Spontaneous DC Current Generation in a Resistively Shunted Semiconductor Superlattice Driven by a TeraHertz Field
Date
1997-09-02
DOI
Authors
Alekseev, Kirill N.
Cannon, Ethan H.
McKinney, Jonathan C.
Kusmartsev, Feodor V.
Campbell, David K.
Version
OA Version
Citation
1997. "Spontaneous DC Current Generation in a Resistively Shunted
Semiconductor Superlattice Driven by a TeraHertz Field," cond-mat/9709026.
http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9709026
Abstract
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.