On the possibility of a shunt-stabilized superlattice terahertz emitter

Abstract

High field electronic transport through a strongly coupled superlattice ͑SL͒ with a shunting side layer is numerically studied using a drift-diffusion model that includes both vertical and lateral dynamics. The bias voltage corresponds to an average electric field in the negative differential conductivity region of the intrinsic current-field curve of the SL, a condition that generally implies space charge instability. Key structural parameters associated with both the shunt layer and SL are identified for which the shunt layer stabilizes a uniform electric field profile. These results support the possibility to realize a SL-based terahertz oscillator with a carefully designed structure.

Hyperchaos, Intermittency, Noise and Disorder in Modified Semiconductor Superlattices

“…Excitability and self-sustained oscillations involve the generation of charge dipole waves inside the SSL and their motion [ 5 ]. Devices made out of SSLs include oscillators [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], detectors [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], quantum cascade lasers [ 5 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], and all-electronic fast generators of true random numbers [ 20 , 21 ]. The latter are crucial to secure fast and safe data storage and transmission [ 22 , 23 , 24 ], stochastic modeling [ 25 ], and Monte Carlo simulations [ 26 ].…”