Eur. Phys. J. B 4, 513-518 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050408

Balance equations for electron transport in an arbitrary energy band driven by an intense terahertz field. Application to superlattice miniband transport

¹ China Center of Advanced Science and Technology (World Laboratory), PO Box 8730, Beijing 100080, P.R. China
² State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Metallurgy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 865 Changning Road, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China
³ Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, USA

Corresponding author: ^a xllei@itsvr.sim.ac.cn

Received: 23 January 1998
Revised: 31 March 1998
Accepted: 20 April 1998
Published online: 15 August 1998

Abstract

We suggest a balance-equation approach to hot-electron transport in a single arbitrary energy band subject to an intense radiation field of terahertz (THz) frequency, including all the multiphoton emission and absorption processes and taking account of realistic scatterings due to impurities and phonons. This approach, which allows one to calculate THz-driving, time-averaging transport based on a set of time-independent equations, provides a convenient method to study the effect of an intense THz electric field on carrier transport in a nonparabolic energy band. As an example, these fully three-dimensional, acceleration- and energy-balance equations are applied to the discussion of superlattice miniband transport at lattice temperature T=77 and 300 K driven by the THz radiation field of varying strengths. It is shown that the current through a dc biased miniband superlattice is greatly reduced by the irradiation of an intense THz electric field.