Electronic structure of the ridge quantum wire based on an analytic confinement model

An electronic structure calculation for the novel quantum wire structure recently fabricated and named the ‘‘ridge quantum wire’’ [Koshiba et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 363 (1994)] is reported. In the calculation, the actual confinement potential was approximated by an analytic model, which considerably facilitates the solution of the Schrödinger equation by the finite element method. The result clearly indicates the strong confinement of both electrons and holes. Also the quantization energy obtained, with exciton effects included, is in good agreement with the photoluminescence peak energy.