Oscillation modes, transient chaos and its control in a modulation-doped semiconductor double-heterostructure

The nonlinear dynamics of real space transfer for a 2D electron gas in a system of two adjacent AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs-heterolayers under parallel current conduction has been investigated numerically. The mechanisms which have been taken into account are transfer of electrons by thermionic emission and nonresonant tunneling and the delayed dielectric relaxation of the interface potential barrier. We predict bistability of an asymmetric and a symmetric self-generated oscillation mode, a quasiperiodic route to chaos and transient chaos with mean transient times obeying a universal critical scaling law. Unstable periodic orbits of the chaotic repeller can be stabilized by a simple delayed feedback control, thus providing a widely tunable semiconductor oscillator.