The bound polaron in an electric field in polar semiconductor heterostructures

We have calculated the ionization energy of a bound polaron confined in general step quantum wells (QWs) in the presence of an electric field, in which the coupling of an electron with confined bulk-like LO phonons, half-space LO phonons and interface phonons is considered. In particular, the interaction of the impurity with the various phonon modes is also included in QWs. Results have been obtained as a function of the barrier height, the well width, the electric field intensities and the position coordinates of the impurity in the QWs. Our numerical calculations clearly show that the interaction between the impurity and the phonon field plays an important role in screening the Coulomb interaction. It is shown that the cumulative effect of the electron–phonon coupling and the impurity–phonon coupling can contribute appreciably to the donor ionization energy. Only for a certain range of well widths can we neglect all the polaronic effects.