Interband impact ionization by terahertz illumination of InAs heterostructures

Abstract

Experimental studies of InAs heterostructures illuminated by far-infrared (FIR) radiation reveal an abrupt increase in the charge density for FIR intensities above a threshold value that rises with increasing frequency. We attribute this charge density rise to interband impact ionization in a regime in which ωτm∼1, where τm is the momentum relaxation time, and f=ω/2π is the FIR frequency. The dependence of the density rise on the FIR field strength supports this interpretation, and gives threshold fields of 3.7–8.9 kV/cm for the frequency range 0.3–0.66 THz.