Metacrystals: Three Dimensional Systems of Interacting Quantum Dots

摘要

Extensive work has put the nanoscopic quantum dot squarely in the center offuture developments of a new class of engineered semiconductors. The quantumdot, as a starting tool for engineered semiconductors, is unique in that it hasdiscrete energy levels similar to atoms. As with semiconductors synthesized fromatoms, the wavefunction overlap between closely spaced quantum dots can causeenergy bands to form. Research up until this point focused on techniques to obtainquantum dots of uniform size and uniform spacing. The challenge now is todetermine how properties determined by the size, composition, spacing, andinterlayer material can be manipulated to obtain a desired band structure.Furthermore, it is conceivable that properties such as the effective mass and bandgap not only can be tailored through proper control of the dot composition, butalso can be controlled dynamically through externally applied signals.