Nonlinear Oscillations and Chaos in Electrical Breakdown in Ge

Abstract

Self-generated nonlinear oscillations and chaos are found in the conductance of liquid-He-cooled far-infrared photoconductors made from ultrapure Ge. Complex behavior includes a period-doubling cascade to chaotic oscillation with increasing applied electric field, quasiperiodic oscillation, frequency locking, and intermittent switching between modes of oscillation. A rate-equation model is presented which includes impurity impact ionization and space-charge injection.