Zener tunneling between Landau levels in a double quantum well at high filling factors

Abstract

Differential resistance r xx in a double GaAs quantum well with two occupied size-quantization subbands has been studied at a temperature of 4.2 K in magnetic fields B < 2 T. The oscillations of r xx with a period in the inverse magnetic field determined by the value of a dc bias current I dc have been discovered in the electron system under investigation at high filling factors in the presence of I dc. The amplitude of magneto-intersubband oscillations has been shown to increase in the r xx oscillation maxima, while the oscillation reversal has been observed in the minima. The discovered oscillations have been shown to be due to Zener tunneling of electrons between Landau levels tilted by a Hall electric field. The experimental data are qualitatively explained by the effect of intersubband transitions on the I dc-dependent component of the electron distribution function.