Electronic structure of three-dimensional superlattices subject to tilted magnetic fields

Abstract

A full quantum-mechanical description of electrons moving in three-dimensional structures with unidirectional periodic modulation subject to tilted magnetic fields requires an extensive numerical calculation. To understand magneto-oscillations in such systems it is in many cases sufficient to use the quasiclassical approach, in which the zero-magnetic-field Fermi surface is considered as a magnetic-field-independent rigid body in $\stackrel{P\vec}{k}$ space and periods of oscillations are related to extremal cross sections of the Fermi surface cut by planes perpendicular to the magnetic-field direction. We point out cases where the quasiclassical treatment fails and propose a simple tight-binding fully-quantum-mechanical model of the superlattice electronic structure.