Internal Photo-Polarization Effect

Internal photo-polarization effect in asymmetric superlattices (1991).

I proposed and demonstrated a new steady-state photogalvanic effect in semiconductor superlattices lacking reflection symmetry. The effect arises when photo-generated minority carriers are transported within the superlattice period, prior to their recombination with majority carriers - so that the median sites for the generation and recombination are displaced from one another. In the steady state, the internal current of majority carriers generates a voltage in each period of the superlattice, additive with a number of periods. This voltage can be used to control the gate of a field-effect transistor. The modulation bandwidth is limited by the Maxwell dielectric relaxation time of the majority-carrier semiconductor and can be in the terahertz range. The effect has found applications in optical communication systems.

Key papers: 95, 100

Where the numbers refer to the attached list of Publications

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Serge Luryi, Serge.Luryi@sunysb.edu, +1.516.632.8420; Fax: +1.516.632.8494