Superlattice nonlinearities for Gigahertz-Terahertz generation in harmonic multipliers

Semiconductor superlattices are strongly nonlinear media offering several technological challenges associated with the generation of high-frequency Gigahertz radiation and very effective frequency multiplication up to several Terahertz. However, charge accumulation, traps and interface defects lead to pronounced asymmetries in the nonlinear current flow, from which high harmonic generation stems. This problem requires a full non-perturbative solution of asymmetric current flow under irradiation, which we deliver in this paper within the Boltzmann-Bloch approach. We investigate the nonlinear output on both frequency and time domains and demonstrate a significant enhancement of even harmonics by tuning the interface quality. Moreover, we find that increasing arbitrarily the input power is not a solution for high nonlinear output, in contrast with materials described by conventional susceptibilities. There is a complex combination of asymmetry and power values leading to maximum high harmonic generation.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for Nanophotonics (De Gruyter

Spontaneous DC Current Generation in a Resistively Shunted Semiconductor Superlattice Driven by a TeraHertz Field

We study a resistively shunted semiconductor superlattice subject to a high-frequency electric field. Using a balance equation approach that incorporates the influence of the electric circuit, we determine numerically a range of amplitude and frequency of the ac field for which a dc bias and current are generated spontaneously and show that this region is likely accessible to current experiments. Our simulations reveal that the Bloch frequency corresponding to the spontaneous dc bias is approximately an integer multiple of the ac field frequency.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex, 3 Postscript figure

Dissipative Chaos in Semiconductor Superlattices

We consider the motion of ballistic electrons in a miniband of a semiconductor superlattice (SSL) under the influence of an external, time-periodic electric field. We use the semi-classical balance-equation approach which incorporates elastic and inelastic scattering (as dissipation) and the self-consistent field generated by the electron motion. The coupling of electrons in the miniband to the self-consistent field produces a cooperative nonlinear oscillatory mode which, when interacting with the oscillatory external field and the intrinsic Bloch-type oscillatory mode, can lead to complicated dynamics, including dissipative chaos. For a range of values of the dissipation parameters we determine the regions in the amplitude-frequency plane of the external field in which chaos can occur. Our results suggest that for terahertz external fields of the amplitudes achieved by present-day free electron lasers, chaos may be observable in SSLs. We clarify the nature of this novel nonlinear dynamics in the superlattice-external field system by exploring analogies to the Dicke model of an ensemble of two-level atoms coupled with a resonant cavity field and to Josephson junctions.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figure