Coupled leaky mode theory for light absorption in 2D, 1D, and 0D semiconductor nanostructures

We present an intuitive, simple theoretical model, coupled leaky mode theory (CLMT), to analyze the light absorption of 2D, 1D, and 0D semiconductor nanostructures. This model correlates the light absorption of nanostructures to the optical coupling between incident light and leaky modes of the nanostructure. Unlike conventional methods such as Mie theory that requests specific physical features of nanostructures to evaluate the absorption, the CLMT model provides an unprecedented capability to analyze the absorption using eigen values of the leaky modes. Because the eigenvalue shows very mild dependence on the physical features of nanostructures, we can generally apply one set of eigenvalues calculated using a real, constant refractive index to calculations for the absorption of various nanostructures with different sizes, different materials, and wavelength-dependent complex refractive index. This CLMT model is general, simple, yet reasonably accurate, and offers new intuitive physical insights that the light absorption of nanostructures is governed by the coupling efficiency between incident light and leaky modes of the structure. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America