The characteristical asymmetric shapes of the Raman tines caused by the col
lective plasmon-LO phonon excitations in heavily doped GaAs/AlAs superlatti
ces were analyzed in order to separate the influence of the magnetic field
on the spatial extent of the collective excitations and on their damping co
nstant, which is attributed to the AC conductivity. It was shown that the m
agnetic field influences the damping of the plasmon-like excitations strong
er than their spatial extent. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res
erved.