Electrical measurement of the linewidth of a quantum well bound state

Abstract

We investigate electron tunneling spectroscopy in the presence of a bound state within a double quantum barrier, single quantum well structure. We demonstrate a new technique to directly measure the intrinsic linewidth of the bound state within the quantum well from the current-voltage signature of the resonant tunneling phenomena and contrast our results with the standing approach in the literature. We then examine the signal behavior for the influence of device temperature and find support for electron-electron interactions within the well. The measured intrinsic bound-state width, ΓE, in the negative differential conductance regime is 1.11± 0.01 meV.