Electron-phonon interaction in short-period (GaAs)m(AlAs)n (001) superlattices

The deformation potentials of electron scattering at short-wavelength phonons for intervalley transitions in the conduction band of short-period (GaAs)m(AlAs)n (001) (m, n = 1, 2, 3) superlattices are determined by the electron density functional method. The dependences of the electron and phonon states and deformation potentials on the layer thickness in the superlattices are analyzed. The results of ab initio calculations are in good agreement with the data of empirical calculation of the deformation potentials integrated over phonons, but differ from data on the corresponding potentials for partial scattering channels because of approximations of the phenomenological model of interatomic binding.