Magnetopolaron states involving confined phonons in a semiconductor quantum well

Abstract

Energy splitting ΔE _res in double magnetopolaron energy spectrum in rectangular quantum wells as functions of the well width d have been calculated. We have considered in the capacity of interaction leading to resonant coupling between electrons and phonons the interaction with confined phonons and (for comparison) with bulk LO phonons. We have obtained the conditions when the interaction with bulk phonons yields correct results. Calculations for AlAs/GaAs/AlAs and AlSb/InSb/AlSb structures have been performed. Alongside the parameter ΔE _res for a polaron, whose resonant magnetic field is determined by the condition Ω=ω _L1, where Ω is the cyclotron frequency and ω _L1 is the LO phonon frequency in the quantum well (A-polaron), we have calculated ΔE _res for D-(Ω=2ω _L1) and F-polarons (Ω=3ω _L1), which is a factor of $\sqrt 2$ and $\sqrt 3$, respectively, smaller than ΔE _res for the A-polaron. Since the splitting ΔE _res for the A-polaron is very large (up to 0.2ℏω _L1), it is more convenient to study in experiments D-and F-polarons since their resonant magnetic fields are lower. We have predicted existence of “weak” magnetopolarons, in which the splitting is proportional to a higher power of Frölich’s coupling constant α than α ^1/2.