Mechanical and electronic-structure properties of compressed CdSe tetrapod nanocrystals.

The coupling of mechanical and optical properties in semiconductor nanostructures can potentially lead to new types of devices. This work describes our theoretical examination of the mechanical properties of CdSe tetrapods under directional forces, such as may be induced by AFM tips. In addition to studying the general behavior of the mechanical properties under modifications of geometry, nanocrystal-substrate interaction, and dimensional scaling, our calculations indicate that mechanical deformations do not lead to large changes in the band-edge state eigenenergies, and have only a weak effect on the oscillator strengths of the lowest energy transitions.