Study of hot carrier relaxation in quantum wells by subpicosecond Raman scattering

Relaxation of hot carriers excited by subpicosecond laser pulses has been studied by Raman scattering in GaAs/AlAs multiple quantum wells with well widths varying between 100 and 1000 A. The hot phonon population observed by Raman scattering is found to decrease with the well width despite the fact that the hot electron temperature remains constant. The results are explained in terms of confinement of both electrons and optical phonons in quantum wells.