Interaction of electrons with polar optical phonons in semiconductor superlattices

On the basis of the microscopic theory of lattice dynamics, simulation of the electric potentials created by optical phonons in semiconductor superlattices is performed. It is shown that the spatial distribution of the amplitudes of electric potentials differs from that in a dielectric continuum predicted by the conventional macroscopic model without dispersion. A modified macroscopic continuum theory is proposed that takes into account the dispersion of short-range interatomic forces and allows one to obtain analytical expressions for the potentials of electron-phonon interaction.