Self-sustained current oscillations in superlattices and the van der Pol equation

Abstract

The connection between self-sustained current oscillations in superlattices and the famous van der Pol (vdP) equation is established by mapping a widely used model of self-sustained current oscillations to the vdP equation. Since this equation can describe an inductor-capacitor-resistor circuit with a nonlinear resistor of negative differential conductance, we have obtained an equivalent electric circuit for superlattices in the self-sustained current oscillation regime. The origin of the equivalent inductance of a superlattice is revealed.