A New Concept for THz Frequency Multipliers; An operation based on quasi-ballistic electron transport and reflection in double-heterojunction structures

We introduce a new concept for THz frequency multipliers based on the quasi-ballistic electron transport and reflection in a double-heterojunction structure. A self-consistent Monte Carlo model is used to demonstrate this concept in In_0.52Al_0.48As/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.52Al_0.4sAs heterostructures with well dimensions in the range of the electron ballistic transport length in In_0.53Ga_0.47As. Simulation results showed that the strong nonlinearity of this new device is able to produce the third harmonic of the current response at almost half of the amplitude of the fundamental at excitation frequencies between 50-250 GHz.