Energy states of Rydberg excitons in finite crystals: From weak to strong confinement
Due to quantum confinement, excitons in finite-sized crystals behave rather differently than in bulk materials. We investigate the dependence of energies of Rydberg excitons on the strengths of parabolic as well as rectangular confinement potentials in finite-sized crystals. The evolution of the energy levels of hydrogen-like excitons in the crossover region from weak to strong parabolic confinement is analyzed for different quantum numbers by numerical solution of the two-dimensional Schrödinger equation. The energy spectrum of hydrogen-like excitons in Cu$_{2}$O-based rectangular quantum wells is, in turn, obtained numerically from the solution of the three-dimensional Schrödinger equation as a function of the quantum well width. Various crossings and avoided crossings of Rydberg energy levels are observed and categorized based on the symmetry properties of the exciton wave function. Particular attention is paid to the two limiting cases of narrow and wide quantum wells attributed to strong and weak confinement, respectively. The energies obtained with the pure Coulomb interaction are compared with the results originating from the Rytova-Keldysh potential, i.e., by taking into account the dielectric contrast in the quantum well and in the barrier.