INVESTIGATIONS ON THE SECOND HARMONIC GENERATION AT BREAKDOWN IN p-n JUNCTIONS.

Second harmonic generation (SHG) both in the forward and reverse directions, has been studied for varying temperatures in solid state diodes. The diodes studied were of silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide and had breakdowns of both kinds, avalanche and field emission. The second harmonics occurred at the regions of breakdown potential in the reverse direction and at the offset voltage in the forward direction. The SHG seems to be associated with generation of optical phonons and occurrence of microplasmas at p-n junction.