Inelastic light scattering from plasmons tunneling between Wannier-Stark states

Journal Article · 05 June 2018 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5025851 · OSTI ID:1457124

Fluegel, B. ^[1]; Pfeiffer, L. N. ^[2]; West, K. ^[2]; Mascarenhas, A. ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)

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.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1457124
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5K00-71495
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 21 Vol. 123; ISSN 0021-8979
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English