Hole-interface optical phonon relaxation rates with valence band-mixing effects

We theoretically investigate the hole-interface optical phonon scattering rates for a InGaAs–AlGaAs quantum well structure, taking into account the valence-band mixing. The dispersion relation and the electrostatic potentials for interface optical phonon modes are obtained based on the macroscopic dielectric continuum model. For the hole dispersion relation, the Luttinger–Kohn Hamiltonian is used. The hole-interface optical phonon interaction is evaluated by the Fermiʹs golden rule taking into account the Bloch overlap factor. sults show that the hole-interface phonon scattering rates within the parabolic band approximation are different from those including valence band mixing effects. Especially, in the low energy region, the hole-interface phonon scattering rates within the parabolic band approximation are overestimated very significantly.