On the Anisotropic Trigger Electrical Properties of Two-Dimensional Superlattices

Abstract

The problem of the spontaneous generation of a transverse electric field with a variation in the pulling field in a two-dimensional superlattice with an additive spectrum is considered. It is shown that if the miniband width is the same in the longitudinal and transverse direction, two equiprobable states of the system corresponding to the appearance of a transverse field of different signs appear upon reaching a certain threshold value by the pulling field, which leads to a knee in the longitudinal current–voltage characteristic. If the miniband widths deviate from equality, one of these states becomes more energetically favorable, but the system can transfer into the second state under a certain pulsed effect, which leads to a jump-like change in the longitudinal current in the superlattice.