Wave-packet propagation method for the quantum-confined Stark effect in coupled double quantum wells (Invited Paper)

ABSTRACT A wavepacket propagation method is presented for analyzing perpendicular-field electroabsorption in quantumwells. The method evolves the pair envelope wavefunction for electrons and holes under Coulomb interactionand an applied electric field by a split-step algorithm. The power of the method is demonstrated by calculatingground-state properties, excitonic spectra, and certain features of electron-hole quantum dynamics in coupled double quantum wells (CDQW). First, an initial wavefunction tailored to the ground state is evolved in imaginary time and used to compute pair energies, exciton binding energies, and pair probability distributions.Second, an initial wavepacket tailored to the absorption spectrum is evolved in real time and used to recordautocorrelation functions, mean positions of electrons and holes, and the excitonic spectra from the Fouriertransform of the autocorrelation function. It is shown that the experimentally observed characteristics of thequantum-confined Stark effect are reproduced, and that significant migration of carriers occurs during theformation of the field-induced dipole moment.