Beyond the ordinary acoustoelectric effect: Superluminal phenomena in the acoustic realm and phonon-mediated Bloch gain

Apostolakis, Apostolos; Balanov, A. G.; Kusmartsev, F. V.; Alekseev, Kirill N.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.106.014312

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In particular, high-electric-field effects in superlattices [ 2 ] have gained interest, enabling the possibility to resolve features of ballistic or coherent carrier transport, unveiling the quantum-mechanical nature of excited electronic or excitonic wave packets. Superlattices can exhibit a large variety of intriguing physical effects such as Bloch oscillations [ 3 , 4 , 5 ], Zener tunnelling [ 6 ], coherent Hall effects [ 7 ] and superluminal Doppler phenomena [ 8 ]. Moiré superlattices in van der Waals heterostructures [ 9 ] have enriched the tapestry of these compelling effects due to the unique interplay between atomic structure and electron correlations via pronounced unconventional superconductivity [ 10 ], topological edge states [ 11 ], correlated insulator phases [ 12 ], and high-order fractal quantum oscillations in graphene/h-BN superlattices [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2023

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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.

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