Magnetotunelamento numa heteroestrutura de dupla barreira composta por GaAs-AlGaAs

Abstract

In this work we study the resonant tunneling through a double barrier heterostructure considering the electron-phonon interaction in the presence of a magnetic field parallel to the tunneling current. The device studied here is a heterostructure at the nanoscale composed of GaAs/AlGaAs. It is controlled by an external potential. For a given bias electrons decay from the excited state in the well to the ground state by emitting primary optical phonons (LO1). That phonons decay into a pair of longitudinal optical (LO2) and transverse acoustic (TA), being represented by LO1 →LO2 +TA. The TA phonons form a coherent beam produced in the terahertz range (THz), defining the saser. The system was described by a thight-binding Hamiltonian that includes the electrons, the phonons and the electron-phonon interaction. In order to calculate the transmittance and electron current out of equilibrium at finite temperature, Keldysh Green functions were used. We solve a system of kinetic equations that describes the dynamics of electrons and phonons in the saser. The phonons TA have a very long lifetime and a mean free path that could reach more than one centimeter. In the limit of low temperatures and low magnetic fields our results coincide with those obtained previously In this Keldysh formalism we consider Landau levels that, besides the LO1 phonons, opens new channels for the flow of electrons in the device. We obtain the results for resonant magnetotunneling according to the experimental observations and other theoretical studies.