Bound-to-continuum absorption with tunneling in type-II nanostructures: a multiband source-radiation approach.

We convert calculations of the bound-to-continuum absorption in type-II semiconductor quantum wells into an equivalent source-radiation problem under the effective-mass approximation with band mixing. Perfectly matched layers corresponding to the eight-band Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian are introduced to incorporate the effect of quasi-bound states in open regions. In this way, the interplay between quantum tunneling and optical transitions is fully taken into account. From resulted lineshapes of the Fano resonance, we can evaluate tunneling rates of these metastable states and related absorption strengths relative to those of the continuum. The approach here is useful in estimations of carrier extraction rates from type-II nanostructures for photovoltaic applications.