664 research outputs found
Snell's law for surface electrons: Refraction of an electron gas imaged in real space
On NaCl(100)/Cu(111) an interface state band is observed that descends from
the surface-state band of the clean copper surface. This band exhibits a
Moire-pattern-induced one-dimensional band gap, which is accompanied by strong
standing-wave patterns, as revealed in low-temperature scanning tunneling
microscopy images. At NaCl island step edges, one can directly see the
refraction of these standing waves, which obey Snell's refraction law.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Bloch Oscillation under a Bichromatic Laser: Quasi-Miniband Formation, Collapse, and Dynamical Delocalization and Localization
A novel DC and AC driving configuration is proposed for semiconductor
superlattices, in which the THz AC driving is provided by an intense
bichromatic cw laser. The two components of the laser, usually in the visible
light range, are near but not exactly resonant with interband Wannier-Stark
transitions, and their frequency difference equals the Wannier-Stark ladder
spacing. Multi-photon processes with the intermediate states in the conduction
(valence) band cause dynamical delocalization and localization of valence
(conduction) electrons, and the corresponding formation and collapse of the
quasi-minibands.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Terahertz Bloch oscillator with a modulated bias
Electrons performing Bloch oscillations in an energy band of a dc-biased
superlattice in the presence of weak dissipation can potentially generate THz
fields at room temperature. The realization of such Bloch oscillator is a
long-standing problem due to the instability of a homogeneous electric field in
conditions of negative differential conductivity. We establish the theoretical
feasibility of stable THz gain in a long superlattice device in which the bias
is quasistatically modulated by microwave fields. The modulation waveforms must
have at least two harmonics in their spectra.Comment: 5 page
Symmetry-breaking and chaos in electron transport in semiconductor superlattices
We study the motion of electrons in a single miniband of a semiconductor
superlattice driven by THz electric field polarized along the growth direction.
We work in the semiclassical balance-equation model, including different
elastic and inelastic scattering rates, and incorporating the self-consistent
electric field generated by electron motion. We explore regions of complex
dynamics, which can include chaotic behaviour and symmetry-breaking. We
estimate the magnitudes of dc current and dc voltage that spontaneously appear
in regions of broken-symmetry for parameters characteristic of modern
semiconductor superlattices. This work complements PRL 80(1998)2669 [
cond-mat/9709026 ].Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTEX, EPS
High-frequency oscillations in low-dimensional conductors and semiconductor superlattices induced by current in stack direction
A narrow energy band of the electronic spectrum in some direction in
low-dimensional crystals may lead to a negative differential conductance and
N-shaped I-V curve that results in an instability of the uniform stationary
state. A well-known stable solution for such a system is a state with electric
field domain. We have found a uniform stable solution in the region of negative
differential conductance. This solution describes uniform high-frequency
voltage oscillations. Frequency of the oscillation is determined by antenna
properties of the system. The results are applicable also to semiconductor
superlattices.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
High-field magnetoexcitons in unstrained GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dots
The magnetic field dependence of the excitonic states in unstrained GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dots is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The diamagnetic shift for the ground and the excited states are studied in magnetic fields of varying orientation. In the theoretical study, calculations are performed within the single band effective mass approximation, including band nonparabolicity, the full experimental three-dimensional dot shape and the electron-hole Coulomb interaction. These calculations are compared with the experimental results for both the ground and the excited states in fields up to 50 Tesla. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment
Electronic Structure of Three-Dimensional Superlattices Subject to Tilted Magnetic Fields
Full quantum-mechanical description of electrons moving in 3D 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 quasi-classical approach, in
which the zero-magnetic-field Fermi surface is considered as a
magnetic-field-independent rigid body in 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
quasi-classical treatment fails and propose a simple tight-binding
fully-quantum-mechanical model of the superlattice electronic structure.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, RevTex, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Transient response of a quantum wave to an instantaneous potential step switching
The transient response of a stationary state of a quantum particle in a step
potential to an instantaneous change in the step height (a simplified model for
a sudden bias switch in an electronic semiconductor device) is solved exactly
by means of a semianalytical expression. The characteristic times for the
transient process up to the new stationary state are identified. A comparison
is made between the exact results and an approximate method.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Revtex
Dynamical Instabilities and Deterministic Chaos in Ballistic Electron Motion in Semiconductor Superlattices
We consider the motion of ballistic electrons within a superlattice miniband
under the influence of an alternating electric field. We show that the
interaction of electrons with the self-consistent electromagnetic field
generated by the electron current may lead to the transition from regular to
chaotic dynamics. We estimate the conditions for the experimental observation
of this deterministic chaos and discuss the similarities of the superlattice
system with the other condensed matter and quantum optical systems.Comment: 6 pages, RevTEX; 4 fig
- …