volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

The electronic structure of finite parabolic GaAs/Al_xGa_1-xAs superlattices is studied. A detailed analysis of the miniband formation is given and the importance of all system parameters is discussed. The dependence of the equidistant miniband separation on the superlattice size is revealed. A comparison with different theoretical methods and experimental data is presented. The calculations are conducted in the framework of the semi-empirical sp³s^* tight-binding model including spin applying the Green function formalism and the Surface Green Function Matching Method (SGFM) method.

1. Miller, R. C., A. C. Gossard, D. A. Kleinman, and O. Munteanu, "Parabolic quantum wells with the GaAs-Al_xGa_1-xAs system," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 29, No. 6, 3740-3743, 1984.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.29.3740

2. Menendez, J. and A. Pinczuk, "Light scattering determinations of band offsets in semiconductor heterostructures," IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 24, No. 8, 1698-1711, 1988.
doi:10.1109/3.7100

3. Yuen, W.-P., "Exact analytic analysis of finite parabolic quantum wells with and without a static electric field," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 48, No. 23, 17316-17320, 1993.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.48.17316

4. Shen, W. P. and M. L. Rustgi, "Two coupled parabolic wells under an electric field," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 74, No. 6, 4006-4014, 1993.
doi:10.1063/1.354444

5. Vlaev, S., V. R. Velasco, and F. Garcia-Moliner, "Tight-binding calculation of electronic states in an inverse parabolic quantum well," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 51, No. 11, 7321-7324, 1995.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.51.7321

6. Choy, W. C. and E. H. Li, "Polarization-insensitive electroabsorption by use of quantum well interdiffusion," Appl. Opt., Vol. 37, No. 9, 1674-1681, 1998.
doi:10.1364/AO.37.001674

7. Maranowski, K. D. and A. C. Gossard, "Far-infrared electroluminescence from parabolic quantum well superlattices excited by resonant tunneling injection," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 88, No. 1, 172-177, 2000.
doi:10.1063/1.373638

8. Kohn, W., "Cyclotron resonance and de Haas-van Alphen oscillations of an interacting electron gas," Phys. Rev., Vol. 123, No. 4, 1242-1244, 1961.
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.123.1242

9. Brey, L., N. F. Johnson, and B. Halperin, "Optical and magnetooptical absorption in parabolic quantum wells," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 40, No. 15, 10647-10649, 1989.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.40.10647

10. Wang, G. -H., Q. Guo, and K.-X. Guo, "Third-order nonlinear optical properties of parabolic and semiparabolic quantum wells," Phys. Stat. Sol. (B), Vol. 238, No. 1, 75-80, 2003.
doi:10.1002/pssb.200301753

11. Zhang, L. and H.-J. Xie, "Electric field effect on the secondorder nonlinear optical properties of parabolic and semiparabolic quantum wells," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 68, No. 23, 235315, 2003.

12. Sergio, C. S., G. M. Gusev, J. R. Leite, E. B. Olshanetskii, A. A. Bykov, N. T. Moshegov, A. K. Bakarov, A. I. Toropov, D. K. Maude, O. Estibal, and J. C. Portal, "Coexistence of a twoand three-dimensional Landau states in a wide parabolic quantum well," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 64, No. 11, 115314, 2001.

13. Gusev, G. M., A. A. Quivy, T. E. Lamas, J. R. Leite, O. Estibals, and J. C. Portal, "Quantum hall ferromagnet in a parabolic well," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 67, No. 15, 155313, 2003.

14. Bratschitsch, R., T. Muller, R. Kersting, G. Strasser, and K. Unterrainer, "Coherent terahertz emission from optically pumped intersubband plasmons in parabolic quantum wells," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 76, No. 24, 3501-3503, 2000.
doi:10.1063/1.126687

15. Gusev, G. M., A. A. Quivy, T. E. Lamas, J. R. Leite, O. Estibals, and J. C. Portal, "Transport of the quasi-three-dimensional hole gas in a magnetic field in the ultra-quantum limit," Physica E, Vol. 22, No. 1–3, 336–340, 2004.

16. Da Cuhna Lima, I. C., G. M. Gusev, and J. R. Leite, "Spin polarization by tilted magnetic field in wide Ga_1-xAl_xAs parabolic quantum wells," Journal of Superconductivity, Vol. 18, No. 2, 169-173, 2005.
doi:10.1007/s10948-005-3354-y

17. Efros, A. L. and E. I. Rashba, "Theory of electric dipole spin resonance in a parabolic quantum well," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 73, No. 16, 165325, 2006.

18. Chung, S. J., N. Dai, G. A. Khodaparast, J. L. Hicks, K. J. Goldammer, F. Brown, W. K. Liu, R. E. Doezema, S. Q. Murphy, and M. B. Santos, "Electronic characterization of InSb quantum wells," Physica E, Vol. 7, No. 3–4, 809–813, 2000.

19. Ekpunobi, A. J. and A. O. E. Animalu, "Band offsets and properties of AlGaAs/GaAs and AlGaN/GaN material systems," Superlattices and Microstructures, Vol. 31, No. 5, 247-252, 2002.
doi:10.1006/spmi.2002.1042

20. Vlaev, S. J., I. Rodriguez-Vargas, L. M. Gaggero-Sager, and V. R. Velasco, "An alternative way of calculating the superlattice Green function for discrete media," Surf. Sci., Vol. 554, No. 2–3, 245–252, 2004.

21. Garcia-Moliner, F. and V. R. Velasco, Theory of Single and Multiple Interfaces: The Method of Surface Green Function Matching, Word Scientific, Singapore, 1993.

22. Vlaev, S., V. R. Velasco, and F. Garcia-Moliner, "Electronic states in graded-composition heterostructures," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 49, No. 16, 11222-11229, 1994.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.49.11222

23. Vlaev, S. and D. A. Contreras-Solorio, "Electronic states in diffused quantum wells," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 82, No. 8, 3853-3856, 1997.
doi:10.1063/1.365750

Dr. Isaac Rodríguez-Vargas

Dr. O. Y. Sanchez-Barbosa

Dr. David Armando Contreras-Solorio

Professor Stoyan Vlaev