Intersubband transitions in an asymmetric double quantum well

The intersubband optical absorption in an asymmetric double quantum well for different barrier widths and the right well widths are theoretically calculated within the framework of effective mass approximation. The results obtained show that the intersubband transitions and the energy levels in an asymmetric double quantum well can be importantly modified and controlled by the barrier width and the well width. The sensitivity to the barrier and well widths of the absorption coefficient can be used in various optical semiconductor device applications.     

Plasmons in asymmetric double quantum well structures

We investigate the effects of spatial asymmetry, tunneling coupling, and exchange-correlation correction on the plasmon modes in asymmetric double quantum well (DQW) structures in a time-dependent local-density approximation. Special attention is paid to the properties of the ω _- mode which is always damped in symmetric DQW systems. In addition, the results on the spectral weight of the excitations are also presented. In general, all the modes carry finite spectral weights and should be observable in resonant inelastic light scattering experiments for the specified values of the parameters. Received 2 July 2002 Published online 19 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: c412-1@aphy.iphy.ac.cn     

Dispersive Properties of tunnelling—induced transparency in an asymmetric double quantum well

We have investigated the dispersive properties of tunnelling-induced transparency in asymmetric double quantum well structures where two excited states are coupled by resonant tunnelling through a thin barrier in a three-level system of electronic subbands. The intersubband transitions exhibit high dispersion at zero absorption, which leads to the slow light velocity in this medium as compared with that in vacuum (c=3×10⁸). The group velocity in a specific GaAs/AlGaAs sample is calculated to be v_g=c/4.30. This structure can be used to compensate for the dispersion and energy loss in fibre optical communications.     

Hanle effect in an asymmetric CdTe/CdMnTe double quantum well

The observation of optical orientation of excitons and the Hanle effect in an asymmetric CdTe/CdMnTe double quantum well is reported. The characteristics of the magnetic depolarization of radiation from CdTe/CdMnTe quantum wells are discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 4, 241–245 (25 February 1996)     

Self-consistent calculations of coherent tunneling oscillations in asymmetric double quantum wells

Coherent carrier tunneling in asymmetric double quantum well heterostructures is analytically investigated through a self-consistent method of calculation. Longitudinal electric fields are applied to reach the interwell resonance conditions. Exact wave functions in asymmetric double quantum well systems (modified Airy functions) are used to include the electron-hole interaction in the coherent tunneling process. Results are in good agreement with the available previous works.     

Current oscillations in a double quantum well during quasistationary state decay

Temporal current oscillations in a double quantum well caused by interference of the wave functions of quasistationary states are considered. An algorithm and results of calculations of the spectral function of the system and time dependences of the probability of particle localization in the double well and of the current in the well are presented.     

Eigenstate localization in an asymmetric coupled quantum well pair

Optical pumping of a type-I/type-II coupled asymmetric quantum well pair induces a spatially separated two dimensional charge carriers plasma in the well’s wide and narrow parts. Treating the two coupled wells as a single system we find that the eigenstate probability distribution localizes exclusively either in the wide or the narrow parts of the well pair. The energy of the narrow-well localized state determines the minimal excitation energy for optically pumped charge carriers separation. In a previously used design [Guliamov et al., PRB 64 035314 (2001)] this narrow well transition energy was measured to correspond to a wavelength of 646 nm. We propose modifications to the design suggested earlier with the purpose of pushing up the energy required for the optical pumping of the two-dimensional plasma into the green and blue regions of the visible spectrum.     

Tunneling-induced large cross-phase modulation in an asymmetric quantum well

We propose an asymmetric double AlGaAs/GaAs quantum well structure with a common continuum to generate a large cross-phase modulation (XPM). It is found, owing to resonant tunneling, that a large XPM can be achieved with vanishing linear and two-photon absorptions.     

Transient gain property of a weak probe field in an asymmetric semiconductor coupled double quantum well structure

The transient gain property of a weak probe field in an asymmetric semiconductor coupled double quantum well structure is reported. The transient process of the system, which is induced by the external coherent coupling field, shows the property of no inverse gain. We find that the transient behavior of the probe field can be tuned by the change of tunneling barrier. Both the amplitude of the transient gain and the frequency of the oscillation can be affected by the lifetime broadening.     

Electronic wavefunctions in asymmetric double quantum well structures studied via spin-flip Raman spectroscopy

Spin-flip Raman spectra have been obtained for two heterostructures, each containing a single CdTe quantum well and a single Cd_1-xMn_xTe quantum well, with barriers of Cd_1-yMn_yTe (y>x). The spectra show a clear sensitivity to the thickness of the central barrier between the two wells. The magnitude of the Raman shifts and the resonance energies help identify the origin of the signals in the structures. When the barrier is broad, two signals are observed, one from each separate well. When the width of the barrier is reduced, a single signal is seen, reflecting the coupling of the electronic states of the two wells. The size of the Raman shifts observed also suggest the presence of a low concentration of donors in the material, which modify the form of the electronic wavefunction in the quantum wells.     

Tunneling-induced coherent electron population transfer in an asymmetric quantum well

We propose an asymmetric double quantum wells structure with a common continuum and investigate the effect of resonant tunneling on the control of coherent electron population transfer between the two quantum wells. By numerically solving the motion equations of element moments, the almost complete electron population transfer from the initial subband to the target subband could be realized due to the constructive interference via flexibly adjusting the structure parameters.     

Dynamical behaviors of an exciton in an asymmetric double coupled quantum dot

Dynamical behaviors of an exciton in an asymmetric double coupled quantum dot and an alternatingcurrent (ac) electric field have been analyzed based on the two-level approximation theory, and the conditions under which dynamical localization occurs are obtained. It shows that when the amplitude of the ac electric field is small, the Coulomb interaction plays an important role. The dynamical behaviors of the exciton are mainly confined in the low-level subspace. When the ratio of the field intensity to frequency is the root of Bessel function, electron and hole are localized in one dot, and they can be divided with the increasing amplitude of the ac electric field. __________ Translated from Chinese Journal of Semiconductors, 2005, 26(6) (in Chinese)     

Intersubband optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes in modulation-doped asymmetric double quantum well

The linear and the third-order nonlinear optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes in a modulation-doped asymmetric double quantum well are studied theoretically. The electron energy levels and the envelope wave functions in this structure are calculated by the Schrödinger and Poisson equations self-consistently in the effective mass approximation. The analytical expressions of optical properties are obtained by using the compact density-matrix approach. In this regard, the linear, nonlinear and total intersubband absorption coefficients and refractive index changes are investigated as a function of right-well width (Lw₂) of asymmetric double quantum well. Our results show that the total absorption coefficients and refractive index changes shift toward higher energies as the right-well width decreases. In addition, the total optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes is strongly dependent on the incident optical intensity.     

Electric field induced non-linear multisubband electron mobility in V-shaped asymmetric double quantum well structure

ABSTRACT

We study the effect of the external electric field F_ext on the low-temperature electron mobility μ in an asymmetrically doped Al_xGa_1-xAs based V-shaped double quantum well (VDQW) structure. We show that nonlinearity of µ occurs under double subband occupancy on account of intersubband effects. The field F_ext alters the VDQW potential leading to transfer of subband wave functions between the wells, which affects the scattering potentials and hence μ. In the VDQW structure, due to the alloy channel layer, the alloy disorder (Al-) scattering happens to be significant along with the ionised impurity (Imp-) scattering. The non-linear behaviour of μ is because of μ^Imp, while the overall magnitude of μ is mostly due to μ^Al. The increase of difference in the doping concentrations of the outer barriers increases the nonlinearity of μ. The oscillatory character of μ is amended by varying the width of the well and barrier and also the height of the VDQW. Our results can be used to study VDQW based nanoscale field effect transistor structures.     

Pump-probe optical response of an asymmetric double quantum dot molecule

We study the interaction of an asymmetric double semiconductor quantum dot molecule with a weak probe field and a strong pump field. We show that the optical properties of the system are controlled by a gate voltage and the pump field. For example, we find that the application of the pump field leads to controlled probe absorption, optical transparency, and gain for weak tunneling rates, while for stronger tunneling rates optical gain disappears and absorption spectra with double peaks are formed.     

非对称半导体量子阱中自发辐射相干诱导透明

研究了一束低强度探测脉冲光场在一个非对称半导体量子阱中的传输特性.在相同参数条件下,通过由自发辐射相干产生的交叉耦合系数来调控介质对探测场吸收、色散的变化规律.结果表明:从自发辐射相干的引入到达到相干最大,介质的吸收不断减小,同时强色散也随之进入透明窗口.     

Optical absorption coefficients in asymmetric quantum well

The optical absorption coefficients considering electron-phonon interaction in asymmetrical quantum wells are theoretically studied. The result shows that the optical absorption coefficients depend strongly on the parameters of quantum well. Interestingly, the theoretical values of the optical absorption coefficients obviously increase with considering the electron-phonon interaction.     

Interface phonons in asymmetric quantum well structures

In semiconductor microstructures with many layers, the phonon modes change from their bulk form and split into ‘confined LO phonons’ (LC) and ‘interface phonons’ (IF), the number and variety of which depends on both the number of layers and the number of different materials in the structure. This affects the electron–phonon scattering rates. Because of the current interest in inter-subband THz emitters, we use these LC and IF modes to evaluate the inter-subband electron–phonon scattering rate in THz emitter prototypes that are based on four-subband stepped quantum wells. These scattering rates in turn affect the population inversion predicted for these devices, so we compare the predicted population inversions for the most promising prototypes against those obtained using bulk phonon scattering rates.