Extended states and dynamical localization in semiconductor superlattices

We study the quantum dynamics of electronic wave packets in quantum-well based semiconductor superlattices subject to an applied electric field. Using a high-accuracy numerical method, we analyze the dynamical behavior of electronic wave packets in periodic, random and random dimer superlattices. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Domínguez-Adame Acosta, Francisco, Sánchez, A., Díez Alcántara, Eduardo
Format: article
Publication Date:1997
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/59369
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/59369
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:538.9
Bloch Oscillations
Física de materiales
Description
Summary:We study the quantum dynamics of electronic wave packets in quantum-well based semiconductor superlattices subject to an applied electric field. Using a high-accuracy numerical method, we analyze the dynamical behavior of electronic wave packets in periodic, random and random dimer superlattices. The spatial extent of electronic states is characterized by means of the time-dependent inverse participation ratio. We show that the delocalized states recently found in random dimer superlattices become spatially localized under the action of the applied field (dynamical localization) but wavepackets are much less localized than in purely random superlattices at moderate field. We conclude that the resonant tunneling effects causing delocalization in dimer superlattices play an important role even in the presence of moderate electric field.