Effects of ternary mixed crystal and size on intersubband optical absorption in wurtzite InGaN/GaN core-shell nanowires

Based on the density matrix approach, the effects of ternary mixed crystal and size on intersubband optical absorption coefficients in InxGa1-xN/GaN core-shell nanowires (CSNWs) are investigated. The results show that the optical absorption can be modulated by In component x and the size of CSNWs, since the variation of electron states in these systems. It is found that photonic frequencies of resonant absorption and the absorption coefficient increase obviously when x increases or the radius of InGaN core reduces, while the half-width of the coefficient decreases as its peak becomes higher and sharper. A saturation phenomenon of optical absorption is also found when the incident light intensity exceeds a certain value. The theoretical results are expected to be helpful to develop CSNW optic devices. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.