Intervalley Scattering and the Role, of Indirect Band Gap AlAs Barriers: Application to GaAs/AlGaAs Quantum Cascade Lasers |
| J. Mc Tavish, Z. Ikonić, D. Indjin and P. Harrison
School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K |
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| Received: 26 08 2007; |
| We report on the results of our simulations of Γ-X scattering in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures, discussing the importance of the mole fraction, doping density, and lattice and electron temperature in determining the scattering rates. We consider three systems, a single quantum well (for the investigation of Γ-X scattering), a double quantum well (to compare the Γ-X -G and Γ- Γscattering rates), and an example of a GaAs/AlGaAs mid-infrared quantum cascade laser. Our simulations suggest that Γ-X scattering can be significant at room temperature but falls off rapidly at lower temperatures. One important factor determining the scattering rate is found to be the energy difference between the Γ- and X-states. |
| DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.113.891 PACS numbers: 72.10.-d, 73.21.Fg, 73.63.Hs |