ELECTRON-PHOTON INTERACTION IN RESONANT-TUNNELING DIODES

We develop a model to describe the transmission coefficient and tunnel ing current in the presence of electron-photon coupling in a resonant diode. Our model takes into account multiphoton processes as well as t he transitions between electronic states with different wave numbers. This is crucial to explain the experimental features observed in the t unneling current through a double barrier which cannot be reproduced w ith more simplified established models. According to our results, what experiments show in the current density are quantum photon-assisted f eatures coming from multiphoton transitions which are not related with sample heating.