EFFECT OF CROSS-SECTIONAL GEOMETRY ON THE RPA PLASMONS OF QUANTUM WIRES

The effect of cross-sectional geometry on both the intrasubband plasmo n and intersubband plasmon of a quantum wire is investigated within a two-subband RPA scheme. Exact analytical electronic wavefunctions for circular, elliptical and rectangular wires are employed within the inf inite barrier approximation. It is found that for fixed cross-sectiona l area and linear electron concentration, the intrasubband plasmon ene rgy is only marginally dependent on the wire geometry whereas the inte rsubband plasmon energy may change considerably due to its dependence on the electronic subband energy difference.