Harmonic generation due to ballistic electron transport in GaAs

Harmonics produced by the nonlinearity in the current-voltage characteristics of a ballistic diode are studied for a GaAs sample of thickness 1 µm at 77 K under collision-free condition. Harmonic generation is found to be maximum at zero bias, the value for the second-harmonic current being 50 percent for a signal amplitude of 0.2 V.