Sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation 0.3 eV. For the same scheme, the usage of a semiconductor heterostructure (layers of different semiconductors) with narrow gap indirect in momentum space between valence and conduction bands may be more effective. This could be more promising since the spatial separation of the layers provides a possibility of tuning the interband transition into resonance by an external electric field. An essential statement here is that this proposed phonon laser can operate only if the temperature is much lower than the energy gap in the semiconductor. During the analysis of this theoretical scheme several assumptions were introduced for simplicity reasons. The
Sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation of Nottingham. Wannier-Stark effect, exists in superlattices. Electron states in quantum wells respond sensitively to moderate electric fields either by the quantum confined Stark effect in the case of wide barriers or by Wannier-Stark localization in the case of a superlattice. Both effects lead to large changes of the optical properties near the absorption edge, which are useful for intensity modulation and optical switching. Namely, in a mathematical point of view, if an electric field is applied to a superlattice the relevant Hamiltonian exhibits an additional scalar potential. If an eigenstate exists, then the states corresponding to wave functions are