Theory of Millimeter Wave Nonlinearities in Semi-Conductor Superlattices

摘要

Current research in nonlinear optics has been concentrated in the wavelengthregimes that extend from the infrared to the UV. However, little effort has been devoted to the understanding of nonlinear materials in the millimeter wave regime in spite of the fact that coherent sources are currently available. Recently, several experiments have been performed that probe the material requirements and their suitability for use in the far-infrared regime. For example, the demonstration of difference frequency generation in Si/Ge superlattices and the measurement of the nonlinear index of refraction in graphite suspensions indicated that nonlinearities in the millimeter range could be quite large, in comparison to those found in the optical regime. Due to the importance of millimeter wave technology in future information processing applications, we report on a detailed study of millimeter wave nonlinearities in semiconductor superlattices. (JES)