Electron-electron interactions and resonant tunneling in heterostructures

Abstract

A Hartree–Fock approach [Z. Physik 61, 126 (1930)] is used to analyze electron-electron interactions in heterostructures. The analysis includes estimates of the effect of electron-electron interactions on localized states in quantum wells and resonant tunneling. Resonant tunneling is treated in a self-consistent narrow resonance approximation. The Hartree–Fock approach yields an explicit exchange interaction subband energy shift which is completely omitted in Poisson equation treatments. Exchange effects are found to be of the same order of magnitude but opposite in sign to direct interactions at typical electron densities.