Dynamic localization and negative absolute conductance in terahertz driven semiconductor superlattices
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); and others
We report the first observation of Negative Absolute Conductance (NAC), dynamic localization and multiphoton stimulated emission assisted tunneling in terahertz driven semiconductor superlattices. Theories predicting NAC in semiconductor superlattices subjected to AC electric fields have existed for twenty years, but have never been verified experimentally. Most theories are based upon semiclassical arguments and are only valid for superlattices in the miniband or coherent tunneling regime. We are not aware of models predicting NAC in superlattices in the sequential tunneling regime, although there has been recent theoretical work on double-barrier structures. Perhaps the most remarkable result is found in the power dependence of the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics near zero DC bias. As the laser power is increased the current decreases towards zero and then becomes negative. This result implies that the electrons are absorbing energy from the laser field, producing a net current in the direction opposite to the applied voltage. NAC around zero DC bias is a particularly surprising observation considering photon-assisted tunneling is not expected to be observable between the ground states of neighboring quantum wells in a semiconductor superlattice. Contrary to this believe our results are most readily attributable to photon absorption and multiphoton emission between ground states of neighboring wells. The I-V characteristics measured in the presence of terahertz radiation at low DC bias also contain steps and plateaus analogous to photon-assisted steps observed in superconducting junctions. As many as three steps have been clearly resolved corresponding to stimulated emission into the terahertz field by a three-photon process.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 238896
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-61982-Absts.; CONF-9508156-Absts.; ON: DE96002729; TRN: 96:013390
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 17. international free electron laser conference, New York, NY (United States), 21-25 Aug 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]; Related Information: Is Part Of 17th international free electron laser conference and 2nd international FEL users` workshop. Program and abstracts; PB: 300 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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