John Wiley - Quantum wells, wires and dots: theoretical and computational physics of semiconductor nanostructures

This edition first published 2016

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Harrison, P. (Paul), author. | Valavanis, Alex, author.

Title: Quantum wells, wires and dots : theoretical and computational physics of semiconductor nanostructures / Paul Harrison (Sheffield Hallam University, UK), Alex Valavanis (The University of Leeds, UK).

Description: Fourth edition. | West Sussex, United Kingdom; Hoboken, NJ :

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016. | 2016 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015038317 (print) | LCCN 2015045402 (ebook) | ISBN 9781118923368 (cloth) | ISBN 1118923367 (cloth) | ISBN 9781118923351 (pdf) | ISBN 9781118923344 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Quantum wells. | Nanowires. | Quantum dots.

Classification: LCC QC176.8.Q35 H37 2016 (print) | LCC QC176.8.Q35 (ebook) |

DDC 537.6/226-dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015038317

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781118923368

To our families

Paul Harrison developed much of his input to this text through periods at the University of Newcastle as a postgraduate research student, the University of Hull as a postdoctoral research assistant and then at the University of Leeds where he eventually became Professor of Quantum Electronics. Paul is now Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He can always be found on the web and always answers e-mail. Currently he can be reached at:

Paul continues to be involved in a variety of projects, most of which centre around exploiting quantum mechanics for the creation of novel optoelectronic devices, largely, but not exclusively, in semiconductor Quantum Wells, Wires and Dots.

Alex Valavanis is a research fellow in the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics (IMP) at the University of Leeds, UK. He has published extensively on the theory and design of semiconductor nanostructures, and now works in the Terahertz Photonics Laboratory on the experimental development of terahertz imaging and sensor systems. His research interests include quantum cascade lasers, silicongermanium optoelectronics, band-structure and carrier transport effects in semiconductor heterostructures, numerical methods and terahertz photonics. He can be contacted at:

Zoran Ikoni is Reader in Photonics and Plasmonics in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. His research interests and experience include the full width of semiconductor physics and optoelectronic devices, in particular, band-structure calculations, strain-layered systems, carrier scattering theory, nonlinear optics, as well as conventional and quantum mechanical methods for device optimisation.

Vladimir Jovanovi completed his PhD in the IMP on physical models of quantum well infrared photodetectors and quantum cascade lasers in GaN- and GaAs-based materials for near-, mid- and far-infrared (terahertz) applications.

Marco Califano is a Royal Society University Research Fellow based in the IMP at Leeds whose main interests focus on atomistic pseudo-potential modelling of the electronic and optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures of different materials for applications in photovoltaics.

Craig A. Evans completed his PhD on the optical and thermal properties of quantum cascade lasers in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, in 2008. He then worked as a postdoctoral research assistant in the IMP in the field of rare-earth doped fibre lasers and integrated photonic device modelling and has now joined the staff of the school.

Dragan Indjin is Reader in Optoelectronics and Nanoscale Electronics in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He has research interests in semiconductor nanostructures, nonlinear optics, quantum computing and spintronics.

Andrew Grier completed his PhD in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds in 2015. His research interests include band-structure and transport calculations in quantum cascade lasers and GaN-based intersubband devices.

I have been working on theoretical and computational studies of the electronic, optical and magnetic properties of semiconductor heterostructures for two decades. During this time I have had to follow through various theoretical derivations from either books or research papers and frankly I've struggled time and time again. There never seems to be enough detail and what is commonly a couple of lines in a research paper can literally turn into many pages of precise mathematics.