COMPLEX GINZBURG-LANDAU EQUATION FOR NONLINEAR TRAVELING WAVES IN EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS

We study the nonlinear state of a travelling-wave instability occurrin g close to the onset of impact ionization in extrinsic semiconductors. Our investigations are based on a complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (C GLE). For a simple generation-recombination function including impact ionization and thermal recombination of the charge carriers, we find a supercritical bifurcation of stable travelling waves for most paramet er values. The results are compared with a numerical solution of the b asic equations of motion. Furthermore, we expect that weak turbulence phenomena should be observed in semiconductors if their specific gener ation-recombination kinetics leads to a CGLE with appropriate coeffici ents.