Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: We calculate the rate of acoustic phonon generation by a current-carrying, ballistic quantum channel, defined in a two-dimensional electron gas by a split gate. Both uniform and nonuniform channels are considered. The generation rate of acoustic phonons of a particular frequency and direction of propagation is a steplike function of the applied bias voltage, with threshold voltages that are calculated in the paper. The emitted phonons have a characteristic angular distribution, which changes significantly at the thresholds. The voltage dependence of the generation rate is shown to be sensitive to the shape of the channel. Thus, the spectral and spatial distributions of the emitted phonons bear information both on electron-phonon coupling in the vicinity of the device and on characteristics of the electron spectrum.
Authors: H. Totland, Y. M. Galperin, V. L. Gurevich
Institutions: University of Oslo, Ioffe Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Norges Forskningsråd
OpenAlex ID: W1982139188