Absorption saturation studies of Landau levels in quasi-two-dimensional systems

We report the first far-infrared linear and non-linear (saturation) magneto absorption experiments of coupled subband-Landau level excitations in a series of modulation-doped double-coupled multiple quantum-well (MQW) structures. Non-linear spectroscopy is carried out with a free electron laser. A plot of energy versus magnetic field for 4 laser lines at low intensity and high intensity is compared with linear (Fourier transform) spectroscopy at low and high temperatures. An exact numerical solution of the Schrödinger equation for this coupled system is also obtained and compared with experiments. Results show that the feature observed at high laser intensity and high temperature is due to transitions from the 1st-excited state of the coupled system to the higher excited states. Based on this, a simple 2-level model is developed, and with a layer-by-layer analysis for MQW systems, the electron lifetime of the first-excited state is obtained. c © 1997 Academic Press Limited