The role of temperature in the Bloch oscillator problem

Abstract

The static and high-frequency differential conductivity of a one-dimensional superlattice with parabolic miniband, in which the dispersion law is assumed to be parabolic up to the Brillouin zone edge, is investigated theoretically. Unlike the earlier published works, devoted to this problem, the novel formula for the static current density contains temperature dependence, which leads to the current maximum shift to the low field side with increasing temperature. The high-frequency differential conductivity response properties including the temperature dependence are examined and opportunities of creating a terahertz oscillator on Bloch electron oscillations in such superlattices are discussed. Analysis shows that superlattices with parabolic miniband dispersion law may be used for the generation and amplification of terahertz fields only at very low temperatures (T → 0).