The phonon-assisted photon-drag effect in a two-dimensional semiconductor quantum-well structure

The phonon-assisted photon-drag effect in a two-dimensional semiconductor quantum well structure is investigated. By making use of second-order perturbation theory and the classical Boltzmann equation we found, by considering both intrasubband and the intersubband electronic transitions, that the electric field generated by the photon-drag effect in a typical GaAs-AlGaAs two-dimensional system is enhanced by almost one order of magnitude as compared with that of a bulk system. Moreover, the results can qualitatively account for the observed absorption spectra due to intersubband electronic transitions occurring in GaAs quantum wells. (C) 2001 Academic Press.