Encounter with Chaos: Self-Organized Hierarchical Complexity in Semiconductor Experiments

Semiconductors are usually thought of in connection with electronic devices, which exhibit physics of the higher reproducibility. Surprisingly, it was nonequilibrium semiconductor systems and their precision that led the authors of this text to the phenomena of chaos. In the first part of this book they show that chaos is the rule, rather than the result of exotic working conditions, and discuss in detail the representative example of low-temperature impact ionization breakdown in extrinsic semiconductor crystals, which displays several interesting nonlinear phenomena. The final chapter presents the necessary mathematical background. Attention is focused on the interplay between spatial and temporal degrees of freedom, making use of advanced high-resolution experimental techniques and various numerical approaches based on a generalized thermodynamic formalism.