The transition to chaos in a wide quantum well

Experimental and theoretical studies of electron transport in a resonant tunnelling diode with a tilted magnetic field are reported. We map the transition to chaotic dynamics for electrons injected into the potential well from an emitter accumulation layer. In the regime of mixed stable-chaotic electron dynamics, we have identified a stable-orbit trifurcation that leads to a sudden three-fold reduction in the voltage spacing of resonant peaks in the calculated and measured current–voltage curves. We explain this effect by considering how the dynamical properties of the stable orbits affect the quantized states of the potential well.