Magneto-optics of electronic transport in nanowires

Effects of irradiation on the electronic conductance in nanowires, for fiel d-free conditions and under the influence of applied longitudinal magnetic fields, were investigated. The nanowires were modeled within the free-elect ron framework with a parabolic (transverse) confining potential. Our result s for the dependence of the photoconductance of irradiated nanowires on the photon energy and/or the strength of the applied magnetic field show that such measurements may be used as a magneto-optic spectroscopy for determina tion of (i) the electron Fermi energy, (ii) the electron effective mass, an d (iii) the number of quantized modes in the nanowire. Such measurements ma y also be used to assess to what degree the electron transport through the nanowire is adiabatic. Furthermore, our results suggest a method for contro lling and tuning electronic transport in nanowires via external electromagn etic fields. [S0163-1829(98)07348-2].