Fractional and unquantized dc voltage generation in THz-driven semiconductor superlattices

Abstract

We consider the spontaneous creation of a dc voltage across a strongly coupled semiconductor superlattice subjected to THz radiation. We show that the dc voltage may be approximately proportional either to an integer or to a half- integer multiple of the frequency of the applied ac field, depending on the ratio of the characteristic scattering rates of conducting electrons. For the case of an ac field frequency less than the characteristic scattering rates, we demonstrate the generation of an unquantized dc voltage.

6 pages, 3 figures, RevTEX, EPSF. Revised version v3: corrected typos

References in corpus (4)

• Spontaneous DC Current Generation in a Resistively Shunted Semiconductor Superlattice Driven by a TeraHertz Field
• Dissipative Chaos in Semiconductor Superlattices
• Direct current generation due to wave mixing in semiconductors
• Symmetry-breaking and chaos in electron transport in semiconductor superlattices

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Optical Transistor for an Amplification of Radiation in a Broadband THz Domain
• Pendulum limit, chaos and phase-locking in the dynamics of ac-driven semiconductor superlattices
• AC-field-controlled localization-delocalization transition in one dimensional disordered system
• Symmetry breaking in driven and strongly damped pendulum
• Electron Bloch Oscillations and Electromagnetic Transparency of Semiconductor Superlattices in Multi-Frequency Electric Fields
• Stability properties of periodically driven overdamped pendula and their implications to physics of semiconductor superlattices and Josephson junctions
• Rectification of THz-radiation in semiconductor superlattices in the absence of domains
• Luminescence and absorption in short period superlattices