Airy function

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the Airy special function. For the Airy stress function employed in solid mechanics, see Stress functions. In the physical sciences, the Airy function Ai(x) is a special function named after the British astronomer George Biddell Airy (1801 - 92). The function Ai(x) and the related function Bi(x), which is also called the Airy function, but sometimes referred to as the "Bairy" function, are solutions to the differential equation

known as the Airy equation or the Stokes equation. This is the simplest second-order linear differential equation with a turning point (a point where the character of the solutions changes from oscillatory to exponential). The Airy function is the solution to Schrdinger's equation for a particle confined within a triangular potential well and for a particle in a one-dimensional constant force field. For the same reason, it also serves to provide uniform semiclasssical approximations near a turning point in the WKB method, when the potential may be locally approximated by a linear function of position. The triangular potential well solution is directly relevant for the understanding of many semiconductor devices. The Airy function also underlies the form of the intensity near an optical directional caustic, such as that of the rainbow. Historically, this was the mathematical problem that led Airy to develop this special function

Definitions

Plot of Ai(x) in red and Bi(x) in blue.

For real values of x, the Airy function is defined by the improper integral

which converges because the positive and negative parts of the rapid oscillations tend to cancel one another out (as can be checked by integration by parts). By differentiating under the integration sign, we find that y = Ai(x) satisfies the differential equation

This equation has two linearly independent solutions. The standard choice for the other solution is the Airy function of the second kind, denoted Bi(x). It is defined as the solution with the same amplitude of oscillation as Ai(x) as x goes to which differs in phase by /2:

[edit] Properties
The values of Ai(x) and Bi(x) and their derivatives at x = 0 are given by

Here, denotes the Gamma function. It follows that the Wronskian of Ai(x) and Bi(x) is 1/. When x is positive, Ai(x) is positive, convex, and decreasing exponentially to zero, while Bi(x) is positive, convex, and increasing exponentially. When x is negative, Ai(x) and Bi(x) oscillate around zero with ever-increasing frequency and ever-decreasing amplitude. This is supported by the asymptotic formulae below for the Airy functions. The Airy functions are orthogonal [1]

[edit] Asymptotic formulae

[Asymptotic Analysis In mathematical analysis, asymptotic analysis is a method of describing limiting behavior. The methodology has applications across science. Examples are

in computer science in the analysis of algorithms, considering the performance of algorithms when applied to very large input datasets the behavior of physical systems when they are very large.

The simplest example is, when considering a function f(n), there is a need to describe its properties when n becomes very large. Thus, if f(n) = n2+3n, the term 3n becomes insignificant compared to n2 when n is very large. The function "f(n) is said to be asymptotically equivalent to n2 as n ", and this is written symbolically as f(n) ~ n2.]

The asymptotic behaviour of the Airy functions as x goes to + is given by the following asymptotic formulae:[2]

For the limit in the negative direction we have[3]

Asymptotic expansions for these limits are also available. These are listed in (Abramowitz and Stegun, 1954) and (Olver, 1974).

[edit] Complex arguments

We can extend the definition of the Airy function to the complex plane by

where the integral is over a path C starting at the point at infinity with argument -(1/3) and ending at the point at infinity with argument (1/3). Alternatively, we can use the differential equation y'' xy = 0 to extend Ai(x) and Bi(x) to entire functions on the complex plane. The asymptotic formula for Ai(x) is still valid in the complex plane if the principal value of x2/3 is taken and x is bounded away from the negative real axis. The formula for Bi(x) is valid provided x is in the sector {xC : |arg x| < (1/3)} for some positive . Finally, the formulae for Ai(x) and Bi(x) are valid if x is in the sector {xC : |arg x| < (2/3)}. It follows from the asymptotic behaviour of the Airy functions that both Ai(x) and Bi(x) have an infinity of zeros on the negative real axis. The function Ai(x) has no other zeros in the complex plane, while the function Bi(x) also has infinitely many zeros in the sector {zC : (1/3) < |arg z| < (1/2)}.
[edit] Plots

[edit] Relation to other special functions

For positive arguments, the Airy functions are related to the modified Bessel functions:

Here, I1/3 and K1/3 are solutions of x2y'' + xy' (x2 + 1 / 9)y = 0. For negative arguments, the Airy function are related to the Bessel functions:

Here, J1/3 are solutions of x2y'' + xy' + (x2 1 / 9)y = 0. The Scorer's functions solve the equation y'' xy = 1 / . They can also be expressed in terms of the Airy functions:

[edit] Fourier transform

Using the definition of the Airy function Ai(x), it is straightforward to show its Fourier transform is given by

2DEGs and 2DHGs

Two-dimensional electron and hole gases (2DEGs and 2DHGs respectively) can be described as having quantised energy levels for one spatial dimension, but being free to move in the other two. They can be produced by adjoining semiconductors with differently sized band gaps creating what is known as a Heterojunction. Figure 1: An energy level schematic of a heterojunction and the resulting square well. The wells created in the conduction and valence bands can be occupied by electrons and holes respectively, as shown. It is possible for an electron hole pair to combine and create a photon, the energy of which can be used to infer the structure of the energy levels within the wells.

Potential Wells
Depending on how heterojunctions are manufactured, the wells in which the 2DEGs and 2DHGs exist may have different forms such as square, triangular or parabolic. For wells of infinite potential, the energy level solutions are as follows:

Square:

Triangular:

Parabolic:

where is the magnitude of the electric field at the interface and is the effective mass of the electron or hole.

Triangular well

Parabolic well

Figure 2: An energy level schematic of a triangular and parabolic well.

The triangular well approximation (shown in Figure 2) is widely used to describe electron energy bands at single heterojunctions. It allows the exact analytical solution of the Schrdinger equation (which must be solved self-consistently along with the Poission equation in order to determine the electronic structure at a heterointerface) in terms of Airy functions,

the eigenvalues of which describe the energy levels given above. In practical calculations however, simpler, approximate analytic wave functions make calculations much more convenient. The simplest of these is the Fang Howard wave function.

where and is determined by minimizing the total energy. This function however, does tend to overestimate the energy for the ground sub-band by around 6%. A more accurate wave function is given by Takeda and Uemura,

which yields a ground sub-band energy only 0.4% larger than the exact Airy function value.

Solving the coupled Schrdinger and Poission equations (1D)

The Poisson equation shows that potential is directly related to charge density.

Schrdinger's equation is also related to the charge density, though not directly. Firstly we have the Schrdinger equation itself.

where

is the electron wave function. is given by the Fermi-Dirac distribution

We note that the occupation of electronic states

which then allows the spacial density of electrons to be calculated using the solution of the Schrdinger equation (or an approximate solution, such as those mentioned above).

Where

is the number of bound states.

We must now ask 'How does the charge density relate to the electron density ?' The answer is fairly straight forward once you consider the electron donors, which become positively charged and have density

This enables the Poisson equation to be re-written as

where

is the permittivity of the material.

In order to solve Schrdinger and Poisson self-consistently, one starts with a trial potential and solves Schrdinger's equation. is then calculated from the obtained wave functions and their corresponding eigenenergies. A second value of may then be found from Poission's equation (using and ). This second potential is then fed back into the Schrdinger equation and more iterations take place until is less than a certain criteria.

A second example
In the following section we will consider a Si/SiGe heterojunction and the resulting 2DHG in oder to demonstrate a second method of describing the junction in terms of energy parameters and dopant concentrations. Figure 3: A simple schematic diagram of the valence band in a particular SiGe heterojunction. is the activation energy and is the acceptor depletion width. One can clearly see that electrons at the interface have occupied the adjacent acceptor sites, leaving behind a 2DHG in the potential well. The sheet carrier density is obtained from the two-dimensional density of states for a single subband, and is given by (1)

The electric field in the well is assumed to be uniform, allowing the triangular well approximation to be used, with the ground-state energy given by (2)

where is the magnitude of the electric field at the interface just inside the SiGe alloy layer and is given by

with as the charge arising from background donor depletion within the SiGe alloy, the Si buffer later and the Si substrate. Allowing for the possibility of negatively charged impurities with sheet density at the Si/SiGe interface, the electric field may also be written as

where

is the acceptor concentration.

The set of equations can now be closed by adding all the potential variations from the bottom if the well up to the top of the valence band offset (3) . can then be found by choosing an initial value for and solving (3) for . This value is then compared to that given by equation (1) for this same Fermi energy. This method is repeated, moving along a range of until the two yielded values of are within a certain tolerance of each other, in much the same way as the previous example.

Bibliography
1. S. M. Sze, Semiconductor Devices, John Wiley & Sons, 1985. 2. J. H. Luscombe et al., Physical Review B 46 (1992). 3. C. J. Emeleus et al., J. Appl. Phys 73 (1993).