Energy relaxation mechanism in Landau level system of quantum wells

Kinetics of intrasubband energy relaxation of electrons in the system of Landau levels lying below the optical phonon energy is studied. Extraordinary behavior of the relaxation of electronic subsystem excitation energy is detected. Despite the fact that its main channel is optical phonon emission, the total relaxation time exceeds the characteristic times of scattering on optical phonons by several orders of magnitude.     

Magnetotunneling relaxation of electrons in double quantum wells

Electron tunneling relaxation in double quantum wells subject to a transverse magnetic field is studied. The resonant peaks in the tunneling relaxation rate appear when the energy splitting Δ of the tunnel-coupled pair of the left- and right- well electron states is a multiple of the cyclotron energy ℏω_c and two series of the Landau levels coincide. The shape of such resonant oscillations of the relaxation rate is determined by the Landau levels' broadening (which is associated with the intrawell scattering in the case of small tunnel coupling), but it is not expressed through the electron density of states directly. The dependence of the tunneling relaxation rate on ℏω_c and Δ is calculated taking into account elastic scattering of the electrons by the inhomogeneities of the structure in the limit when the scattering potential is slowly changing on the magnetic length scale.     

Magneto-optical studies of ballistic electron transport in single barrier heterostructures

We report an investigation of ballistic electron transport in GaAs/AlGaAs p-i-n single barrier structures with magnetic fields of up to 14T applied parallel to the tunneling direction (B//z). The energy distribution and relaxation processes of the non-equilibrium electron population injected into the p-doped collector from the Landau levels of the emitter accumulation layer are studied by means of electroluminescence (EL) spectroscopy. The observation of emitter Landau level structure in the ballistic electron EL spectra shows that the 2D to 3D tunneling process is elastic. In addition to the ballistic electron EL, cross-barrier recombination between the electron and hole accumulation layers is observed. This allows a precise determination of the initial energy distribution of the injected electrons.     

Transient interband light absorption by quantum dots: Degenerate pump-probe spectroscopy

The optical pump-probe method, which makes it possible to determine the energy relaxation rate for excited electron-hole pairs and excitons in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), is theoretically described. A scheme in which the carrier frequencies of optical pump and probe pulses are close to resonance with the same interband transition in the QD electron subsystem (degenerate case) is considered. The pump-induced probe energy absorption is analyzed as a function of the delay time between the pump and probe pulses. It is shown that under certain conditions this dependence is reduced to monoexponential, whose exponent is proportional to the energy relaxation rate for the considered state of electron-hole pairs and excitons. The size dependence of the energy relaxation rate of the electron-hole pair states is modeled by the example of PbSe-based QDs, whose electron subsystem is in the strong-confinement regime.     

A Similar Change in the Kinetic-Energy Components of Longitudinal Continuous Motion of Magnetized Electrons within the Landau Levels and Determination of the Characteristics of a Degenerate System

Account is taken of a similar change in the kinetic-energy components of a longitudinal electron motion along the magnetic field within each Landau energy level. The maximum electron energy is found as well as the kinetic energy of a transverse electron motion in the magnetic field. The electron concentrations are determined depending on the magnetic-field strength, whose intrinsic magnetic moments are directed along and opposite the field. The magnetic-field strengths for which a certain number of Landau quantum levels is realized in an electron degenerate system of a specified concentration are also found.__________Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 18–22, March, 2005.     

Direct measurement of the Fermi energy in graphene using a double-layer heterostructure

We describe a technique which allows a direct measurement of the relative Fermi energy in an electron system by employing a double-layer heterostructure. We illustrate this method by using a graphene double layer to probe the Fermi energy as a function of carrier density in monolayer graphene, at zero and in high magnetic fields. This technique allows us to determine the Fermi velocity, Landau level spacing, and Landau level broadening. We find that the N=0 Landau level broadening is larger by comparison to the broadening of upper and lower Landau levels.     

Carrier scattering from dynamical magnetoconductivity in quasineutral epitaxial graphene

The energy dependence of the electronic scattering time is probed by Landau level spectroscopy in quasineutral multilayer epitaxial graphene. From the broadening of overlapping Landau levels we find that the scattering rate 1/τ increases linearly with energy ?. This implies a surprising property of the Landau level spectrum in graphene-the number of resolved Landau levels remains constant with the applied magnetic field. Insights are given about possible scattering mechanisms and carrier mobilities in the graphene system investigated.     

Dissipative solitons in carbon nanotubes

The theoretical possibility of the existence of dissipative solitons in an array of carbon nanotubes when they are subjected to external uniform high-frequency electric field is discussed. An external alternating field is used for energy pumping of the electron subsystem, while a finite relaxation time leads to energy dissipation. The generation of a periodic sequence of electromagnetic pulses is revealed.     

Electron on a cylinder with topological defects in a homogeneous magnetic field

In this work we study the effects of the geometry and topology of a cylinder on the energy levels of an electron moving in a homogeneous magnetic field. We consider the existence of topological defects as a screw dislocation and a disclination. When we take the region of movement as the full cylindrical surface, we find that, by increasing the strength of the screw dislocation, the dispersion on the electronic energy levels is affected and monotonically increasing. For an electron moving in an almost flat region we show that the dispersion on the Landau levels decrease monotonically as we increase the strength of the screw dislocation. The lowest Landau level can reach a zero value, leaving the energy of the system solely given by the geometry of the cylinder, which does not depend on the magnetic field. In both situations, as we change the deficit angle of the disclination, we observe that the energy levels are shifted and the magnitude of such shift depends on the magnetic field. The Landau levels for a flat sample are recovered in the limit of an infinite cylinder radius.     

Magnetic field effects on THz quantum cascade laser: A comparative analysis of three and four quantum well based active region design

We consider the influence of additional carrier confinement, achieved by application of strong perpendicular magnetic field, on inter Landau levels electron relaxation rates and the optical gain, of two different GaAs quantum cascade laser structures operating in the terahertz spectral range. Breaking of the in-plane energy dispersion and the formation of discrete energy levels is an efficient mechanism for eventual quenching of optical phonon emission and obtaining very long electronic lifetime in the relevant laser state. We employ our detailed model for calculating the electron relaxation rates (due to interface roughness and electron–longitudinal optical phonon scattering), and solve a full set of rate equations to evaluate the carrier distribution over Landau levels. The numerical simulations are performed for three- and four-well (per period) based structures that operate at 3.9 THz and 1.9 THz, respectively, both implemented in GaAs/Al_0.15Ga_0.85As. Numerical results are presented for magnetic field values from 1.5 T up to 20 T, while the band nonparabolicity is accounted for.     

Relaxation model of the orientational phase transition in fullerite C60

The model of thermal behavior of a thermoelastic medium is developed in the context of the Landau theory of phase transitions. In the framework of this model, two different problems are considered with allowance for order parameter relaxation: the problem of relatively slow uniform heating (cooling) of the medium under external hydrostatic pressure and the problem of order parameter relaxation at thermal isolation. A finite value of the relaxation constant τ of the order parameter is demonstrated to bring about the heating (cooling) rate dependence of the physical quantities, such as specific heat. The relaxation time of the order parameter is shown to be twice larger than the temperature relaxation time, as a consequence of the Landau expansion of the free energy.     

Long-lived two-dimensional triplet magnetoexcitons in a Hall insulator

An experimental technique is developed to perform photoexcitation of an ensemble of translationinvariant triplet excitons, to manipulate this ensemble, and to detect the properties of its components. In particular, the influence of temperature on the radiationless decay during the relaxation of an exciton spin into the ground state of a Hall insulator at a filling factor ν = 2 is studied. The generation of photoexcited electrons and holes is controlled using photoinduced resonance reflection spectra, which makes it possible to estimate the density of light-generated electron–hole pairs and to independently control the self-consistent generation of electrons at the first Landau level and holes (vacancies) at the ground (zero) cyclotron electronic level. The existence of triplet excitons is established from inelastic light scattering spectra, which are used to determine the singlet–triplet exciton splitting. The lifetimes of triplet excitons, which are closely related to the relaxation time of an electron spin, are extremely long: they reach 100 μs in perfect GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures with a high mobility of two-dimensional electrons at low temperatures. These long spin relaxation times are qualitatively explained, and the expected collective behavior of high-density triplet magnetoexcitons at sufficiently low temperatures, which is related to their Bose nature, is discussed.     

System of quantum wells in a parallel magnetic field

The energy spectrum and quantum states of electrons in a system of quantum wells in a strong magnetic field parallel to the heterogeneous boundaries are studied. The combined effect of the quantizing magnetic field and the potential of the system of quantum wells leads to a radical change in the electron dispersion relation owing to the appearance of one-dimensional Landau bands. The neighborhoods of the anticrossing points of the different bands correspond to an effective redistribution of the electron envelope functions, which becomes stronger as the magnetic field is raised. The character of the electron-state density in the size-quantization subbands is examined qualitatively in connection with the change in the system of isoenergy contours when a magnetic field is applied. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1719–1723 (September 1998)     

Dephasing in the presence of a two-dimensional electron gas at high magnetic fields

By means of degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM), we investigate the quantum coherence of electron–hole pairs in the presence of a two-dimensional electron gas in modulation-doped GaAs–AlGaAs quantum wells in the regime of the integer quantum-Hall effect. We observe large jumps in the decay time of the FWM signal at even Landau level filling factors. The main features of the experimental observations can be qualitatively reproduced by a model which takes into account the number of unoccupied states within the highest partially occupied Landau level. Furthermore, we observe quantum beats between up to three different Landau level transitions.     

Real-space observation of drift States in a two-dimensional electron system at high magnetic fields

The local density of states of the adsorbate-induced two-dimensional electron system is studied in magnetic fields up to B=6 T. Landau quantization is observed and drift states with a width of about the magnetic length are found in agreement with theoretical predictions. At the tails of the Landau levels the states form closed paths indicating localization. These states show the expected energy dependence. A multifractal analysis applied to the data results in a nice parabolic shape of the characteristic f(alpha) spectra, but we find only a slight displacement of the origin from alpha=2.0 for the states in the center of the Landau level.     

Localization and the integer-quantized Hall effect: Diffusion constant for high Landau levels and white noise potential

The diffusion constant and the diagonal conductivity for non-interacting electrons in a two-dimensional, disordered system are studied. A homogeneous magnetic field perpendicular to the electron system is assumed. For weak short-range random potentials and high fields the Landau quantum numbern can be used as expansion parameter. In the limit of high Landau levels the system shows metallic behaviour. Corrections for finiten decrease the conductivity and indicate localized states in the whole energy band. A breakdown of the expansion and stronger localization are observed only for the lowest Landau levels if the typical experimental length scale of the quantized Hall effect is used.     

Spin dynamics in the regime of hopping conductivity

Spin dynamics in the impurity band of a semiconductor with the spin-split spectrum is considered. Due to the splitting, phonon-assisted hops from one impurity to another axe accompanied by rotation of the electron spin, which leads to spin relaxation. The system is strongly inhomogeneous because of exponential variation of hopping times. However, at very small coupling an electron diffuses over a distance exceeding the characteristic scale of the inhomogeneity during the time of spin relaxation, so one can introduce an averaged spin relaxation rate. At larger values of coupling, the system is effectively divided into two subsystems: one where relaxation is very fast and another where relaxation is rather slow. In this case, spin decays due to the escape of the electrons from one subsystem to another. As a result, the spin dynamics is nonexponential and hardly depends on spin-orbit coupling. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Electrically detected electron spin resonance in a high-mobility silicon quantum well

The resistivity change due to electron spin resonance (ESR) absorption is investigated in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system formed in a Si/SiGe heterostructure. Results for a specific Landau level configuration demonstrate that the primary cause of the ESR signal is a reduction of the spin polarization, not the effect of electron heating. The longitudinal spin relaxation time T1 is obtained to be of the order of 1 ms in an in-plane magnetic field of 3.55 T. The suppression of the effect of the Rashba fields due to high-frequency spin precession explains the very long T1.     

Metastable resistance-anisotropy orientation of two-dimensional electrons in high Landau levels

In half-filled high Landau levels, two-dimensional electron systems possess collective phases which exhibit a strongly anisotropic resistivity tensor. A weak, but as yet unknown, rotational symmetry-breaking potential native to the host semiconductor structure is necessary to orient these phases in macroscopic samples. Making use of the known external symmetry-breaking effect of an in-plane magnetic field, we find that the native potential can have two orthogonal local minima. It is possible to initialize the system in the higher minimum and then observe its relaxation toward equilibrium.