Quantum mechanics explains the existence and properties of the chemical bond responsible for the formation of molecules from isolated atoms. In this work we study quantum states of Double Quantum Wells, DQW, formed from isolated Single Quantum Wells, SQWs, that can be considered metamaterials. Using the quantum chemistry definition of the covalent bond, we discuss molecular states in DQW as a kind of nanochemistry of metamaterials with new properties, in particular new optical properties. An important particularity of such nanochemistry, is the possible experimental control of the geometrical parameters and effective masses characterizing the semiconductor heterostructures represented by the corresponding DQW. This implies a great potential for new applications of the controlled optical properties of the metamaterials. The use of ab initio methods of intensive numerical calculations permits to obtain macroscopic optical properties of the metamaterials from the fundamental components: the spatial distribution of the atoms and molecules constituting the semiconductor layers. The metamaterial new optical properties emerge from the coexistence of many body processes at atomic and molecular level and complex quantum phenomena such as covalent-like bonds at nanometric dimensions.

Date Published: 1 September 2009
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7392, Metamaterials: Fundamentals and Applications II, 73920M (1 September 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.828230

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7392:
Metamaterials: Fundamentals and Applications II
Mikhail A. Noginov; Nikolay I. Zheludev; Allan D. Boardman; Nader Engheta, Editor(s)