Experimental study of the parametric interaction between space-charge waves in thin-film GaAs-based semiconductor structures

An experiment on the effect of low-frequency pumping on the output spectrum of a thin-film n-GaAs semiconductor structure with electron drift is repor ted in the 3-cm and 8-mm wavelength intervals. It is found that the presenc e of a low-frequency pump signal, whose power greatly exceeds that of a tes t signal, considerably enhances microwave transfer within two frequency ban ds separated by Delta f = f(s) - f(p) , where f(s) is the frequency of a we ak test signal and f(p) is the frequency of the pump signal (f(p) < f(s)). The transfer enhancement is evidence of the existence of effective parametr ic coupling between space-charge waves in the drift electron stream. This e ffect confirms the conclusions of previous theoretic studies. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauka / Interperiodica".