From bistability to spatio-temporal chaos in a resonant-tunneling diode

Charge accumulation in the quantum-well of a double-barrier resonant-tunneling diode (DBRT) may result in bistability that provides a basis for formation of lateral current-density patterns. A typical pattern expected to appear is a current density front. Such fronts correspond to switching transitions and generally can not be stabilized by a conventional external circuit. In this paper we discuss formation and stabilization of stationary current density patterns in bistable DBRT. We demonstrate that the intrinsic dynamics of the DBRT can lead to the onset of regular or chaotic spatio-temporal oscillations if an attempt to stabilize unstable current density patterns by means of a simple control loop is undertaken.