Garrett approximation for asymmetric rectangular potentials and its applications to quantum well infrared photodetectors

TL;DR

This paper extends Garrett's approximation to asymmetric rectangular quantum wells, providing simple formulas for bound state energies with high accuracy, and discusses applications in quantum well infrared photodetectors.

Contribution

The paper introduces a consistent application of Garrett's approximation to asymmetric wells, yielding highly accurate energy formulas for quantum well analysis.

Findings

Energy errors of about 1% for moderate wells

Errors reduce to 0.01% for deep wells

Application to quantum well infrared photodetectors discussed

Abstract

Garrett's approximation for the calculation of bound states energy in square wells is applied in a consistent way. So, one obtains simple formulas for these energies, with errors of about 1% for moderate, and 0.01% for deep wells. The application in of our results in the physics of quantum well infrared photodetectors is briefly discussed.