Magnetospectroscopy of symmetric and anti-symmetric states in double quantum wells

Abstract The experimental results obtained for magnetotransport in the InGaAs/InAlAs double quantum well (DQW) structures of two different shapes of wells are reported. A beating effect occurring in the Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations was observed for both types of structures at low temperatures in the parallel transport when the magnetic field was perpendicular to the layers. An approach for the calculation of the Landau level energies for DQW structures was developed and then applied to the analysis and interpretation of the experimental data related to the beating effect. We also argue that in order to account for the observed magnetotransport phenomena (SdH and integer quantum Hall effect), one should introduce two different quasi-Fermi levels characterizing two electron subsystems regarding the symmetry properties of their states, symmetric and anti-symmetric ones, which are not mixed by electron–electron interaction.