Broken Symmetry Effects due to Polarization on Resonant Tunneling Transport in Double-Barrier Nitride Heterostructures

In semiconductor heterostructures with internal polarization that breaks inversion symmetry, resonant tunneling of electrons is very interesting for high-power ultrafast oscillators and THz quantum cascade lasers, but the effects of the broken symmetry on the magnitude and phase of the electron resonances are unclear. Here those transport quantities are measured by systematically controlling quantum inference effects, and a general quantum transport model for polar heterostructures explains all of the experimental features arising from broken inversion symmetry. This represents a significant step in understanding resonant tunneling, and impacts the design of I00exI00exI-nitride quantum devices.