Electric field dependence of hybridized gap in InAs/GaSb quantum well system

Abstract

Abstract We demonstrate theoretically that exchange interaction induced by electron-hole scattering via Coulomb interaction can cause a hybridized gap in InAs/GaSb based type II and broken-gap quantum wells. The hybridized energy spectra are obtained analytically at the low temperature and long wave limits. An electric field depended hybridized gap about 4 meV opens at the anti-crossing points of the hybridized energy spectra, in accordance with experimental measurements. The hybridized gap varies linearly with the gate electric voltage due to the fact that the electric field can change the exchange self-energy by tuning the overlap of the wavefunctions and the Fermi energy. Our theoretical results can give a deep insight of the origin of the hybridized gap and provide a simple way to determine the value and the position of the hybridized gap in the presence of the gate electric voltage.