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.     

Giant fluctuations of radiation intensity of two-dimensional electrons in double quantum wells

Giant fluctuations of the recombination-radiation intensity of two-dimensional electrons were studied in double quantum wells with different well and barrier widths in the regime of the integer quantum Hall effect. It was found that the giant fluctuations of photoluminescence intensity in double quantum wells with a narrow barrier (l<150 Å) occur in a narrow magnetic-field interval, where the sum of electron concentrations in both wells corresponds to the integer filling factors 4, 8, and 12. It was established that, under these conditions, the coefficient C₁₂ of correlation between the radiation intensities from different wells is close to unity. It is shown that, as the barrier width increases (l>200 Å), the coefficient C₁₂ decreases, changes sign, and goes to zero at l=400 Å.     

Propagation of electrons in coupled quantum wells

Summary We study propagation of an electron wave in a double-quantum-well structure formed by alternate layers of GaAlAs and GaAs. In such a structure, electron states parallel to the layers are described by 2D plane waves and in the perpendicular direction by the bound states of the confining potential. We show that an electron, initially introduced in one well, will execute oscillations between the two wells of the structure. Although the frequency of oscillations depends primarily on the distance separating the wells and the confining potential, it is shown in this paper that the frequency also depends on the effective mass of the electron, if it is different within and outside the well. Expressions are derived for the frequency of oscillations, taking into account the difference in the effective mass of the electron.     

Effective interaction of electrons in quantum wells

Effects of electron-phonon interaction on the interaction between electrons in semiconductor quantum wells are considered. It is found that the direct Coulomb potential between electrons in a quantum well is smaller than that in bulk semicondutors. The antisymmetric modes of the confined bulk phonons and interface phonons have no contribution to the effective interaction of electrons. If a well is narrow enough, the effective interaction between electrons caused by interaction with interface phonons may exceed that by interaction with confined bulk phonons. In narrower wells the effective interaction potential of electrons produced by phonons is stronger, but decreases rapidly with increasing distance between electrons.     

Two-dimensional electrons in spirally rolled-up quantum wells

An effective Hamiltonian is obtained to describe the motion of a one-dimensional quantum particle along an arbitrary plane curve. Calculations are made of the energy levels and the polarization dependence of the electromagnetic wave absorption in a spirally rolled-up quantum well.     

Mobility of Dirac electrons in HgTe quantum wells

The mobility of Dirac electrons (DEs) in HgTe quantum wells with the thickness close to the critical value corresponding to the transition from the direct to inverted spectrum has been studied experimentally and theoretically. The nonmonotonic dependence of this mobility on the electron density is found experimentally. The theory of DE scattering on impurities and fluctuations of the thickness of a well caused by its roughnesses is elaborated. This theory is in good agreement with experiment and explains the observed nonmonotonicity by the decrease in the ratio of the de Broglie wavelength of DEs to the characteristic size of the roughness with the increase in their concentration.     

Magnetotunneling absorption in double quantum wells

Tunneling absorption is calculated in weakly-coupled n-type asymmetric double quantum wells in an in-plane magnetic field using a linear response theory. Tunneling absorption of photons occurs between the ground sublevels of the quantum wells. We show that the absorption threshold, the resonance energy of absorption, and the linewidth depend sensitively on the magnetic field and the temperature.     

Monte Carlo study of hot electrons in quantum wells

We have performed an ensemble Monte Carlo calculation of the high field response at 77 K of two different two-dimensional systems, one a modulation doped (MD) single square well of GaAs/AlGaAs and the other a δ-doping layer formed by a sheet of donor impurities embedded in bulk GaAs. Results of this calculation show a reduced low field mobility and a decrease in the transient overshoot velocity in the δ-doping versus MD system due to the effect of impurity scattering. At high fields, however, the steady state saturated drift velocities appear to be similar in the two systems. Because of the higher carrier density, the performance of short-channel devices based on the δ-layer will be advantageous where high output currents are necessary.     

Electron transport in rectangular quantum wells

Experimental results on low-field and high-field electron transport in rectangular quantum wells are reviewed. The related theory is presented and the experimental results are examined in the light of the theory. It is concluded that although some experimental results are available and the theory of transport has been developed, numerical agreement between theory and experiments has not yet been reached. The author felicitates Prof. D S Kothari on his eightieth birthday and dedicates this paper to him on this occasion.     

Effects of intersubband interaction on multisubband electron transport in single and double quantum wells

The multisubband electron transport properties are studied for doped single quantum well and gated double asymmetric quantum well structures. The effects due to intersubband interaction and screening of the ionized impurity scattering are also investigated. We show that intersubband coupling plays an essential role in describing the screening properties as well as the effect of ionized impurity scattering on the mobility in a doped single quantum well. For coupled double quantum well structures, negative transconductance is found theoretically which is due to resonant tunneling between the two quantum wells.     

Landau-level interplay in InGaAs double quantum wells

Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) and Hall measurements have been used to investigate a pair of adjacent two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) which were formed in two n_0.53Ga_0.47As quantum-wells, separated by a thin In_0.52Al_0.48As barrier, grown lattice-matched on InP. This double quantum-well system consists of two asymmetric InGaAs quantum wells, 9 nm and 7 nm respectively, separated by a 4.5 nm InAlAs barrier. The existence of two occupied electronic subbands with differing electron densities can clearly be identified by beating effects in the SdH oscillations. By applying a substrate bias the electron densities can be tuned and the beating is shifted. In the simultaneously performed Hall measurements additional features can be observed: Hall measurements with different total electron densities reveal plateaus for integer filling factors ν (with ν = ν₁ + ν₂, ν₁and ν₂both integers, corresponding to the two subbands). Some even filling factors become suppressed and recover with changing electron density. Also, for some densities an odd filling factor is observed. The systematic tuning of the electron densities via the application of a bias voltage to the front gate reveals two Landau fans, one for each electronic system, respectively, crossing each other. The electron densities for both electronic systems can be identified by analysing the SdH spectra. As a function of the front-gate voltage, these densities seem to show evidence for an anticrossing of the two electronic states and therefore for a strong coupling between the states.     

Cyclotron resonance in asymmetric double quantum wells

Far-infrared magnetotransmission measurements in magnetic fields are carried out on asymmetric coupled double wells. We observe a splitting in the cyclotron resonance (CR) line for a wide range of intermediate magnetic fields and only one line at high magnetic fields. Two peaks observed in the CR spectra correspond to transitions between Landau levels in individual wells. We propose that phase transition between weak and strong coupling regimes may be responsible for the features. The characteristics of the transition are studied via an analysis of CR masses, CR splitting and line widths as a function of the magnetic field.     

Exciton condensate emission in double quantum wells

Studies of the photoluminescence spectra of spatially indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells revealed that the emission has a directional pattern dependent on the external electric field and pumping power. The experimentally detected correlation between the spectral emission parameters of spatially indirect excitons, namely, the concentration (phase state) of such excitons, the line half-width, the degree of linear polarization, and the existence of a directional pattern, permits a suggestion that the spontaneous photoluminescence of spatially indirect excitons in the condensed state is of a coherent nature.     

Observation of magnetic breakdown in double quantum wells

We report on our studies of magnetic breakdown (MB) in coupled GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As double quantum wells (DQWs) subject to crossed magnetic fields. MB is a failure of semiclassical theory that occurs when a magnetic field causes electrons to tunnel across a gap ink-space from one Fermi surface (FS) branch to another. We study MB in a two-branch FS created by subjecting a DQW to an in-plane magnetic field (B_∥). The principal effect ofB_∥is a distortion in the dispersion curve of the system, yielding a FS consisting of two components, a lens-shaped inner orbit and an hour-glass-shaped outer orbit. The perpendicular field (B_⊥) causes Landau level formation and Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations for each branch of the FS. At higher perpendicular fields MB occurs and electrons tunnel throughk-space from one FS orbit to the other. MB is observed by noting which peaks are present in the Fourier power spectrum of the magnetoresistance versus 1/B_⊥at constantB_∥. We observe MB in two DQW samples over a range ofB_∥.     

Maxwell relaxation of excitons in double quantum wells

The spreading of dipolar excitons in double quantum wells is described by a nonlinear continuity equation. It has been shown that the law of corresponding states holds, which allows one to find the dependence of the characteristic process parameters on the amplitude and width of the initial distribution. In contrast to usual (linear) diffusion, the spreading occurs much faster in the one-dimensional case than in the two-dimensional case.