IONIZATION OF IMPURITY CENTERS IN A SEMICONDUCTOR QUANTUM SUPERLATTICE BY NONLINEAR ELECTROMAGNETIC-WAVES

The ionization of impurity centers in a semiconductor superlattice by nonlinear electromagnetic waves, which are the most general solution o f the sine-Gordon equation and can be expressed in terms of the Jacobi elliptic functions, is investigated. The problem is solved in a quasi classical approximation for arbitrary ratio of V (depth of the impurit y energy level) and Delta (half-width of the conduction miniband). Res ults in agreement with those for solitary waves and sinusoidal (linear ) electromagnetic waves are obtained in limiting cases. The effect of a uniform high-frequency electric field on the processes leading to th e ionization of impurities by solitary waves is also investigated. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.