Confined Franz-Keldysh effect in ZnO quantum dots

Within the framework of the effective mass approximation, the confined Franz-Keldysh effect is investigated theoretically in a cylindrical ZnO quantum dot (QD). Numerical results show that the application of an electric field can decrease the strength and the threshold energy of the optical absorption coefficient in ZnO QD. There are additional oscillations in the absorption above the effective band gap, which are due to the Franz-Keldysh effect which occurs in the presence of the electric field. Our results also show that the electric field has a more obviously influence on the optical absorption in cylindrical ZnO QD with larger dot height. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.