CARRIER-CARRIER SCATTERING - AN EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF BULK GAAS AND GAAS/ALXGA1-X AS QUANTUM-WELLS

The energy loss of a hot electron to a thermalized electron-hole plasma has been studied using, the optical recombination of a hot electron at a neutral acceptor. The dependence of the energy-loss rate on plasma density was measured in both bulk and quantum-well samples. In bulk, the energy-loss rate is significantly sublinear as a result of screening. In quantum wells, the rate is nearly linear in plasma density, showing that screening is less important. Measurements in an asymmetric coupled-well sample show that the interaction between a hot electron in one well and a plasma in an adjacent well is much weaker than if they are in the same well.