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.