Nonlinear Electron Transport in an Asymmetric Microjunction: A Ballistic Rectifier
Abstract
An asymmetric artificial scatterer in a semiconductor microjunction is shown to dramatically affect the nonlinear transport of ballistic electrons. The chosen device geometry, defined in a GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure, successfully guides carriers in a predetermined spatial direction, independent of the direction of the input current I. From the nonlinear current-voltage characteristic we obtain unusual symmetry relations for the four-terminal resistances with Rij,kl\(I\)~-Rij,kl\(-I\) and Rij,kl\(B\)>>Rkl,ij\(-B\) even at zero magnetic field B. The ballistic rectifier thus realized relies on a new kind of rectification mechanism entirely different from that of an ordinary diode.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- April 1998
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.3831
- Bibcode:
- 1998PhRvL..80.3831S