Effect of static carrier screening on the energy relaxation of electrons in polar-semiconductor multiple-quantum-well superlattices

An electro-static model has been formalized to analyze the effect of carrier screening on the energy relaxation of electrons in polar-semiconductor multiple-quantum-well superlattices. The screened polar potential in this structure has been obtained in terms of its 0th order and 1st order Fourier components. The 1st order correction gives a further reduction of the coupling strength due to the uneven spatial distribution of carriers, and it heavily depends on the relative bi-layer thickness compared to the Debye screening length. The reductions of electron energy relaxation in In0.25GaAs/GaAsP0.33 multiple-quantum-well superlattices have been numerically analyzed yielding conclusions which agree with the recent experiments. The model provides a quantified approach to optimize the structure configuration in terms of the carrier cooling rate, allowing the multiple-quantum-well superlattice to be an ideal absorber candidate for realizing the hot carrier solar cell.

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