Incubation Time of Acoustoelectric Domain in n-InSb

Abstract

It has been known that there exist two different modes of acoustoelectric oscillation in n-InSb. In this report the observation on the incubation time of the acoustoelectric domain in crossed electric and magnetic fields reveals remarkable difference in its electric-field dependence between these two modes, suggesting the difference in phonon amplification mechanism. In the first mode, the incubation time decreases monotonically with increasing the electric field, while, in the second mode, it passes through a minimum at the electric field of about 20 V/cm.
On the basis of these experimental results, the two modes of the acoustoelectric oscillation in n-InSb are discussed from the viewpoints of phonon amplification for two cases, ql<1 and ql>1. Furthermore, the incubation time is numerically calculated from Yamashita-Nakamura theory for the first mode, and Abe-Mikoshiba theory for the second mode, both results being in fairly good agreement with the experiments.