No Arabic abstract
Ratchet effect -- a {it dc} current induced by the electromagnetic wave impinging on the spatially modulated two-dimensional (2D) electron liquid -- occurs when the wave amplitude is spatially modulated with the same wave vector as the 2D liquid but is shifted in phase. The analysis within the framework of the hydrodynamic model shows that the ratchet current is dramatically enhanced in the vicinity of the plasmonic resonances and has nontrivial polarization dependence. In particular, for circular polarization, the current component, perpendicular to the modulation direction, changes sign with the inversion of the radiation helicity. Remarkably, in the high-mobility structures, this component might be much larger than the the current component in the modulation direction. We also discuss the non-resonant regime realized in dirty systems, where the plasma resonances are suppressed, and demonstrate that the non-resonant ratchet current is controlled by the Maxwell relaxation in the 2D liquid.
Magnetic ratchets -- two-dimensional systems with superimposed non-centrosymmetric ferromagnetic gratings -- are considered theoretically. It is demonstrated that excitation by radiation results in a directed motion of two-dimensional carriers due to pure orbital effect of the periodic magnetic field. Magnetic ratchets based on various two-dimensional systems like topological insulators, graphene and semiconductor heterostructures are investigated. The mechanisms of the electric current generation caused by both radiation-induced heating of carriers and by acceleration in the radiation electric field in the presence of space-oscillating Lorentz force are studied in detail. The electric currents sensitive to the linear polarization plane orientation as well as to the radiation helicity are calculated. It is demonstrated that the frequency dependence of the magnetic ratchet currents is determined by the dominant elastic scattering mechanism of two-dimensional carriers and differs for the systems with linear and parabolic energy dispersions.
We report on the observation of magnetic quantum ratchet effect in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors on silicon surface (Si-MOSFETs). We show that the excitation of an unbiased transistor by ac electric field of terahertz radiation at normal incidence leads to a direct electric current between the source and drain contacts if the transistor is subjected to an in-plane magnetic field. The current rises linearly with the magnetic field strength and quadratically with the ac electric field amplitude. It depends on the polarization state of the ac field and can be induced by both linearly and circularly polarized radiation. We present the quasi-classical and quantum theories of the observed effect and show that the current originates from the Lorentz force acting upon carriers in asymmetric inversion channels of the transistors.
We address the problem of separating the short-distance, high-energy physics of cyclotron motion from the long- distance, low-energy physics within the Lowest Landau Level in field theoretic treatments of the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect. We illustrate our method for the case $ u =1/2$. By a sequence of field transformations we go from electrons to fermions that carry flux tubes of thickness $l_o$ (cyclotron radius) and couple to harmonic oscillators corresponding to magnetoplasmons. The fermions keep track of the low energy physics while the oscillators describe the Landau level, cyclotron currents etc. From this starting point we are able to get Jain and Rezayi-Read wavefunctions, and many subsequent modifications of the RPA analysis of Halperin, Lee and Read.
We theoretically demonstrate that dc electron flow across the junction of two-dimensional electron systems leads to excitation of edge magnetoplasmons. The threshold current for such plasmon excitation does not depend on contact effects and approaches zero for ballistic electron systems, which makes a strong distinction from the well-known Dyakonov-Shur and Cerenkov-type instabilities. We estimate the competing plasmon energy gain from dc current and loss due to electron scattering. We show that plasmon self excitation is feasible in GaAs-based heterostructures at $Tlesssim 200$ K and magnetic fields $B lesssim 10$ T.
We present the first experimental realization of a ratchet cellular automaton (RCA) which has been recently suggested as an alternative approach for performing logical operations with interacting (quasi) particles. Our study was performed with interacting colloidal particles which serve as a model system for other dissipative systems i.e. magnetic vortices on a superconductor or ions in dissipative optical arrays. We demonstrate that noise can enhance the efficiency of information transport in RCA and consequently enables their optimal operation at finite temperatures.