Eur. Phys. J. B 74, 319-329 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2010-00091-8

Magnetic-field and confinement effects on the effective Landé g factor in Al_xGa_1-xAs parabolic quantum wells

¹ Faculdade de Ciências, UNESP, Univ Estadual Paulista, 17033-360, Bauru - SP, Brazil
² Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, Calle 73 N° 76, A-354 Medellín, Colombia
³ Instituto de Física, Universidad de Antioquia, AA, 1226 Medellín, Colombia

Corresponding author: ereyesgomez@gmail.com

Received: 23 December 2009
Revised: 9 February 2010
Published online: 18 March 2010

Abstract

The magnetic-field and confinement effects on the Landé factor in Al_xGa_1-xAs parabolic quantum wells under magnetic fields applied parallel or perpendicular to the growth direction are theoretically studied. Calculations are performed in the limit of low temperatures and low electron density in the heterostructure. The g factor is obtained by taking into account the effects of non-parabolicity and anisotropy of the conduction band through the 2 × 2 Ogg-McCombe Hamiltonian, and by including the cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit term. A simple formula describing the magnetic-field dependence of the effective Landé factor is analytically derived by using the Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory, and it is found in good agreement with previous experimental studies devoted to understand the behavior of the g factor, as a function of an applied magnetic field, in semiconductor heterostructures. Present numerical results for the effective Landé factor are shown as functions of the quantum-well parameters and magnetic-field strength, and compared with available experimental measurements.