Screening of polar interaction in quasi-two-dimensional semiconductor microstructures

The effect of free-carrier screening on polarons in semiconductor heterostructures and quantum wells is considered with particular reference to GaAs-based experimental systems. It is shown that screening has an appreciable effect on quantities like the polaronic binding energy and the effective-mass renormalization as well as on the polar scattering rate. Different models for the screened polar interaction are compared quantitatively and the importance of using wave-vector-dependent screening in the theory is established.