PHOTOSENSITIVE COULOMB-BLOCKADE IN SEMICONDUCTOR P-N TUNNEL-DIODES

Data and arguments are presented identifying the old phenomenon (1960) of the ''zero-bias anomaly'' in III-V semiconductor p-n tunneling as a manifestation of the Coulomb blockade. Tunneling involving a Au-Ge complex in GaAs, which acts as a photosensitive ''quantum dot'' controlling the p-n tunneling, provides the basis for a light-sensitive Coulomb blockade and serves also as a model, an explanation, for the zero-bias anomaly (V=0) observed in III-V p-n tunneling.