Optical rectification coefficients of cylindrical quantum dots: Rashba spin-orbit interaction effects

We numerically investigate the optical rectification coefficients (ORCs), spin density distributions, and electronic properties of cylindrical quantum dots in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit interactions. Effects of spin-orbit interaction strength, effective mass, and quantum dot radius are studied. The resulting coupled differential equations are solved by using a blocked Hamiltonian approach, in which the enlarged Hamiltonian matrix elements are obtained through a finite-difference discretization schema. We observe that in quantum dots with small radii, the energy dependence on effective mass is very important. We can also control the spin density and also probability density distributions by means of the effective mass and quantum dot radius. By increasing the Rashba parameter, a redshift occurs in the ORC peak positions. This redshift is greater in systems with greater effective masses. Finally, for a fixed Rashba parameter, by increasing the effective mass, the ORC peak positions undertake a redshift. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America