  It is shown that the electron scattering by static defects, acoustic or
optical phonons in quantum wells subjected to an in-plane magnetic field is
asymmetric. The probability of scattering contains terms which are proportional
to both the electron wave vector and the magnetic field components. The terms
under study are caused by the lack of an inversion center in quantum wells due
to structure or bulk inversion asymmetry although they are of pure diamagnetic
origin. Such a magnetic field induced asymmetry of scattering can be
responsible for a number of phenomena. In particular, the asymmetry of
inelastic electron-phonon interaction leads to an electric current flow if only
the electron gas is driven out of thermal equilibrium with the crystal lattice.
