Coherent Hall effect in a semiconductor superlattice

Coexistence of Bloch and Parametric Mechanisms of High-Frequency Gain in Doped Superlattices

The detailed theoretical study of high-frequency signal gain, when a probe microwave signal is comparable to the AC pump electric field in a semiconductor superlattice, is presented. We identified conditions under which a doped superlattice biased by both DC and AC fields can generate or amplify high-frequency radiation composed of harmonics, half-harmonics, and fractional harmonics. Physical mechanisms behind the effects are discussed. It is revealed that in a general case, the amplification mechanism in superlattices is determined by the coexistence of both the phase-independent Bloch and phase-dependent parametric gain mechanisms. The interplay and contribution of these gain mechanisms can be adjusted by the sweeping AC pump strength and leveraging a proper phase between the pump and strong probe electric fields. Notably, a transition from the Bloch gain to the parametric gain, often naturally occurring as the amplitude of the amplified signal field grows, can facilitate an effective method of fractional harmonic generation in DC-AC-driven superlattices. The study also uncovers that the pure parametric generation of the fractional harmonics can be initiated via their ignition by switching the DC pump electric field. The findings open a promising avenue for the advancement of new miniature GHz-THz frequency generators, amplifiers, and dividers operating at room temperature.

Nonlinear dynamics and band transport in a superlattice driven by a plane wave

A quantum particle transport induced in a spatially periodic potential by a propagating plane wave has a number of important implications in a range of topical physical systems. Examples include acoustically driven semiconductor superlattices and cold atoms in an optical crystal. Here we apply a kinetic description of the directed transport in a superlattice beyond standard linear approximation, and utilize exact path-integral solutions of the semiclassical transport equation. We show that the particle drift and average velocities have nonmonotonic dependence on the wave amplitude with several prominent extrema. Such nontrivial kinetic behavior is related to global bifurcations developing with an increase of the wave amplitude. They cause dramatic transformations of the system phase space and lead to changes of the transport regime. We describe different types of phase trajectories contributing to the directed transport and analyze their spectral content.

Model of the influence of an external magnetic field on the gain of terahertz radiation from semiconductor superlattices

We theoretically analyze the influence of magnetic field on small-signal absorption and gain in a superlattice. We predict a very large and tunable THz gain due to nonlinear cyclotron oscillations in crossed electric and magnetic fields. In contrast to Bloch gain, here the superlattice is in an electrically stable state. We also find that THz Bloch gain can be significantly enhanced with a perpendicular magnetic field. If the magnetic field is tilted with respect to the superlattice axis, the usually unstable Bloch gain profile becomes stable in the vicinity of Stark-cyclotron resonances.

Ultrafast Fiske effect in semiconductor superlattices

The current flowing across a semiconductor superlattice in tilted electric and magnetic fields is known to exhibit resonant enhancement, when Landau states of neighboring wells align at certain ratios of the field strengths. We show that the ultrafast version of this effect, in which coherent electron wave packets are involved, has a profound analogy to the Fiske effect in superconductor Josephson junctions and superfluid weak links, in that the coupling of the tunneling-induced charge oscillations (magneto-Bloch versus Josephson oscillations) to another oscillator (in-plane cyclotron oscillations versus external oscillator modes) opens an elastic rectifying transport channel. We explore the superlattice effect both theoretically and experimentally, and find that the transient self-induced current can be adequately modeled if the damping of both types of coupled electron oscillations is properly taken into account.