First resonant tunneling via a light-hole ground state

We report the demonstration of resonant tunneling of light-holes through an AlAs/GaAsP double-barrier heterostructure. The tensile strain in the quantum well reverses the order of the light- and heavy-hole levels, the first light-hole level becoming the ground state. The characteristics are measured at different temperatures and compared to those of a standard AlAs/GaAs unstrained structure. The peak current density of the first light-hole resonance and its peak-to-valley current ratio are enhanced. They reach 28 A/cm and 3.4 : 1 at 15 K. A negative differential resistance is observed up to 250 K.