Quasi-bound electronic states in parabolic GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells and barriers

A full quantum-mechanical description of the quasi-bound states in parabolic quantum wells and barriers is presented. The GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures are considered within the framework of the semi-empirical sp3s*sp3s* spin dependent tight-binding model and the surface Green function matching method (SGFM). Series of equidistant energy quasi-bound states are observed in the continuous spectrum and their FWHM and mean life time are calculated. Strong energy and spatial localizations are found in correlation with the large mean life times.