Radiation-induced current in quantum wires with side-coupled nano-rings

Abstract

Photocurrent generation is studied in a system composed of a quantum wire with side-coupled quantum rings. The current generation results from the interplay of the particular geometry of the system and the use of circularly polarized radiation. We study the energy-momentum conservation for optical transitions involving electrons moving forwards and backwards in the wire. Due to the lack of time-reversal symmetry in the radiation, the optical transitions depend on the direction of motion of the electrons, leading to a current at zero bias voltage. The photocurrent increases with the number of rings within a wide range of physical parameters. A weak non-linear dependence of the current in the number of rings, related to quantum interference effects, is also predicted. This geometry suggests a scalable method for the generation of sizeable photocurrents based on nanoscale components.