The effect of an intense terahertz irradiationon magneto-miniband transport in semiconductor superlattices

Abstract

We study the miniband conduction of electrons in GaAs-basedsuperlattices under an intense terahertz field and alongitudinal magnetic field based on balance equations forTHz-driven transport. The linear mobility with small direct-currentfields and the drift velocity and the electron temperature at highelectric fields are calculated, under the influence of an intenseTHz radiation, as functions of the magnetic field. Impurity,acoustic, and polar-optical-phonon scatterings are taken into accountand as many as 31 Landau levels are included in the treatment. Wefind that in the linear case an intense THz field greatly changesthe behaviour of the mobility versus the magnetic field, giving riseto multiphoton-magnetophonon resonance. In the nonlinear case, theirradiation of an intense THz field may eliminate the magnetic fieldquenching of the drift velocity, which shows up at a certain highstrength of the magnetic field in the absence of the THz radiation.