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Dynamical instability of electric-field domains in ac-driven superlattices

Publication date2003
Abstract

We analyze theoretically the dynamical transport through a weakly coupled semiconductor superlattice, under an ac potential with frequencies in the THz regime, by means of a general model for time-dependent sequential tunneling within a nonequilibrium-Green's-function framework. Highly doped superlattices present, under certain conditions, the formation of electric-field domains at a static dc voltage bias. We find that the THz signal drives the system from a stationary current toward an oscillatory time dependence as the ac intensity increases. However, the current oscillates periodically in the MHz regime, reflecting an ac-induced motion and recycling of traveling domain walls. Finally, we predict that on further increasing the intensity of the ac potential, the tunneling current undergoes a transition from a periodically time-dependent state to a stationary one in which a homogeneous electric-field distribution builds up along the sample.

Citation (ISO format)
LÓPEZ, Rosa, SANCHEZ, David, PLATERO, Gloria. Dynamical instability of electric-field domains in ac-driven superlattices. In: Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics, 2003, vol. 67, n° 3, p. 1–6. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.67.035330
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ISSN of the journal1098-0121
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