81 research outputs found
Tunneling Conductance Between Parallel Two Dimensional Electron Systems
We derive and evaluate expressions for the low temperature {\it dc}
equilibrium tunneling conductance between parallel two-dimensional electron
systems. Our theory is based on a linear-response formalism and on
impurity-averaged perturbation theory. The disorder broadening of features in
the dependence of tunneling conductance on sheet densities and in-plane
magnetic field strengths is influenced both by the finite lifetime of electrons
within the wells and by non-momentum-conserving tunneling events. Disorder
vertex corrections are important only for weak in-plane magnetic fields and
strong interwell impurity-potential correlations. We comment on the basis of
our results on the possibility of using tunneling measurements to determine the
lifetime of electrons in the quantum wells.Comment: 14 pages, 5 Fig. not included, revtex, IUcm92-00
Lifetime of Two-Dimensional Electrons Measured by Tunneling Spectroscopy
For electrons tunneling between parallel two-dimensional electron systems,
conservation of in-plane momentum produces sharply resonant current-voltage
characteristics and provides a uniquely sensitive probe of the underlying
electronic spectral functions. We report here the application of this technique
to accurate measurements of the temperature dependence of the electron-electron
scattering rate in clean two-dimensional systems. Our results are in
qualitative agreement with existing calculations.Comment: file in REVTEX format produces 11 pages, 3 figures available from
[email protected]
Mesoscopic effects in tunneling between parallel quantum wires
We consider a phase-coherent system of two parallel quantum wires that are
coupled via a tunneling barrier of finite length. The usual perturbative
treatment of tunneling fails in this case, even in the diffusive limit, once
the length L of the coupling region exceeds a characteristic length scale L_t
set by tunneling. Exact solution of the scattering problem posed by the
extended tunneling barrier allows us to compute tunneling conductances as a
function of applied voltage and magnetic field. We take into account charging
effects in the quantum wires due to applied voltages and find that these are
important for 1D-to-1D tunneling transport.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, improved Figs., added Refs. and appendix, to
appear in Phys. Rev.
Inhomogeneous broadening of tunneling conductance in double quantum wells
The lineshape of the tunneling conductance in double quantum wells with a
large-scale roughness of heterointerfaces is investigated. Large-scale
variations of coupled energy levels and scattering due to the short-range
potential are taken into account. The interplay between the inhomogeneous
broadening, induced by the non-screened part of large-scale potential, and the
homogeneous broadening due to the scattering by short-range potentials is
considered. It is shown that the large inhomogeneous broadening can be strongly
modified by nonlocal effects involved in the proposed mechanism of
inhomogeneity. Related change of lineshape of the resonant tunneling
conductance between Gaussian and Lorentzian peaks is described. The theoretical
results agree quite well with experimental data.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Scanning Capacitance Microscopy Investigations of Focused Ion Beam Damage in Silicon
In this article, we explore the application of Scanning Capacitance Microscopy (SCM) for studying focused ion beam (FIB) induced damage in silicon. We qualitatively determine the technologically important beam shape by measuring the SCM image of FIB processed implantation spots and by comparison of topographical and SCM data. Further, we investigate the question how deep impinging ions generate measurable damage below the silicon surface. For this purpose, trenches were manufactured using FIB and analyzed by SCM in cross sectional geometry
Observation of a Linearly Dispersing Collective Mode in a Quantum Hall Ferromagnet
Double layer two-dimensional electron systems can exhibit a fascinating
collective phase believed to exhibit both quantum ferromagnetism and excitonic
superfluidity. This unusual phase has recently been found to exhibit tunneling
phenomena reminiscent of the Josephson effect. A key element of the theoretical
understanding of this bizarre quantum fluid is the existence of linearly
dispersing Goldstone collective modes. Using the method of tunneling
spectroscopy, we have demonstrated the existence of these modes. We find the
measured velocity to be in reasonable agreement with theoretical estimates.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in PRL. Contains new
data, a new figure, and a new titl
Enhancement of tunneling from a correlated 2D electron system by a many-electron Mossbauer-type recoil in a magnetic field
We consider the effect of electron correlations on tunneling from a 2D
electron layer in a magnetic field parallel to the layer. A tunneling electron
can exchange its momentum with other electrons, which leads to an exponential
increase of the tunneling rate compared to the single-electron approximation.
Explicit results are obtained for a Wigner crystal. They provide a qualitative
and quantitative explanation of the data on electrons on helium. We also
discuss tunneling in semiconductor heterostructures.Comment: published version, 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX 3.
Signatures of phonon and defect-assisted tunneling in planar metal-hexagonal boron nitride-graphene junctions
Electron tunneling spectroscopy measurements on van der Waals heterostructures consisting of metal and graphene (or graphite) electrodes separated by atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride tunnel barriers are reported. The tunneling conductance, dI/dV, at low voltages is relatively weak, with a strong enhancement reproducibly observed to occur at around |V| ≈ 50 mV. While the weak tunneling at low energies is attributed to the absence of substantial overlap, in momentum space, of the metal and graphene Fermi surfaces, the enhancement at higher energies signals the onset of inelastic processes in which phonons in the heterostructure provide the momentum necessary to link the Fermi surfaces. Pronounced peaks in the second derivative of the tunnel current, d2I/dV2, are observed at voltages where known phonon modes in the tunnel junction have a high density of states. In addition, features in the tunneling conductance attributed to single electron charging of nanometer-scale defects in the boron nitride are also observed in these devices. The small electronic density of states of graphene allows the charging spectra of these defect states to be electrostatically tuned, leading to “Coulomb diamonds” in the tunneling conductance
Tunneling transverse to a magnetic field, and how it occurs in correlated 2D electron systems
We investigate tunneling decay in a magnetic field. Because of broken
time-reversal symmetry, the standard WKB technique does not apply. The decay
rate and the outcoming wave packet are found from the analysis of the set of
the particle Hamiltonian trajectories and its singularities in complex space.
The results are applied to tunneling from a strongly correlated 2D electron
system in a magnetic field parallel to the layer. We show in a simple model
that electron correlations exponentially strongly affect the tunneling rate.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Tunneling Between Parallel Two-Dimensional Electron Gases
The tunneling between two parallel two-dimensional electron gases has been
investigated as a function of temperature , carrier density , and the
applied perpendicular magnetic field . In zero magnetic field the
equilibrium resonant lineshape is Lorentzian, reflecting the Lorentzian form of
the spectral functions within each layer. From the width of the tunneling
resonance the lifetime of the electrons within a 2DEG has been measured as a
function of and , giving information about the density dependence of the
electron-impurity scattering and the temperature dependence of the
electron-electron scattering. In a magnetic field there is a general
suppression of equilibrium tunneling for fields above T. A gap in the
tunneling density of states has been measured over a wide range of magnetic
fields and filling factors, and various theoretical predictions have been
examined. In a strong magnetic field, when there is only one partially filled
Landau level in each layer, the temperature dependence of the conductance
characteristics has been modeled with a double-Gaussian spectral density.Comment: LaTeX requires REVTeX macros. Eighteen pages. Fourteen postscript
figures are included. (All figures have been bitmapped to save space. The
original can be requested by email from [email protected]). Accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev.
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