Bloch oscillations and their coupling to optical phonons

Bloch oscillations in semiconductor superlattices are an intriguing subject of electronic coherence in low dimensional semiconductor structures. The electronic coherence is destroyed by several scattering mechanisms, most important carrier-carrier scattering and carrier-phonon scattering. Especially in wide miniband superlattices with miniband widths larger than the LO phonon energy LO phonon emission is responsible for subpicosecond dephasing times. We investigate the dynamics of Bloch oscillations in GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs superlattices with large minibands tuned into resonance with LO phonons. The coherent excitation of coherent LO phonons via Bloch oscillations is observed at very low carrier densities. The peculiarities of the resonant excitation process are in agreement with theoretical considerations.