Spontaneous oscillations and triggered pulsing in GaAs/InGaAs multiquantumwell structures

Spontaneous and triggered pulsing behavior in InGaAs multiquantum well devi ces driven by a constant bias voltage are reported. Bias regions for the oc currence of spontaneous periodic oscillations as well as damped triggered p ulsing were experimentally determined. An empirical model based on the obse rved shape of the I-V curve and the negative differential conductance is pr oposed to qualitatively explain both the triggered pulsing and the spontane ous oscillating behavior, which could lead to novel infrared detection tech niques and neural network applications. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.