Intraband magnetoabsorption in semiconductor quantum wells

The intraband light absorption between the states of the conduction band in a symmetric semiconductor quantum wells in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field is discussed. By theoretical analysis three types of transitions are found: bound-bound, bound-free, free-free. Numerical calculations are given for a rectangular GaAs quantum well in bulk Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As. The absorption in this structure strongly depends on structure parameters (well thickness, mole fraction, effective masses), and also on temperature and external magnetic field. Presented analysis and numerical results may be important for the design of infrared detectors.