Amplification of acoustic phonons in a degenerate semiconductor superlattice

Amplification of acoustic phonons propagating along the axis of a semiconductor superlattice (SL) is investigated using the microscopic theory. A non-quantizing electric field is applied to the SL to produce a drift velocity v D of the charge carriers and whenever v D exceeds v s (sound velocity) am...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physica. E, Low-dimensional systems & nanostructures Low-dimensional systems & nanostructures, 2003-08, Vol.19 (3), p.257-262
Main Authors: Mensah, S.Y., Allotey, F.K.A., Mensah, N.G., Elloh, V.W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic phonons
Semiconductor
Superlattice
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Summary:Amplification of acoustic phonons propagating along the axis of a semiconductor superlattice (SL) is investigated using the microscopic theory. A non-quantizing electric field is applied to the SL to produce a drift velocity v D of the charge carriers and whenever v D exceeds v s (sound velocity) amplification occurs. The threshold field E 0 at which absorption switches over to amplification depends on the SL parameters and v s. It is noted that E 0 in SL is by far lower than that in bulk semiconductors and that there exists the possibility of finding a field E ∗ such that −Γ(E ∗)⩾Γ(−E ∗) . This allows, in principle, the use of SL as hypersound generator.
ISSN:1386-9477
1873-1759
DOI:10.1016/S1386-9477(02)01121-9