Population inversion field, to use quantum coherence effects to reduce the likelihood of an excited-state to ground-state transition. This technique, known as lasing without inversion, allows optical amplification to take place without producing a population inversion between the two states. Stimulated emission was first observed in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum, giving rise to the acronym MASER for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. In the microwave region, the Boltzmann distribution of molecules among energy states is such that, at room temperature all states are populated almost equally. To create a population inversion under these conditions, it is necessary
Sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation eigenstates of the Hamiltonian as well. These states are equally spaced both in energy and real space and form the so-called Wannier-Stark ladder. In the proposed scheme, an application of an electrical bias to a semiconductor superlattice is increasing the amplitude of coherent folded phonons generated by an optical pulse. This increase of the amplitude is observed for those biases in which the energy drop per period of the superlattice is greater than the phonon energy. If the superlattice is biased such that the energy drop per period of the superlattice exceeds the width of electronic minibands (Wannier-Stark regime), the