Theory of Magnetotunnelling through Donors in the Quantum Well of Double-Barrier Resonant-Tunnelling Structures

• Authors: T. Fromhold , F. Sheard , L. Eaves
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The tunnel current from a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) into donor impurities in the quantum well of a double-barrier heterostructure is studied using the Bardeen Transfer-Hamiltonian formalism. Resonant tunnelling occurs when the donor level lies within the energy range of occupied 2DEG states. It is shown that in the presence of a magnetic field B normal to the current flow, the magnetocurrent J(B) is determined by the Fourier probability density of the donor wave function corresponding to the momentum p0 transferred to the tunnelling electrons by the Lorentz force. Then experimental J(B) curves, in principle, directly measure the donor wave function. The magnetocurrent is quenched when p0 greatly exceeds the width of the distribution of momentum Fourier components of the donor wave function.

Keywords

EN

73.40.Gk; 71.55.Eq; 85.30.Tv

Discipline

• 71.55.Eq: III-V semiconductors
• 85.30.Tv: Field effect devices
• 73.40.Gk: Tunneling(for tunneling in quantum Hall effects, see 73.43.Jn)

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 1992
• Volume: 82
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 737-740

Dates

published

1992-11

Contributors

author

T. Fromhold

• Department of Physics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, U.K.

author

F. Sheard

• Department of Physics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, U.K.

author

L. Eaves

• Department of Physics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, U.K.

Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.82.737