Quantum Interference Effect and Electric Field Domain Formation in Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors

Abstract

An observation of quantum interference effect in photocurrent spectra of a weakly coupled bound-to-continuum multiple quantum well photodetector is reported. This effect persists even at high biases where the Kronig Penney minibands of periodic superlattice potential in the continuum are destroyed. Our results show that electrons remain coherent over a distance of 40 50 nm. The observation was used to investigate electric field domain formation induced by sequential resonant tunneling in the superlattice. A large off-resonant energy level alignment between two neighboring wells in the high field domain was observed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA459998

Entities

People

  • Ali Shakouri
  • Amnon Yariv
  • Yuanjian Xu

Organizations

  • California Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Absorption Spectra
  • Detectors
  • Electric Fields
  • Electron Emission
  • Electrons
  • Energy Gaps
  • Energy Levels
  • Ground Level
  • Ground State
  • Observation
  • Photodetectors
  • Quantum Tunneling
  • Quantum Wells
  • Radiation
  • Sorption
  • Spectra

Fields of Study

  • Materials science
  • Physics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Quantum Computing
  • Quantum Science - Quantum Dots