Quantum-confinement effects on binding energies and optical properties of excitons in quantum dots

Quantum-confinement effects on the binding energy and the linear optical susceptibility of excitons in quantum dots are studied. It is found that the binding energy and the linear optical susceptibility are sensitive to the barrier height and the dot size. For an infinite barrier, the binding energy of excitons decreases monotonically with the increasing dot radius, and the absorption intensity has almost the same amplitude with the increasing photon energy. For a finite barrier, the binding energy has a maximum value with the increasing dot radius, and the absorption intensity damps rapidly with the increasing photon energy. The effective mass ratio is also found to have an influence on the binding energy. The results could be confirmed by future experiments on excitons in quantum dots.