Instability of a drifting semiconductor plasma in a transverse magnetic field

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Abstract
A new theory to determine the rate of spatial growth of carrier waves propagating in an electron-hole plasma in InSb is derived in this paper. The theory is an extension of previous work on surface carrier waves which takes account of diffusion. The results indicate that the threshold velocity for gain is proportional to the square root of the frequency, and the magnetic field for maximum gain is such that μeB>1. Experimental measurements of growing waves have been carried out using InSb with frequencies in the range 10–180 MHz. Noise measurements which indicated the presence of oscillations due to this same amplification mechanism were carried out at frequencies up to 800 MHz. The observed rates of growth are lower, and the measured threshold velocity is higher than the theory indicates. This is because the Suhl effect is neglected in the theory.

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