Negative high-frequency differential conductivity in semiconductor superlattices

We examine the high-frequency differential conductivity response properties of semiconductor superlattices having various miniband dispersion laws. Our analysis shows that the anharmonicity of Bloch oscillations (beyond tight-binding approximation) leads to the occurrence of negative high-frequency differential conductivity at frequency multiples of the Bloch frequency. This effect can arise even in regions of positive static differential conductivity. The influence of strong electron scattering by optic phonons is analyzed. To achieve terahertz field amplification, we propose employing structures having minibands with effective electron mass that decreases as the electron energy increases.