Non-KAM dynamical chaos in semiconductor superlattices
Arkadii Krokhin, UNT
I will present our new results concerning electron dynamics in semiconductor
superlattices in the presence of non-parallel electric and magnetic field. In this geometry
the electrons in the superlattice miniband turn out to form a non-KAM dynamical system
that exhibits a non-traditional chaotic behavior (PRL 87, 046803 (2001). Due to the
resonant coupling between the Bloch oscillations and the cyclotron rotation the electron
phase space is threaded by a complicated stochastic web, along which electrons diffuse
much faster. In the recent experiment carried out in the University of Nottingham the
signatures of the non-KAM behavior have been observed for the first time (to appear in
Nature). This experiment provides a sensitive new mechanism for controlling
transmission through semiconductor heterostructures.