Negative polarizability of 2D electrons in HgTe quantum well

Abstract

The polarizability of electrons occupying the lowest subband of spatial quantization in CdTe/Cd$_x$Hg$_{1-x}$Te/CdTe quantum wells is calculated. It is shown that polarizability in the quantum well without cadmium is negative, i.e., the displacement of an electron in an electric field applied perpendicularly to the quantum well plane is opposite to the force acting on it. The negative polarizability of 2D electrons can reduce the dielectric constant of quantum wells by up to $(10-15)$ percent.