Intermediate band formation and intraband absorption for electrons in an inhomogeneous chain of quantum dots

Abstract: We study the electron states of a chain of non-identical, vertically stacked quantum dots (QDs). We discuss how the pseudo-band formed of the ground states confined in the QDs disintegrates upon increasing the inhomogeneity of the electron energies and analyze the impact of localization on the intraband absorption from the pseudo-band to extended (bulk) states. We describe also the dependence of the intraband absorption spectrum on the QD size.