Chaotic dynamics of electric-field domains in periodically driven superlattices

Abstract

Self-sustained time-dependent current oscillations under dc voltage bias have been observed in recent experiments on n-doped semiconductor superlattices with sequential resonant tunneling. The current oscillations are caused by the motion and recycling of the domain wall separating low- and high-electric- field regions of the superlattice, as the analysis of a discrete drift model shows and experimental evidence supports. Numerical simulation shows that different nonlinear dynamical regimes of the domain wall appear when an external microwave signal is superimposed on the dc bias and its driving frequency and driving amplitude vary. On the frequency - amplitude parameter plane, there are regions of entrainment and quasiperiodicity forming Arnol'd tongues. Chaos is demonstrated to appear at the boundaries of the tongues and in the regions where they overlap. Coexistence of up to four electric-field domains randomly nucleated in space is detected under ac+dc driving.

9 pages, LaTex, RevTex. 12 uuencoded figures (1.8M) should be requested by e-mail from the author

References in corpus (3)

• Dynamics of Electric Field Domains and Oscillations of the Photocurrent in a Simple Superlattice Model
• Chaos in resonant-tunneling superlattices
• Dynamical Instabilities and Deterministic Chaos in Ballistic Electron Motion in Semiconductor Superlattices

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• Symmetry-breaking and chaos in electron transport in semiconductor superlattices
• A novel exact solution to transmission problem of electron wave in a nonlinear Kronig-Penney superlattice