Designing Hyperchaos and Intermittency in Semiconductor Superlattices Articles uri icon

publication date

  • August 2021

start page

  • 096601-1

end page

  • 096601-6

issue

  • 9

volume

  • 127

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0031-9007

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1079-7114

abstract

  • Weakly coupled semiconductor superlattices under dc voltage bias are excitable systems with many degrees of freedom that may exhibit spontaneous chaos at room temperature and act as fast physical random number generator devices. Superlattices with identical periods exhibit current self-oscillations due to the dynamics of charge dipole waves but chaotic oscillations exist on narrow voltage intervals. They disappear easily due to variation in structural growth parameters. Based on numerical simulations, we predict that inserting two identical sufficiently separated wider wells increases superlattice excitability by allowing wave nucleation at the modified wells and more complex dynamics. This system exhibits hyperchaos and varieties of intermittent chaos in extended dc voltage ranges. Unlike in ideal superlattices, our chaotic attractors are robust and resilient against noises and against controlled random disorder due to growth fluctuations.