Abstract

The application of an electric field parallel to the growth direction of a semiconductor superlattice replaces the continuous spectrum of miniband states by a series of equally spaced levels called the Wannier-Stark ladder¹. The equivalent of the Wannier-Stark ladder in the time-domain axe Bloch oscillations of the particle in the miniband, i.e. the electron periodically traverses the Brillouin zone. It has been shown theoretically that Bloch oscillations should be observable in the time domain by performing time-resolved four-wave mixing experiments.^2,3

© 1992 The Author(s)