Tunneling spectroscopy of a two-dimensionally periodic electron system

The tunneling current between an electron gas with a periodic potential in two dimensions and a plain two-dimensional electron system (2DES) has been studied. The strength of the periodic potential, the subband energy of the plain 2DES, and an applied in-plane magnetic field were varied, mapping the Fourier transform of the periodic wave function. Periodic peaks were observed and explained by translations in the reciprocal lattice. When the potential was strongly modulated to form an array of antidots, commensurability peaks were seen in lateral transport, but, as expected, not in tunneling.     

A theoretical calculation of tunneling spectroscopy of an electron waveguide with or without a scatterer

A theoretical study on the tunneling spectroscopy of an electron waveguide recently observed by Eugster and del Alamo is presented. A narrow electron waveguide coupled with another much wider one by a thin barrier between them is taken as a theoretical model for the leaky electron waveguide implemented by Eugster et al., and the transport properties of electrons are studied comprehensively through the wavefunction of the system. The results demonstrate that the conductance for the current tunneling out the barrier oscillates strongly with the width of the narrow electron waveguide, in line with its conductance steps. The theory is in good agreement with the experiments and confirm that the oscillations of the tunneling current can be considered as a spectroscopy of the 1D DOS (one dimensional electron density of states) in the electron waveguide as proposed by Eugster et al. In order to study the effects of scatterers on the transport properties of the leaky electron waveguide, a δ-function is used to simulate the scattering potential The results show that the presence of even a single scatterer located in the waveguide will lead to obvious distortion of the shape of conductance steps, and will greatly influence the oscillations of the tunneling current observed in clean waveguides. However the effects of scatterers located outside the tunneling barrier on either the conductance steps or the oscillations of the tunneling current are negligible.     

Tunneling spectroscopy of electron space charge layers on (111)-Si

MgSiO₂Si tunnel junctions were prepared on nondegenerate substrates in a planar structure. By suitable technology-steps a low-resistance connection between the diffused drain contact and an electron enhancement channel, which was generated by the work function difference of the electrodes and charged defects in the barrier region, can be realized; therefore low-temperature measurements of the current-voltage characteristic and its derivatives were possible. In the $\text{d}{}^2\text{I}\text{dU}{}^2$ vs. U-traces various structures have been observed, which were caused by band edge effects of numerous surface subbands, by phonon-assisted tunneling and by a zero-bias anomaly. At nearly constant surface charge density the energy separation of the subbands and its dependence on depletion charge density, varied by the application of a substrate bias, has been measured. Because of the direct reading of the subband energies relative to the Fermi-level the surface density could be estimated.     

Tunneling by an electron packet with an initially sharp wavefront

We have studied the time behavior of electron wavepackets traversing one-dimensional potentials. These packets are described as plane wave states that have been cut off to give a sharp initial wavefront. We find that the shift, or delay time, of the main part of the pulse is comparable to that of a Gaussian wavepacket with the same momentum, and that both kinds of pulses have the same broad-pulse (sharp-momentum) limit. This is shown to hold for a general class of potentials. We show explicitly that the steepest descents calculation described by Stevens does not lead to a finite tunneling velocity. An exact expression is given for the packet transmitted through a delta-function barrier, which suggests a new interpretation of the tunneling velocity that has been obtained in other calculations.     

Spin current in an electron waveguide tunnel-coupled to a topological insulator

We show that electron tunneling from edge states in a two-dimensional topological insulator into a parallel electron waveguide leads to the appearance of spin-polarized current in the waveguide. The spin polarization P can be very close to unity and the electron current passing through the tunnel contact splits in the waveguide into two branches flowing from the contact. The polarization essentially depends on the electron scattering by the contact and the electron-electron interaction in the one-dimensional edge states. The electron-electron interaction is treated within the Luttinger liquid model. The main effect of the interaction stems from the renormalization of the electron velocity, due to which the polarization increases with the interaction strength. Electron scattering by the contact leads to a decrease in P. A specific effect occurs when the bottom of the subbands in the waveguide crosses the Dirac point of the spectrum of edge states when changing the voltage or chemical potential. This leads to changing the direction of the spin current.     

Tunneling spectroscopy of voltage tunable quantum wires

Resonant tunneling spectroscopy is used to investigate the tuning range for the one-dimensional subband spacing of side-gated quantum wires. We introduce a simplified selective depletion scheme for the implementation of a resonant tunneling device. From the analysis of the differential tunneling conductance obtained for a single-wire device we conclude that the energetic spacing for the one-dimensional subbands can be varied from effectively 0 to about 6 meV. Measurements in magnetic fields directed parallel and perpendicular to the tunnel current confirm the one-dimensional nature of the tunneling processes as well as the order of magnitude of the subband spacing by comparison of the tunneling characteristics with a model calculation that assumes a parabolic confinement.     

Wakefield radiation generated by an electron bunch in a rectangular dielectric waveguide

Vavilov-Cerenkov radiation generated by a relativistic electron bunch in a rectangular waveguide with a transverse-inhomogeneous dielectric filling is analyzed. A method is proposed for constructing an orthogonal basis of the transverse operator, which can be subsequently used for determining the wakefield of the relativistic bunch moving parallel to the waveguide axis. The dispersion equation for the structure is derived and the expressions for the wake field produced by such a bunch are obtained. The formalism described here forms the basis for calculating parameters of the accelerating structure for generator bunches of the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator (AWA) at the Argonne National Laboratory and the FACET complex of the SLAC accelerator. It is shown that using such structures, accelerating field gradients higher than 150 MV/m can be generated at frequencies 20?C35 GHz and exceeding 1 GeV/m in the frequency range ??1 THz.     

Superlight source of radiation with a waveguide used for bunching an electron beam

A scheme of a generator of electromagnetic-wave radiation is proposed in which a radiating region moves along a radiator with a velocity greater than the velocity of light in vacuum. The superlight motion of the generating region leads to the situation in which the resulting radiation has the properties of Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation. The electron beam of a superlight source is formed while the particles travel across a waveguide along which an electromagnetic wave propagates. The construction of the generator makes it possible to vary the velocity of the radiating region, the radiation pattern, and the radiation beamwidth. Calculations are performed that allow one to evaluate the parameters of the generator and the characteristics of radiation.     

Tunneling spectroscopy as a probe of adsorbate-surface interactions

Tunneling spectroscopy is a sensitive probe of two classes of adsorbate-surface interactions: interactions of the adsorbate with the substrate on which it is adsorbed and adsorbate interactions with the top metal electrode that is evaporated on top of it. The talk by Professor Hipps focuses on the first of these classes. This talk focuses on the second. In general, the interaction of the adsorbed molecules with the top metal electrode produces a down-shift in the vibrational mode position ranging in size from 0.1% to 10% depending on the dipole derivative of the mode and the type of top metal electrode.     

Tunneling time and the post-tunneling position of an electron through a potential barrier in an anisotropic semiconductor

Tunneling time and post-tunneling position of an electron incident on a heterostructure grown on anisotropic materials are derived by solving an effective mass equation including off-diagonal effective mass tensor elements. The effects of different effective masses for a heterostructure junction are also included.