Esaki-Tsu superlattice oscillator: Josephson-like dynamics of carriers

Abstract

We report on a theoretical treatment of the Esaki-Tsu superlattice oscillator emphasizing a profound link between the dynamics of charge carriers in a superlattice and the dynamics of Josephson junctions. Using a balance-equation aproach we calculate the oscillator efficiency taking account fo the negative effective mass that carriers can have in a miniband and of dissipation. We show that emission of electromagnetic radiation from currently available superlattices can occur due to multiphoton transitions from almost zero up to terahertz frequencies.