Tunneling induced transparency: Fano interference in intersubband transitions

We report the observation of tunneling induced transparency in asymmetric double quantum well structures. Resonant tunneling through a thin barrier is used to coherently couple the two upper states in a three level system of electronic subbands in a GaAs/AlGaAs structure. This creates Fano-type interferences for the collective intersubband excitations in the absorption from the ground state, analogous to electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atomic systems. We observe a 50% reduction in absorption between the subband resonances which can be explained by taking into account the coherent coupling of the upper states. We analyze the bias dependent absorption spectra and determine the relevant lifetime broadening and dephasing rates for the transitions. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.