FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF VALENCE-BAND STRUCTURE AND OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF QUANTUM-WIRE ARRAYS ON VICINAL SUBSTRATES

The valence subband dispersion of quantum-wire arrays grown on vicinal substrates in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs material system is calculated using a f inite-element method with periodic boundary conditions. The variationa l functional for the Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian is derived using the i ntegration by parts with proper boundary conditions. The validity of t his method is confirmed by calculating subband structure of quantum we lls and rectangular quantum wires. Along with the electronic band stru cture, a detailed study of gain in the quantum-wire arrays with rectan gular and serpentine shapes is presented, including the effect of coup ling between wires and polarization dependence of the momentum matrix element. Finally, these results are compared to those of quantum wells .