Saturation spectroscopy of electronic states in a magnetic field in InAs/AlxGa1-xSb single quantum wells

We have carried out saturation spectroscopy of cyclotron resonance in a semiconducting InAs/Al0.5Ga0.5Sb single quantum well using the UCSB free electron laser and have extracted an effective Landau level lifetime using an n-level rate equation model. The effective lifetime shows strong oscillations ( > an order of magnitude) with frequency. Minima are shifted to higher frequencies than those given by the simple parabolic magnetophonon resonance condition due to large nonparabolicity in the InAs conduction band. We have also used this technique to investigate the origins of two lines: the X-line and cyclotron resonance in a "semimetallic" InAs/Al0.1Ga0.9Sb single quantum-well structure. Results show that the two lines are of different origin. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.