Free boundary problems describing two-dimensional pulse recycling and motion in semiconductors

An asymptotic analysis of the Gunn effect in two-dimensional samples of bulk n-GaAs with circular contacts is presented. A moving pulse far from contacts is approximated by a moving free boundary separating regions where the electric potential solves a Laplace equation with subsidiary boundary conditions. The dynamical condition for the motion of the free boundary is a Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We obtain the exact solution of the free boundary problem (FBP) in simple one-dimensional and axisymmetric geometries. The solution of the FBP is obtained numerically in the general case and compared with the numerical solution of the full system of equations. The agreement is excellent so that the FBP can be adopted as the basis for an asymptotic study of the multi-dimensional Gunn effect.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, Revtex. To appear in Phys. Rev.