Magnetic-field-induced hybridization of electron subbands in a coupled double quantum well

We employ a magnetocapacitance technique to study the spectrum of the soft two-subband (or double-layer) electron system in a parabolic quantum well with a narrow tunnel barrier at the center. In this system, when unbalanced by gate depletion, two sets of quantum oscillations are observed at temperatures T≳30 mK: one originates from the upper electron subband in the closer-to-the-gate part of the well, and the other indicates the existence of common gaps in the spectrum at integer fillings. For the lowest filling factors υ=1 and υ=2, both the presence of a common gap down to the point of the one-to two-subband transition and their nontrivial magnetic field dependences point to magnetic-field-induced hybridization of electron subbands. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 8, 563–568 (25 April 1998) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Opening an energy gap in an electron double layer system at the integer filling factor in a tilted magnetic field

We employ magnetocapacitance measurements to study the spectrum of a double layer system with gate-voltage-tuned electron density distributions in tilted magnetic fields. For the dissipative state in normal magnetic fields at filling factor v=3 and 4, a parallel magnetic field component is found to give rise to the opening of a gap at the Fermi level. We account for the effect in terms of parallel-field-caused orthogonality breaking of the Landau wave functions with different quantum numbers for two subbands.     

Coulomb effects in spatially separated electron and hole layers in coupled quantum wells

We report on the (magneto-) optical study of many-body effects in spatially separated electron and hole layers in GaAs/Al_xGa_1?x As coupled quantum wells (CQWs) at low temperatures (T = 1.4 K) for a broad range of electron-hole (e-h) densities. Coulomb effects were found to result in an enhancement of the indirect (interwell) photoluminescence (PL) energy with increasing the e-h density both for a zero magnetic field and at high fields for all Landau level transitions; this is in contrast to the electron-hole systems in single QWs where the main features are explained by the band-gap renormalization resulting in a reduction of the PL energy. The observed enhancement of the ground state energy of the system of the spatially separated electron and hole layers with increasing the e-h density indicates that the real space condensation to droplets is energetically unfavorable. At high densities of separated electrons and holes, a new direct (intrawell) PL line has been observed: its relative intensity increased both in PL and in absorption (measured by indirect PL excitation) with increasing density; its energy separation from the direct exciton line fits well to the X ^? and X ⁺ binding energies previously measured in single QWs. The line is therefore attributed to direct multiparticle complexes.     

Intersubband scattering of cold electrons in a coupled quantum well with subband spacing below

We report measurements of the intersubband scattering rate between the first and second subband in a quantum-well structure with subband spacing (11 meV) smaller than the optical phonon energy. We measure the electron population in the second subband under CW excitation by a far-infrared laser tuned to the intersubband absorption frequency. This allows us to determine the intersubband relaxation rate using detailed balance. These measurements are novel because they are performed at very low excitation densities (I10 μW/cm²). In this regime the heating of the electron gas is negligible, so that the optically excited population in the upper subband greatly exceeds any thermal population induced by laser heating. Therefore, the relaxation rate we measure is controlled by intersubband scattering rather than carrier cooling. At low temperature we obtain an intersubband lifetime of which is power independent below 10⁻¹ W/cm², and approximately temperature independent for lattice temperatures between T=10 and 2.5 K.     

Hysteresis, spin transitions, and magnetic ordering in the fractional quantum Hall effect

We have studied the development of metastable properties associated with a nearly spin-degenerate two-dimensional electron system. Application of large hydrostatic pressure significantly reduces the g-factor experienced by electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure, and various fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) states are found to undergo transition to a spin-unpolarized ground state. In case of even numerator FQHE states, the spin transitions are accompanied by hysteresis and nonlinearity in the magnetotransport. These results strongly support a recent theory of quantum Hall magnetism in which competition between spin-polarized and spin-unpolarized ground states leads to an ordered phase that exhibits ferromagnetic correlation.     

Conductance oscillations in a deformable quantum ring

Low temperature magnetoconductance oscillation measurements are reported for a deformable quantum ring. The quantum ring is formed from a two-dimensional electron gas in a GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As heterostructure via electrostatic gates: outside gates define the outer perimeter with two quantum point contacts and a separately contacted center gate forms a central hole with adjustable size. Three lithography layers, aligned to 50 nm precision, were required to achieve independent contact to the center gate. Series of magneto-oscillation power spectra for increasing size of the central hole show two sets of peaks: one at essentially constant magnetic frequency corresponding to the area enclosed by the outer circumference as for edge-state interference and one which shifts to lower frequency corresponding to the area of the electron ring.     

Electro-optical probing of envelope wavefunctions in GaAs/AlGaAs parabolic quantum well structures

We report on a systematic experimental and theoretical study of the interband electroabsorption in GaAs/AlGaAs parabolic quantum well structures. Investigating a sample with an appropriately designed well width, we are able to observe a complex interplay of various electro-optical effects. The obtained results can be interpreted in terms of probing the electric-field dependent overlaps between the harmonic oscillator type envelope wavefunctions of electrons and holes.     

Stimulated scattering of indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells: signature of a degenerate Bose-gas of excitons.

We observe and analyze strongly nonlinear photoluminescence kinetics of indirect excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs coupled quantum wells at low bath temperatures, > or = 50 mK. The long recombination lifetime of indirect excitons promotes accumulation of these Bose particles in the lowest energy states and allows the photoexcited excitons to cool down to temperatures where the dilute 2D gas of indirect excitons becomes statistically degenerate. Our main result--a strong enhancement of the exciton scattering rate to the low-energy states with increasing concentration of the indirect excitons--reveals bosonic stimulation of exciton scattering, which is a signature of a degenerate Bose-gas of excitons.