FAR-INFRARED OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF PARALLEL QUANTUM-WELL WIRES WITH SHORT LATERAL PERIODS

The optical properties are investigated numerically in the far infrare d (FIR) region for the GaAs/AlAs parallel quantum well wires (PQWWs) w ith short lateral periods produced by deposition of GaAs and AlAs frac tional layers on (001) vicinal GaAs substrates. Calculations are carri ed out for the refractive indexes and optical absorption coefficients with and without the inclusion of electron interactions to find out th e effects of intersubband plasmons on the FIR optical properties of PQ WWs, As the lateral periods of PQWWs increase from 10 to 30 nn, their FIR optical properties change from the behaviour dominated by single e lectron transitions between conduction subbands to that dominated by i ntersubband plasmon excitations. Strong and sharp peaks in the optical absorption coefficients and large variations of the refractive indexe s as functions of the frequencies of the incident light are predicted in the FIR region.