Calculation of energy subband structures of corrugated lateral-surface superlattices based on variational principles

A theoretical method is developed for calculating energy subbands of carriers in lateral-surface superlattices with corrugated interfaces (CLSSLs). Based on the variational principle and a coordinate transformation, the method overcomes difficulties in constructing wave functions which must satisfy complicated boundary conditions on corrugated interfaces. The method is tested numerically via calculations of electron subbands, probability distributions and intersubband optical absorptions of CLSSLs with periodic variations of well thicknesses. Sensitive dependencies of electron subbands, probability distributions and intersubband optical absorptions on structural parameters of CLSSLs are predicted.