Abstract
In the last decades, a number of macroscopic quantum effects in solids have been investigated. Among those are the losephson effect in weakly coupled superconductors and Bloch oscillations in semiconductor superlattices (SLs). The key effect of both phenomena is the generation of an AC effect by the application of a DC electric field to the system. For Bloch oscillations (BO), the periodic motion is due to Bragg reflection of electrons in a periodic potential when a constant bias field is applied across the structure, losephson effect and Bloch oscillations show interesting extensions when both DC and AC voltages are applied: The current across the junction of two superconductors shows resonances (the so-called Shapiro steps 1) which appear at voltages which are multiples of the photon energy of the AC field.
© 2001 Optical Society of America
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