Optical spectra of nitride quantum-dot systems: From tight-binding states to many-body effects

A microscopic theory for optical properties of self-assembled quantum-dot systems is presented. For nitride-based material systems, the single-particle states are determined from atomistic tight-binding (TB) calculations. This includes not only localized quantum-dot states but also delocalized wetting-layer states, since both contribute to the optical properties and are coupled via interaction processes. The TB wave functions are used to calculate matrix elements for optical dipole transitions as well as Coulomb and LO-phonon interaction of carriers. Absorption and gain spectra are investigated via a solution of the semiconductor Bloch equations including Coulomb interaction effects as well as dephasing due to carrier interaction with LO-phonons. Numerical results are presented for InN/GaN QD-WL systems and allow to investigate the excitation-density dependence of the optical spectra for this particular system.