Microwave oscillator based on Bloch oscillations of electrons in a semiconductor superlattice

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Abstract
We report on a microwave oscillator based on Bloch oscillations of electrons in a semiconductor superlattice. Our GaAs/AlAs superlattice, at room temperature, was coupled electromagnetically by an antenna to a rectangular cavity resonator, and was operated at a current‐voltage state of negative differential conductance. We observed generation of microwave radiation at frequencies, depending on the resonator length, between 7 and 30 GHz. Electronic tuning by several percent was possible; the ratio of linewidth to frequency was of the order of 10−4. A radiation power up to 1 μW (at 10 GHz) was obtained, corresponding to a generator efficiency of the order of 10−3 for the conversion of electrical power to microwave radiation.

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