Third harmonic generation in intraband transitions of spherical silicon quantum dots

A theoretical study of the third harmonic generation (THG) is reported involving intraband transitions in the conduction band of spherical Si semiconductor quantum dot surrounded by SiO2, Si3N4, and SiC matrix. The wave function and energies of a singly charged Si dot are calculated using the effective mass approximation. A finite barrier height is considered at the interface of the dot and the surrounding matrix. The results show that the THG coefficient of the silicon quantum dot strongly depends on the radius of the dot and the surrounding matrix. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4763477]