Effect of parabolic potential well profile on multisubband electron mobility in a coupled quantum well in presence of an external electric field

•We analyze electric field induced electron mobility in parabolic double quantum wells.•We show that mobility is more in a parabolic well compared to a square well.•Increase in the curvature of the parabolic potential increases the mobility further.•The enhancement of multisubband mobility is governed by intersubband interactions.

We study the effect of parabolic potential well profile on the electric field dependent multisubband electron mobility in a double quantum well structure. We consider a barrier delta doped GaAs–AlxGa1−xAs parabolic coupled double quantum well subject to an external electric field perpendicular to the interface plane. Variation of the electric field transfers the system from double subband occupancy to single subband occupancy at which an enhancement of mobility is obtained due curtailment of the intersubband effects. It is gratifying to show that enhancement of curvature of the potential profile i.e., replacement of a square quantum well into a parabolic quantum well structure enhances the mobility through the intersubband effects. We vary the structure parameters such as well width, barrier width, doping concentration and height of the parabolic potential to analyze the effect of the parabolic well structure on the field dependent multisubband electron mobility, which shows interesting features.