Evidence for virtual-phonon exchange in semiconductor heterostructures

T. J. Gramila, J. P. Eisenstein, A. H. MacDonald, L. N. Pfeiffer, K. W. West

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

162 Scopus citations

Abstract

Measurements of frictional drag between adjacent electron gases in double quantum wells provide strong evidence for phonon-mediated electron-electron interactions. These interactions, which dominate the contribution from simple Coulomb scattering at layer spacings larger than a few hundred, are between 20 and 100 times stronger than expected for sequential emission and absorption of real phonons. The observed range of the interactions, substantially smaller than the acoustic phonon mean free path, points to a novel electron scattering mechanism involving virtual-phonon exchange.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)12957-12960
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume47
Issue number19
DOIs
StatePublished - 1993
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Evidence for virtual-phonon exchange in semiconductor heterostructures'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this