Electroabsorption of highly confined systems: Theory of the quantum‐confined Franz–Keldysh effect in semiconductor quantum wires and dots

Semiconductor quantum wells are known to show large electroabsorption (e.g., the quantum‐confined Stark effect) that results in low‐energy optical modulating and switching devices. We show theoretically that the electroabsorption and associated electrorefraction in lower dimensional structures could be much larger, suggesting very low energy devices. We illustrate the theory with specific calculations for hypothetical GaAs‐like quantum wires and dots.