Landau level transitions in InAs/AlSb/GaSb quantum wells

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates Landau level transitions in InAs/AlSb/GaSb quantum wells under magnetic fields, revealing complex hybridization effects and transition behaviors relevant for magneto-optical experiments.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of Landau level transitions, including hybridization and anti-crossing effects, in InAs/AlSb/GaSb quantum wells without using the axial approximation.

Findings

Landau levels intersect and hybridize, causing anti-crossing splittings.

Transition energies and strengths are calculated and depend on magnetic field.

Tuning layer widths affects transition energies and splittings.

Abstract

The electronic structure of InAs/AlSb/GaSb quantum wells embedded in AlSb barriers and in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field is studied theoretically within the $14$-band ${\bf k}\cdot{\bf p}$ approach without making the axial approximation. At zero magnetic field, for a quantum well with a wide InAs layer and a wide GaSb layer, the energy of an electron-like subband can be lower than the energy of hole-like subbands. As the strength of the magnetic field increases, the Landau levels of this electron-like subband grow in energy and intersect the Landau levels of the hole-like subbands. The electron-hole hybridization leads to a series of anti-crossing splittings of the Landau levels. The energies of some Landau level transitions and their corresponding transition strengthes are calculated. The magnetic field dependence of some dominant transitions is shown with their corresponding initial-states and final-states indicated. This information should be useful in analyzing an experimentally measured magneto-optical spectrum. At high magnetic fields, multiple transitions due to the initial-state splitting can be observed. The dominant transitions at high fields can be roughly viewed as two spin-split Landau level transitions with many electron-hole hybridization induced splittings. The energy separations between the dominant transitions may decrease or increase versus the magnetic field locally, or may be almost field independent. The separations can be tuned by changing the width of InAs layer or the width of middle AlSb layer. When the magnetic field is tilted, the electron-like Landau level transitions show additional anti-crossing splittings due to the subband-Landau level coupling.