Novel critical field in magneto-resistance oscillation of 2DEG in asymmetric GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As double wells measured as a function of the in-plane magnetic field

We have investigated the magnetoresistance of strongly asymmetric double-well structures formed by a thin Al0.3Ga0.7As barrier grown far from the interface in the GaAs buffer of standard heterostructures. In magnetic fields oriented parallel to the electron layers, the magnetoresistance exhibits an oscillation associated with the depopulation of the higher occupied subband and with the field-induced transition into a decoupled bilayer. In addition, the increasing field transfers electrons from the triangular to rectangular well and, at high enough field value, the triangular well is emptied. Consequently, the electronic system becomes a single layer which leads to a sharp step in the density of electron states and to an additional minimum in the magnetoresistance curve. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.