Polaron ground state in a double heterostructure of polar crystals

The ground-state energy and effective mass of a polaron in the GaAs well of a GaAs/AlAs double heterostructure are calculated as functions of the well width. In considering electron-phonon interactions, the authors have included both the confined longitudinal optical (LO) as well as the interface phonon modes. The results differ qualitatively from what can be found in the literature, demonstrating the importance of interface modes as well as the confinement of LO modes.