Inelastic scattering of hot electrons by neutral donors in heavily silicon-doped GaAs/AlAs quantum wells

The energy and momentum relaxation of hot electrons in n-type GaAs/AlAs quantum wells is studied. Hot photoluminescence due to the recombination of hot electrons with holes bound on Si acceptors is observed in structures with a high level of doping with silicon. Using the method of magnetic depolarization of hot photoluminescence, the probability of scattering of hot electrons is found to decrease substantially with increasing temperature in the range 4–80 K. This effect is shown to be due to the ionization of donors. It is established that the probability of inelastic scattering by neutral donors is several times greater than the probability of quasielastic electron-electron scattering.