Many-body blockade of resonant tunneling of two-dimensional electrons

The remote plasmon polaron

“…This general problem has attracted significant theoretical interest, and is well described in high or low field ranges by fully quantum-mechanical or semiclassical descriptions, as appropriate [6][7][8]. Here we present an alternative theoretical approach which covers the entire magnetic-field range, and provides an intuitive explanation of the observed tunneling peak voltage shifts in the experiments of Lok et al [3].…”

“…An energy shift of the position of the tunneling peak caused by a magnetic field in a resonant tunneling device was observed experimentally [3,5]. Lok et al [3] pointed out that this energy shift is due to an acoustic-phonon-like excitation which appears by the extraction of the tunneling electron out of the 2DES. Our model explains this vacancy as a polarization of the 2DES due to the remote electron.…”

“…It has been recently shown that resonant tunneling can reveal this Coulomb interaction as a shift in the bias position of the tunneling peak. A quantum resonance device was used, consisting of a double barrier and quantum well containing a single two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) as injector into an "empty" quantum well region [3]. The dependence of the peak position on magnetic field and temperature were studied.…”

“…A tunneling electron can be regarded in such experiments as a remote electron which is separated from the two-dimensional electron system (2DES) and interacts via the Coulomb interaction with the 2DES left behind. This interaction energy is related to the Coulomb (quasi-) gap obtained in the resonant tunneling experiment of a single electron into a 2DES, and between interacting adjacent 2DESs [3][4][5]. This general problem has attracted significant theoretical interest, and is well described in high or low field ranges by fully quantum-mechanical or semiclassical descriptions, as appropriate [6][7][8].…”

“…3, ∆(d, B) is plotted as a function of the external magnetic field B for the tunneling distance d = 15 nm with Γ 0 = 1.5 meV/T 1/2 (solid curve) and 3.0 meV/T 1/2 (dashed curve) for n s = 3 × 10 11 cm −2 . These traces are compared to the experimental data of Lok et al [3], shown as solid circles. Our results follow qualitatively the oscillation of ∆(d, B) with magnetic field, but they are about a factor of 4 smaller than the effect seen experimentally.…”