The quasi-confined optical phonons in wurtzite GaN/AlN multiple quantum wells

Abstract

Within the framework of the dielectric-continuum model and Loudon's uniaxial crystal model, the equation of motion for p-polarization field in arbitrary wurtzite multilayer heterostructures are solved for the quasi-confined phonon (QC) modes. The polarization eigenvector, the dispersion relation, and the electron–QC interaction Fröhlich-like Hamiltonian are derived by using the transfer-matrix method. The dispersion relations and the electron-QC coupling strength are investigated for a wurtzite GaN/AlN single QW. The results show that there are infinite branches of dispersion curve with definite symmetry with respect to the center of the QW structure. The confinement of the quasi-confined phonons in the QW leads to a quantization of q z,j characterized by an integer m that defines the order of corresponding quasi-confined modes. The QC modes are more dispersive for decreasing m. The QC modes display an interface behavior in the barrier and a confined behavior in the well. The symmetric modes have more contribution to electron–QC interaction than the antisymmetric modes. The strains have more effect on symmetry modes, and can be ignored for symmetry modes.