Threshold Frequency of Helical Electron–Hole Plasma Instability

Experimental evidence on the dependence of the threshold frequency of silicon oscillistors on the threshold electric field strength, magnetic induction, temperature, and injecting-contact separation is presented. In the temperature interval, where the weak magnetic field criterion is roughly satisfied, the experimental results are shown to be adequately explained by the classical theory of the bulk helical instability of an extrinsic plasma. The threshold frequency in this temperature interval is determined by the sum of two components. One component is due to the ambipolar drift of helical plasma perturbations, and the other results from the presence of the charge-carrier concentration gradient in a direction normal to the vectors of the electric field strength and magnetic induction. In short oscillistors (0.85·10^–3, 2.38·10^–3 m) at 77 K, a semiconductor plasma, wherein the helical instability is excited, approximates an intrinsic plasma, and the threshold frequency is determined by the rotation rate of helical perturbations.