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Title: Inelastic light scattering from plasmons tunneling between Wannier-Stark states

Abstract

Using inelastic light scattering, we measure the zone-center electronic excitation modes in a set of multiple quantum wells. The width of the wavefunction barriers was chosen such that it prevents significant coupling of the electron ground states between wells yet is transparent to electron tunneling under an electric field. Under these conditions, we find charge-density-like and spin-density-like plasmons whose energies do not correspond to the excitations calculated for either a single well or a set of Coulomb-coupled wells. The observed energies are proportional to the electric field strength and the lower energy modes agree with predictions for plasmons tunneling between the Wannier-Stark ladder states.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1]
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1457124
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1440798
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-71495
Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979; TRN: US1901296
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 123; Journal Issue: 21; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; single particle tunneling; light scattering; lasers; phonons; semiconductors; quantum wells; electron gas; chemical kinetics

Citation Formats

Fluegel, B., Pfeiffer, L. N., West, K., and Mascarenhas, A. Inelastic light scattering from plasmons tunneling between Wannier-Stark states. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5025851.
Fluegel, B., Pfeiffer, L. N., West, K., & Mascarenhas, A. Inelastic light scattering from plasmons tunneling between Wannier-Stark states. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5025851
Fluegel, B., Pfeiffer, L. N., West, K., and Mascarenhas, A. Wed . "Inelastic light scattering from plasmons tunneling between Wannier-Stark states". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5025851. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1457124.
@article{osti_1457124,
title = {Inelastic light scattering from plasmons tunneling between Wannier-Stark states},
author = {Fluegel, B. and Pfeiffer, L. N. and West, K. and Mascarenhas, A.},
abstractNote = {Using inelastic light scattering, we measure the zone-center electronic excitation modes in a set of multiple quantum wells. The width of the wavefunction barriers was chosen such that it prevents significant coupling of the electron ground states between wells yet is transparent to electron tunneling under an electric field. Under these conditions, we find charge-density-like and spin-density-like plasmons whose energies do not correspond to the excitations calculated for either a single well or a set of Coulomb-coupled wells. The observed energies are proportional to the electric field strength and the lower energy modes agree with predictions for plasmons tunneling between the Wannier-Stark ladder states.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5025851},
journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
number = 21,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: Representative inelastic light scattering spectra at 4 K using a laser energy of 1.913 eV and an electric field of 2.06 104 V/cm. The two curves show scattered light that is linearly polarized parallel to (larger signal) and orthogonal to (smaller signal) the laser. Peaks marked with verticalmore » arrows are scattering from optical phonons of GaAs or AlGaAs. The remaining peaks are scattering from plasmon modes. Inset: schematic of the sample structure, showing the conduction band energy as a function of distance in the growth direction. The two sets of 10 MQWs are composed of 60 ÅGaAs and 80° Al0.3Ga0.7As.« less

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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.