Study of the semi-classical approximation for resonant-magnetotunneling spectroscopy

We examine the working principle of resonant-magnetotunneling spectroscopy, which assumes a semi-classical approximation for the relationship between the applied magnetic field and the wave vector of a quantum-well subband state it probes. We consider a simple quantum well in an in-plane magnetic field, and calculate quantum mechanically its enegy-level shift with the magnetic field. We also use the semi-classical approximation to compute the shift. We compare the two results for various well widths and barrier heights, and show that the difference can be as large as 10%. In general, the semi-classical approximation for resonant magnetotunneling is found to work reasonably well. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.