Conduction band intersubband transitions in Ge/SiGe quantum wells

In this letter we present the experimental evidence of intersubband absorption in the conduction band of compressively strained germanium quantum wells bounded by Ge-rich SiGe barriers. The measured absorption energies are in the terahertz range and are interpreted by means of tight binding calculations which include self-consistent band-bending and depolarization effects. From the comparison of experimental and numerical results a conduction band offset along the L line of about 120 meV has been estimated for the studied heterostructures.