Electron g-factor in nanostructures: continuum media and atomistic approach

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Quantum Mechanics

Background:

• The Landé g-factor is crucial for understanding electron spin behavior in materials.
• Accurate modeling of nanostructures is essential for predicting their electronic properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the size-dependent Landé g-factor in Indium Arsenide (InAs) nanostructures.
• To develop and validate an effective mesoscopic model for InAs nanostructures.
• To explore the origins of electron spin state anti-crossing in these systems.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the continuous media approximation (CMA) method.
• Employed the atomistic tight-binding (TB) approach for detailed calculations.
• Developed and compared a novel mesoscopic model against atomistic calculations for nanostructures up to 60 million atoms.

Main Results:

• The mesoscopic model successfully reproduces results from atomistic calculations across various nanostructure sizes.
• Observed electron spin states anti-crossing at near-zero g-factor dimensions.
• Attributed spin state anti-crossing to the breaking of atomistic symmetry, not external factors like strain or shape anisotropy.

Conclusions:

• The proposed mesoscopic model offers an efficient and accurate tool for studying InAs nanostructures.
• Atomic symmetry breaking is a significant factor influencing electron spin behavior in nanostructures.
• This work provides fundamental insights into quantum phenomena in semiconductor nanostructures.