Barrier-Bound Resonances in Semiconductor Superlattices in Strong Magnetic Fields

Abstract

The effective "miniband" mass approximation is shown to break down in strong magnetic fields when the magnetic length is smaller than the superlattice period. Under these conditions a real-space description must be used and features in the inhomogeneously broadened cyclotron resonance can be indexed by the position of the cyclotron orbit with respect to the barriers and wells. The line shape agrees with a calculation of the quantum states in a magnetic field in a one-dimensional periodic potential and these experiments give us a rare view of Landau states in the limit where the periodic potential has a period that is larger than the cyclotron diameter.