nanofilm, the electron states are

characterized by the 2D wavevector, (k x , k y ) = ( px , p y )/h ,
and the corresponding energy spectrum,


2
E (k, L) = D1 2 + D2 k 2
L
s
2

2
(2)

B1 2 + B2 k 2 + A22 k 2 ,
L
has two bands (branches): (i) the conduction band with
energy E + and positive effective mass at p = 0 and (ii) the
valence band with energy E and negative effective mass.
The band edges for TI nanofilm of thickness L are at E c (L) =
2
(D1 + B1 ) L 2 for the conduction band and at E v (L) = D1

p 2

A2
x p y y p x
h



2
p 2
+ B1 2 + B2 2 z z
L
h

= D1

L2

+ D2

h2

B1 L 2 for the valence band. The corresponding bandgap is

2

(1)

1g = 2B1 L 2 . Thus the variable thickness of TI nanofilm

(figure 1) introduces variation of the conduction and valence
band edges, which generates confinement potential for both
conduction and valence bandssee figure 1(b).
To find the energy spectrum of a quantum dot we determine at a given energy E the general solution of the
Schrodinger equation with Hamiltonian (1) in two regions,
< R and > R. Then continuity condition at the boundary
= R determines the discrete energy spectrum of the quantum dot. From the eigenvalue equation, derived from matrix
Hamiltonian (1), one can obtain that for a given energy E there
are four values of wavevectors, corresponding to decaying and
2

where i (i = x, y, z) are Pauli matrices corresponding to

spin degrees of freedom, and z is the Pauli matrix corresponding to electron pseudospin, which describes the block
diagonal Hamiltonian matrix with H+ (for z = 1) and H
(for z = 1). Here p i = h /ri (i = x, y) is the electron
2D momentum, L is the thickness of the nanofilm, and A2 ,
B1 , B2 , D1 , D2 are parameters of the 3D model of the TI.
Below we consider Bi2 Se3 TI, for which these parameters
are [27] A2 = 4.1 eV , B1 = 10 eV 2 , B2 = 56.6 eV 2 ,
D1 = 1.3 eV 2 , D2 = 19.6 eV 2 .
2

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 115302

T M Herath et al

propagating waves in the nanofilm of a given thickness. These

wavevectors are
s
p
+ 2 + 4
k1, (E, L) =
,
(3)
2
s
p
2 + 4
,
(4)
k2, (E, L) =
2

2
where = B22 D22 , = B1 B2 D1 D2 2
+ 2E D2 +
L2


4
2
+ (D12 B12 ) L 4 . If E > E + or
A22 , and = E E D1 2
L2
E < E , i.e. the energy is not in the energy gap of the TI
nanofilm, then k1, are real and correspond to two propagating
waves, whereas k2, are purely imaginary and determine
decaying and growing modes. If E + > E > E , i.e. the energy
is in the bandgap, then all solutions, k1, and k2, , are
imaginary and describe either decaying or growing modes.
The localized modes of a quantum dot exist only in the
following energy ranges: E (L + h) > E > E (L) (valence
band states) and E + (L) > E > E + (L + h) (conduction band
states). In these energy ranges, the wavevector k1, (E, L + h)
is real and corresponds to a propagating mode inside a quantum
dot, while k2, (E, L + h), k1, (E, L), and k2, (E, L) are
imaginary and correspond to decaying modes both inside and
outside the quantum dot. A specific feature of a TI quantum
dot is that inside the quantum dot there are both propagating
and decaying modes, simultaneously.
Because of the double pseudospin degeneracy of the
electronic states, below we calculate the energy spectra of
the TI quantum dot for one component, e.g., z = 1, of
the pseudospin only. In two regions ( < R and > R)
the electron wavefunction with a z-component of angular
momentum m has the following form:


[a1 Q 1 Jm () + a2 M1 Im (q)]eim
() = 
(5)
a1 Q 2 Jm+1 () + a2 M2 Im+1 (q) ei(m+1)

In equations (5) and (6), Jm is the Bessel function of the first

kind, and Im and K m are modified Bessel functions of the first
and the second kind, respectively.
The energy spectrum is determined by the boundary
conditions, which are the continuity of the wavefunction and
that of its derivative at the boundary of the quantum dot, i.e.,
|=R+0 = |=R0 ,




=
.
=R+0
=R0

(7)
(8)

From these conditions we obtain the matrix equation, M(E)

a = 0, on coefficients a j , j = 1, . . . , 4, where M(E) is a 4 4
matrix, the elements of which depend on the energy E. Then
the energy spectrum is determined from numerical solution of
the nonlinear equation det M(E) = 0.
The optical transitions between the localized states of
the quantum dot are determined by the velocity operator,
vi H/ pi , which, for example for y-polarized light, has
the form


2N k
A
v y = A1 y 2N 2k ,
(9)
2

2 y

where we consider only one component of the pseudospin,

z . Then intensity of the optical transitions between the initial
state i and the final state f is
Ii f |hi |v y | f i|2 .

(10)

This expression determines the intensities of both interband

and intraband optical transitions. The above expressions
(9) and (10) also define the selection rule for optical transitions,
which is
1m = m f m i = 1,

(11)

where m i is the angular momentum of an electron in the initial

state and m f is the angular momentum of an electron in the
final state. The selection rule (11) is the same for both interband
and intraband transitions.

for < R and



[a3 31 K m (q1 ) + a4 F1 K m (q2 )]eim

() =
a3 32 K m+1 (q1 ) + a4 F2 K m+1 (q2 ) ei(m+1)
(6)

3. Results and discussion

for > R, where the constants a j , j = 1, . . . , 4, are determined from the continuity of the wavefunction and its
derivative and from the normalization condition. Here =
k1,+ (E, L + h), q = k2,+ (E, L + h)/i, q1 = k1,+ (E, L)/i,
and q2 = k2,+ (E, L)/i. We also introduced the following
notation:

3.1. The energy spectrum

Below we consider only the single-particle energy spectrum.

For a many-electron system in the quantum dot this means that
we disregard the inter-electron interactions. At a given radius
R, a TI quantum dot has a finite number of localized energy
levels in the conduction and valence bands. The number of
levels in the quantum dot increases with radius R. In figure 2
the energy levels with angular momentum m = 0, 1, and 2 are
shown as functions of the quantum dot radius. The energy
levels follow the general tendency: with increasing R the
absolute value of the levels energy decreases. The interlevel
energy separation also decreases with increasing R.
For a given angular momentum m there is a critical size
(cr)
of the quantum dot Rm , so the energy levels with angular
momentum m exist only if the radius of the dot is larger than
(cr)
the critical one, R > Rm . For the conduction band, the critical

Q 1 = A2 ,
Q 2 = (D1 + B1 ) 2 /(L + h)2 + (D2 + B2 ) 2 E,
M1 = A2 q,
M2 = (D1 + B1 ) 2 /(L + h)2 (D2 + B2 )q 2 E,
31 = A2 q1 ,
32 = (D1 + B1 ) 2 /L 2 (D2 + B2 )q12 E,
F1 = A2 q2 ,
F2 = (D1 + B1 ) 2 /L 2 (D2 + B2 )q22 E.
3

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 115302

T M Herath et al

to the lowest energy state at momentum m f = m i + 1 in the

conduction band. The number of peaks is equal to the number
of different angular momenta in the valence band. For example,
at R = 100 nm, the states in the valence band exist at only two
different angular momenta, m i = 0 and 1. In this case there are
two main peaks B1 and B2 in the interband absorption spectra.
Similarly, at R = 200 nm, there are three main peaks B1 , B2 ,
and B3 . There are also peaks B4 and B5 , which have almost
the same frequency as B1 and B2 but smaller intensity. The
intensities of the peaks of the multi-peak absorption spectra
decrease with increasing angular momentum of the initial state.
In figure 5 the intraband optical spectra are shown for
different quantum dot sizes. The optical spectra each consist of
one main peak A1 , which corresponds to the transition from the
lowest state in the conduction band with angular momentum
m i = 0 to the lowest state in the conduction band with angular
momentum m f = 1. There is also a higher energy satellite
optical line A2 with low intensity, which corresponds to the
transition from the lowest state with m i = 1 to the lowest state
with m f = 2. Thus, the intraband optical spectra have mainly
a single-peak structure with the frequency, which varies with
the radius of the quantum dot and is in the range of 3070 meV.

Figure 2. The energy levels of the conduction band (positive

energies) and valence band (negative energies) are shown as
functions of the quantum dot radius R. Only the levels with angular
momentum m = 0, 1, and 2 are shown.
(cr)

radii for angular momentum m = 0, 1, and 2 are R0 = 15 AA,

(cr)
(cr)
R1 = 55 , and R2 = 88.5 . For the valence band, the
(cr)
(cr)
corresponding critical radii are R0 = 53 , R1 = 84 ,
(cr)
and R2 = 111.5 .
The data shown in figure 2 illustrate that the quantum
dot system does not have symmetry between the conduction
and valence band energy spectra. The critical radii for the
conduction and valence bands are also different.
In figure 3 the whole energy spectra are shown for four
radii of the TI quantum dot: 50, 100, 150 and 200 . For a
small quantum dot, R = 50 , there is only one energy level.
This level belongs to the conduction band and has angular
momentum m = 0, while no energy levels exist in the valence
band. Upon increasing the size of the dot, more levels appear
both in the conduction band and in the valence band.

3.3. The electron density

At a given value of the pseudospin, for example, z = 1, the

electron wavefunctions in a TI quantum dot have two components, () = [1 (), 2 ()]see equations (5) and (6).
These two components correspond to two directions of the
electron spin, e.g., spin up and spin down. In this case we
can introduce two characteristics of the wavefunction: spatial
distributions of the charge density and spin density. They are
defined through the following expressions:
4charge () = |1 ()|2 + |2 ()|2

(12)

for the electron charge density and

3.2. Optical transitions

4spin () = |1 ()|2 |2 ()|2

We consider optical transitions of two types: (i) interband

transitions between the states of valence and conduction bands
and (ii) intraband optical transitions between the states of the
conduction band. In both cases we consider a non-interacting
electron system, i.e., the TI quantum dot is occupied by a single
electron, which can be in different initial (valence of conduction band) states. For interband and intraband optical transitions the selection rules, which are given by equation (11), are
the same.
The main optical transitions with the largest intensities
are shown by dashed lines in figure 3 for TI quantum dots of
different radii. The intraband transitions are labeled A, while
interband transitions are labeled B. The optical transitions
mainly occur between the lowest energy states at a given
angular momentum. Although other optical transitions are
allowed by the selection rule, their intensities are small.
In figure 4 interband optical spectra are shown for different
sizes of the TI quantum dot. The spectra show multi-peak
structure. The main transitions occur from the highest energy
states at a given angular momentum, m i , in the valence band

(13)

for the electron spin density.

The electron charge density for a quantum dot of radius
R = 150 is shown in figure 6 for the states with angular
momentum m = 0 and 1. For each angular momentum the
charge density is shown for the two lowest energy states of
the conduction band. The density profile shows the general
tendency expected for localized modes of semiconductor
quantum dots. The density is finite at = 0 only for the
states with m = 0, while for m > 0 the electron density is
zero at = 0. With increasing energy of the state the electron
density shows more oscillations and an electron becomes more
localized near the center ( = 0) of the quantum dot.
The specific feature of the TI quantum dot is the existence
in region < R of two waves: a propagating wave with real
wavevector and decaying waves with imaginary wavevector.
Similarly, in the region > R there are also two waves; both of
them are decaying waves. For reflection of the electron wave
from a step-like defect at the surface of the TI nanofilm, the
existence of waves of two types results in enhancement of the
4

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 115302

T M Herath et al

Figure 3. The energy spectra of the TI quantum dot are shown as a function of the angular momentum m for different radii R of the quantum

dot: (a) 50 , (b) 100 , (c) 150 , and (d) 200 . At R = 50 there is only one energy level in the conduction band. The dotted lines with
arrows show the main intraband (labeled A) and interband (labeled B) optical transitions.

Figure 4. The absorption interband optical spectra are shown for

Figure 5. The absorption intraband optical spectra are shown for

different radii R of the quantum dot: (a) 100 , (b) 150 , and
(c) 200 . The labels of the optical lines correspond to the labels of
the transitions in figure 3. The optical spectra have multi-peak
structure.

different radii R of the quantum dot: (a) 100 , (b) 150 , and
(c) 200 . The labels of the optical lines correspond to the labels of
transitions in figure 3. The optical spectra have one strong line with
small satellites.

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 115302

T M Herath et al

Figure 6. The electron charge density distribution is shown for a

quantum dot of radius 150 . The density is shown for conduction
band states with angular momentum (a) m = 0 and (b) m = 1. The
numbers 1 and 2 next to the lines correspond to the lowest
energy state and the first excited state with a given angular
momentum, respectively.

Figure 7. The electron density distribution is shown for a quantum

dot of radius 150 for two states with angular momentum m = 0.

The numbers 1 and 2 next to the lines correspond to the lowest
energy state and the first excited state, respectively. (a) The density
of electrons with spin up, |1 ()|2 ; (b) the density of electrons with
spin down, |2 ()|2 ; (c) the electron spin density, 4spin ().

electron density near the step-like defect [26]. For the localized
modes in the TI quantum dots, as follows from figure 6, there
is no enhancement or singularity near the boundary of the
quantum dot.
In regular semiconductor quantum dots without spinorbit
interaction the charge and spin densities are equal to each
other, 4charge () = 4spin (). With spinorbit interaction the
charge and spin densities are different [28, 29]. In topological
insulators, it is a strong spinorbit interaction that results in
such unique gapless surface states. Therefore, in TI quantum
dots, the spinorbit interaction, which is already included
implicitly in effective Hamiltonian (1), is expected to be strong.
In this case the electron charge density and spin density should
be strongly different. In figure 7 the electron spin density is
shown for a quantum dot of radius R = 150 for the two lowest
energy levels of the conduction band with angular momentum
m = 0. In figures 7(a) and (b) the electron spin density is shown
for spin up and spin down, respectively. The data show that
the electron density with spin down is almost 6 times smaller
than the corresponding density with spin up. The spin density,
which is shown in figure 7(c), is positive at almost all points.
Thus, in a TI quantum dot the spinorbit interaction does not
affect the electron spin strongly and the electron has almost
the same orientation of spin at all points within a quantum

dot. The spin density is also close to the charge density (see
figure 6(a)).
The reason for such a weak effect of the spinorbit
interaction on the localized electron states in the TI quantum
dot is related to the following property of TI nanofilm. For
homogeneous TI nanofilm with uniform thickness, the mixing
due to spinorbit interaction of the states with different spins
depends on the electron wavevector. For the TI nanofilm of
thickness 40 , the strongest mixing of 15% is realized at
the wavevector 0.03 1 . For other wavevectors the mixing
is smaller. For example, for the wavevector 0.01 1 the
mixing is 7%. The localized states of the quantum dot are
combinations of the plane waves, where the main contribution
comes from the 1/R 0.01 1 wavevector. For such a
wavevector, the mixing of the state with different spins is
small (7%), which is illustrated in figure 7. For example,
for the function number 1, shown in figure 7, the ratio of
coefficients Q 1 and Q 2 (see equation (5)), which determines
the mixing of the states with different spins, is Q 1 /Q 2 3.
As a result, the electron density with spin down is an order of
magnitude smaller than the electron density with spin up (see
also figure 7).
6

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 115302

T M Herath et al

4. Concluding remarks

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The gap in the energy dispersion of the surface states of TI can

be opened for a TI nanofilm. The coupling of the surface states
at opposite boundaries of TI nanofilm introduces conduction
and valence bands in the energy spectrum of the TI nanofilm.
The bands are separated by a bandgap, which is proportional
to 1/L 2 . In this case the quantum dot can be realized as a
region of nanofilm of larger thickness. Such a quantum dot is
characterized by its height and radius. The quantum dot can
be grown experimentally by the droplet epitaxy method [30],
which allows one to design nanostructures of different types.
We calculated, within an effective model of TI nanofilm, an
energy spectrum and optical transitions in a single-electron
system of TI quantum dots.
The electron states are characterized by the z-component
of the angular momentum, m. For each value of m, there is a
critical size (radius) of the quantum dot, which depends on the
height of the quantum dot, such that the states with angular
momentum m exist only in quantum dots with radius larger
than the critical radius, R (cr) .
The selection rule for the optical transitions is 1m = 1;
it is the same for interband and intraband transitions. The
interband optical absorption occurs mainly between the lowest
energy states of the valence and conduction bands, increasing
the angular momentum by 1. The interband absorption spectra
have multi-peak structure with the number of peaks equal to
the number of different angular momentum at which the states
in the valence band exist.
The intraband absorption spectra each consist of one
main peak and small high frequency satellites. The main peak
corresponds to an optical transition between the lowest energy
state with angular momentum m = 0 and the lowest energy
state with angular momentum m = 1.
The charge and spin density distributions for electron
states in a TI quantum dot show that the electron spin has
almost the same direction at all points inside the quantum dot.
Thus the spin density almost coincides with the charge density.
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