Cyclotron resonance linewidth in a two dimensional electron gas due to scattering by alloy clusters

An expression has been developed for the cyclotron resonance linewidth of two dimensional electron gas in the presence of alloy scattering, using a density matrix formulation. Calculated values of linewidth in In_xGa_1−xAsIn_yAl_1−yAs heterojunction come close to the observed values.     

Observation of intersubband excitations in a multilayer two dimensional electron gas

We report the observation, by resonant inelastic light scattering, of intersubband excitations of the multilayer two dimensional electron gas, in modulation doped GaAsAlGaAs heterojunction superlattices. These are the first measurements of these transitions by any technique, and furnish intersubband energies in good agreement with calculated values. The spectral bands are broad, and nearly Lorentzian in shape: the implied relaxation rates scale linearly with band energy and are significantly faster than transport relaxation rates. Finally, the polarized spectra reveal differences between spin-flip and non spin-flip excitations which are unique to multilayer two dimensional electron gases.     

Renormalization of potential scattering in a weakly interacting one-dimensional electron gas

The conductance of a weakly interacting electron gas in the presence of a single scatterer is found at arbitrary strength of the scattering potential. At weak interaction one can use a simple renormalization group approach instead of the standard bosonization technique. For a model with spinless electrons this approach allows us to show explicitly the crossover from the Fermi-gas to the low-temperature Luttinger liquid behavior. Deviations from the Luttinger liquid theory are studied for a realistic model of spin- electrons.     

Interference effects in phonon scattering across a double atomic well

We develop an analytical and numerical formalism to study the double atomic nanowell configuration influence on coherent transmission and reflection scattering, derived as elements of a Landauer-Büttiker type scattering matrix in quasi-one-dimensional multichannel waveguides. The state densities at neighbourhood of the defect region are investigated. The defect region consists in the presence of a double atomic nanowell occurring in thin film. One solves this problem by the matching method in the harmonic approximation. The theoretical formalism using simultaneously the Green’s function and the matching method is detailed in order to describe the complete evanescent and the propagating fields. The phononic coherent conductance is also studied. Numerical calculations are presented and illustrated as function of the force constants occurring in the model. The fluctuations in the conductance spectra are related to Fano resonances due to the coherent coupling between travelling phonons and the localized vibration modes in the neighbourhood of the nanowell domain.     

Novel effects produced on a two dimensional electron gas by introducing InAs dots in the plane of the quantum well

We show that the presence of InAs dots embedded in a host GaAs quantum well containing a two-dimensional electron gas dramatically modifies the cyclotron resonance (CR). Far-infrared CR measurements show two modes with different dispersions with applied magnetic field B. The lower-frequency mode, with a sub-linear dependence on B, is identified as a CR at low B, developing into a skipping orbit around the dot perimeters at higher B. This has not been previously observed for a system with randomly distributed scatterers. The higher-frequency mode is identified as a magnetoplasmon localised by the confining effect of the arrays of repulsive potentials due to the dots in the well.     

Anomalous Hall effect in a two dimensional electron gas with magnetic impurities

Magnetic impurities play an important role in many spintronics-related materials. Motivated by this fact, we study the anomalous Hall effect in the presence of magnetic impurities, focusing on two-dimensional electron systems with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We find a highly nonlinear dependence on the impurity polarization, including possible sign changes. At small impurity magnetizations, this is a consequence of the remarkable result that the linear term is independent of the spin-orbit coupling strength. Near saturation of the impurity spins, the anomalous Hall conductivity can be resonantly enhanced, due to interference between potential and magnetic scattering.     

Energy losses of 2D electron gas due to near-surface acoustic phonon scattering

We have shown that for quantum wells placed close to the stress-free surface of the semiconductor heterostructure, the energy relaxation rate of two-dimensional electrons interacting with acoustic phonons at low temperatures (Bloch–Grüneisen regime) is changed considerably in comparison with that of a two-dimensional electron gas placed in a bulk of semiconductor. The relaxation rate is enhanced in the case of a semiconductor–vacuum system and is suppressed in the case of the surface covered by a thin metal film. The enhanced energy loss is caused by additional scattering at localized and reflected acoustic waves, and the decrease appears due to suppression of piezoelectric scattering in the vicinity of the metal.     

Surface roughness scattering limited mobility of one dimensional electron gas in a narrow channel FET

An expression has been derived for the relaxation time due to surface roughness scattering of a one dimensional electron gas (1DEG) in a narrow channel FET. The bumps in the interface are assumed to have Gaussian autocorrelation. The values of mobility at low temperature are calculated for the 1DEG in GaAs HEMTs for different 1D densities and are compared with the values limited by phonon and impurity scattering. For moderate values of 1D density, surface roughness scattering is as important as the impurity scattering. A rough estimate of the effect of screening on the values of mobilities is also made.     

Self-consistent theory of screening in a two dimensional electron gas under strong magnetic field

The dielectric response of a two dimensional electron gas under a strong transverse magnetic field is obtained within a self-consistent procedure in which the broadening of Landau levels due to collisional damping from the impurities both determines and is determined by the static dielectric function of the system. The dielectric function is evaluated in random phase approximation with the impurity scattering treated in a self-consistent Born approximation. Explicit results are presented for the zero temperature, extreme quantum limit. It is found that this “no parameter” theory is in good qualitative agreement with experimental results for the broadening as extracted from magnetotransport data.     

Exciton-electron interaction in quantum wells with a two dimensional electron gas of low density

II–VI quantum-well structures containing a 2DEG of low density have been investigated by means of polarized photoluminescence, photoluminescence excitation and reflectivity in external magnetic fields up to 20 T. The spin splittings of the exciton X and the negatively charged exciton X ⁻ are measured as a function of the magnetic field strength. The behavior of the magnetic-field-induced polarization degree of the luminescence line related to X ⁻ demonstrates the formation process of negatively charged excitons from excitons and free carriers polarized by the external magnetic field. We have determined the binding energies of the trion formed either with the heavy-hole or the light-hole exciton. The optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) technique was applied for the first time to study the optical transition processes in a nanosecond timescale. The electron ODMR was observed with the detection on either the direct exciton or the negatively charged exciton X. Further evidence for the interaction of excitons with the electrons of the two-dimensional gas are demonstrated by a combined exciton-cyclotron resonance line observed in reflectivity and luminescence excitation, shake-up processes observed in photoluminescence, as well as inelastic and spin-dependent scattering processes. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 831–836 (May 1999) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Reproduced here with stylistic changes by the Translation Editor.     

Characteristics of phonon scattering in electron diffraction by a vibrating crystal lattice

In a departure from the generally accepted approach using rigid-body potentials, the diffraction of electrons by a deformation (compliant) potential is investigated, where the charge distribution in the crystal is treated as a continuous medium and its elastic deformability is taken into account. The deformability property in the presence of thermal “broadening” of the lattice planes in a metal leads to discontinuities at the boundaries of the Brillouin zone in the electron-phonon scattering spectrum and to the partial suppression of such scattering in the higher zones (or enhancement in the first Brillouin zone). Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 18–22 (January 1997)     

Photoreflectance investigations of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with a two dimensional electron gas

Undoped AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with different content and thickness of AlGaN layer are investigated by photoreflectance (PR) spectroscopy. We have observed PR resonances related to an absorption in both GaN and AlGaN layers. The character of these resonances has been analyzed, and PR lines associated with excitonic and band-to-band absorption in the GaN layer and band-to-band absorption in the AlGaN layer have been identified. The transition related to band-to-band absorption possesses characteristic Franz–Keldysh oscillations (FKOs) associated with a built-in electric field. The electric field in the AlGaN layer obtained on the basis of the analysis of FKOs has been found to be in the range of 244–341 kV/cm. The value of the field has been found to decrease with the increase in AlGaN thickness and to increase with the increase in Al concentration. The surface potential for AlGaN layers has been found to increase with the increase in Al mole fraction and has been estimated to be in the range of 1.0–1.7 eV.     

Free-carrier absorption in quantum well structures for acoustic phonon scattering

Free-carrier absorption has been studied for quantum well structures fabricated from III-V semiconducting materials where the acoustic phonon scattering is important. The energy band of carriers is assumed to be nonparabolic. We discuss the effect of acoustic phonon scattering on the free-carrier absorption for both deformation-potential coupling and piezoelectric coupling. It is found that the free-carrier absorption coefficient depends upon the polarization of the electromagnetic radiation relative to the layer plane or quantum well, the photon frequency, and the temperature. When the deformation-potential coupling is dominant, the free-carrier absorption coefficient increases with increasing temperature for photons polarized in the layer plane or perpendicular to the layer plane. However, when the piezoelectric coupling is dominant, the free-carrier absorption coefficient increases with increasing temperature for photons polarized in the layer plane, but for photons polarized perpendicularly to the layer plane, the free-carrier absorption coefficient decreases with increasing temperature. Moreover, at high temperatures such as T = 300 K, the free-carrier absorption coefficient oscillates with the film thickness in a small quantum well region and then decreases monotonically with increasing the film thickness. This is different from the result for three-dimensional semiconducting solids.     

Raman scattering by electron and phonon excitations in FeSi

The temperature evolution of Raman scattering by electron and phonon excitations in FeSi is studied within the range of 10–500 K. At low temperatures, the frequency dependence for the spectra of light scattered by electrons exhibits vanishing intensity in the range up to 500–600 cm^–1, which suggests the existence of an energy gap of about 70 meV. The calculations of the electronic excitation spectra based on the band structure determined using the LDA+DMFT technique (local electron density + dynamic mean field approximation) are in good agreement with the low-temperature experimental data and confirm that FeSi is a material with intermediate electron correlations. The changes in the shape of the electronic excitation spectrum and in the self-energy of optical phonons indicate a transition to the metallic state above 100 K. The analysis of experimental data demonstrates an appreciable decrease in the electron lifetime with the growth of temperature determining the (insulator–poor metal) transition.     

Oscillatory magnetoconductivity of a two-dimensional electron system due to phonon scattering

Summary A quantum-statistical theory of magnetophonon resonance oscillations in two-dimensional systems has been developed, starting from the resolvent representation of Kubo's formula and its proper connected diagram expansion. Non-polar and polar optical-phonon scattering has been considered and the results show, as anticipated based on the physical considerations and experimental observations, conductivity oscillations as a function of magnetic field with the magnetophonon resonances occurring at the phonon frequencies {ie1539-1} {ie1539-2}=cyclotron frequency). Divergences occurring in the magnetoconductivity near the magnetophonon resonances are removed by using the full resolvent operator in the tetradic self-energy operator of an electron. These additional terms provide necessary damping of the magnetophonon resonance oscillations. The present results are also shown to be qualitatively similar to those obtained by others using quantum Boltzmann's equation approach to quantum transport theory.     

Nuclear spin ferromagnetic phase transition in an interacting two dimensional electron gas

Electrons in a two-dimensional semiconducting heterostructure interact with nuclear spins via the hyperfine interaction. Using a a Kondo lattice formulation of the electron-nuclear-spin interaction, we show that the nuclear-spin system within an interacting two-dimensional electron gas undergoes a ferromagnetic phase transition at finite temperatures. We find that electron-electron interactions and non-Fermi liquid behavior substantially enhance the nuclear-spin Curie temperature into the mK range with decreasing electron density.