We report observations of the Coulomb drag effect between two effectively 2-d insulating a-Si_{1-x}Nb_{x} films. We find that there only exist a limited range of experimental parameters over which we can measure a sizable linear-response transresistivity (ρ_{d}). The temperature dependence of ρ_{d} is consistent with the layers being Efros-Shklovskii Anderson insulators provided that a 3-d density of states and a localization length smaller than that obtained from the DC layer-conductivity are assumed.
We present a theory for Coulomb drag between two mesoscopic systems which expresses the drag in terms of scattering matrices and wave functions. The formalism can be applied to both ballistic and disordered systems and the consequences can be studied either by numerical simulations or analytic means such as perturbation theory or random matrix theory. The physics of Coulomb drag in the mesoscopic regime is very different from Coulomb drag between extended electron systems. In the mesoscopic regime we in general find fluctuations of the drag comparable to the mean value. Examples are the vanish…
This thesis describes the merging of the two fields of Coulomb drag and mesoscopic physics. The thesis presents a theory for Coulomb drag between two mesoscopic systems based on linear-response theory. The formalism expresses the drag in terms of either scattering matrices and wave functions or Green functions, and its range of validity covers both ballistic and disordered phase-coherent systems. The consequences are worked out either by analytic means, such as the random matrix theory, or by numerical simulations. The formalism is applied to i) drag between mesoscopic quantum wires and ii) dr…
We study Coulomb drag between two parallel disordered mesoscopic 1D-wires. By numerical ensemble averaging we calculate the statistical properties of the transconductance G_21 including its distribution. For wires with mutually uncorrelated disorder potentials we find that the mean value is finite, but with comparable fluctuations so that sign-reversal is possible. For identical disorder potentials the mean value and the fluctuations nare enhanced compared to the case of uncorrelated disorder.
Quasiballistic 1D quantum wires are known to have a conductance of the order of 2e^2/h, with small sample-to-sample fluctuations. We present a study of the transconductance G_12 of two Coulomb-coupled quasiballistic wires, i.e., we consider the Coulomb drag geometry. We show that the fluctuations in G_12 differ dramatically from those of the diagonal conductance G_ii: the fluctuations are large, and can even exceed the mean value, thus implying a possible reversal of the induced drag current. We report extensive numerical simulations elucidating the fluctuations, both for correlated and uncorr…
Employing diagrammatic perturbation theory, we calculate the (charge) Coulomb drag resistivity $ρ_D$ and spin Coulomb drag resistivity $ρ_{\uparrow\downarrow}$ in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Analytical expressions for $ρ_D$ and $ρ_{\uparrow\downarrow}$ are derived, and it is found that spin-orbit interaction produces a small enhancement to $ρ_D$ and $ρ_{\uparrow\downarrow}$ in the ballistic regime while $ρ_D$ is unchanged in the diffusive regime. This enhancement in the ballistic regime is attributed to the enhancement of the nonlinear susceptibility (i.e. current produced thro…
In Coulomb drag, a current flowing in one conductor can induce a voltage across an adjacent conductor via the Coulomb interaction. The mechanisms yielding drag effects are not always understood, even though drag effects are sufficiently general to be seen in many low-dimensional systems. In this Letter, we observe Coulomb drag in a Coulomb-coupled double quantum dot (CC-DQD) and, through both experimental and theoretical arguments, identify cotunneling as essential to obtaining a correct qualitative understanding of the drag behavior.
We have observed reproducible fluctuations of the Coulomb drag, both as a function of magnetic field and electron concentration, which are a manifestation of quantum interference of electrons in the layers. At low temperatures the fluctuations exceed the average drag, giving rise to random changes of the sign of the drag. The fluctuations are found to be much larger than previously expected, and we propose a model which explains their enhancement by considering fluctuations of local electron properties.
Interaction between local magnetization and conduction electrons is responsible for a variety of phenomena in magnetic materials. We have shown that the spin-dependent motive force induced by magnetization dynamics in a conducting ferromagnet lead to the spin Coulomb drag effect. The spin Coulomb drag an intrinsic friction mechanism which operates whenever the average velocities of up-spin and down-spin electrons differ.
We study theoretically Coulomb drag in capacitively coupled quantum dots (CQDs) -- a biasdriven dot coupled to an unbiased dot where transport is due to Coulomb mediated energy transfer drag. To this end, we introduce a master-equation approach which accounts for higher-order tunneling (cotunneling) processes as well as energy-dependent lead couplings, and identify a mesoscopic Coulomb drag mechanism driven by nonlocal multi-electron cotunneling processes. Our theory establishes the conditions for a nonzero drag as well as the direction of the drag current in terms of microscopic system parame…
Coulomb interaction between two closely spaced parallel layers of electron system can generate the frictional drag effect by interlayer Coulomb scattering. Employing graphene double layers separated by few layer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), we investigate density tunable magneto- and Hall-drag under strong magnetic fields. The observed large magneto-drag and Hall-drag signals can be related with Laudau level (LL) filling status of the drive and drag layers. We find that the sign and magnitude of the magneto- and Hall-drag resistivity tensor can be quantitatively correlated to the variation o…
We show that Coulomb drag in hydrodynamic bilayer systems leads to additional viscosity terms in the hydrodynamic equations, i.e., the drag and drag-Hall viscosities, besides the well-known kinematic and Hall viscosities. These new viscosity terms arise from a change of the stress tensor due to the interlayer Coulomb interactions. All four viscosity terms are tunable by varying the applied magnetic field and the electron densities in the two layers. At certain ratios between the electron densities in the two layers, the drag viscosity dramatically changes the longitudinal transport resulting i…
We develop a theory of Coulomb drag due to momentum transfer between graphene layers in a strong magnetic field. The theory is intended to apply in systems with disorder that is weak compared to Landau level separation, so that Landau level mixing is weak, but strong compared to correlation energies within a single Landau level, so that fractional quantum Hall physics is not relevant. We find that in contrast to the zero-field limit, the longitudinal magneto-Coulomb drag is finite, and in fact attains a maximum at the simultaneous charge neutrality point (CNP) of both layers. Our theory also p…
We present the first experimental study of mesoscopic fluctuations of Coulomb drag in a system with two layers of composite fermions, which are seen when either the magnetic field or carrier concentration are varied. These fluctuations cause an alternating sign of the average drag. We study these fluctuations at different temperatures to establish the dominant dephasing mechanism of composite fermions.
Motivated by the recent Coulomb drag experiment of M. P. Lilly et. al, we study the Coulomb drag in a two-layer system with Landau level filling factor $ν=1/2$. We find that the drag conductivity in the incompressible paired quantum Hall state at zero temperature can be finite. The drag conductivity is also greatly enhanced above $T_c$, at which the transition between the weakly coupled compressible liquids and the paired quantum Hall liquid takes place. We discuss the implications of our results for the recent experiment.
Measurements and calculations of Coulomb drag between two low density, closely spaced, two-dimensional electron systems are reported. The experimentally measured drag exceeds that calculated in the random phase approximation by a significant, and density dependent, factor. Studies of the dependence of the measured drag on the difference in density between the two layers clearly demonstrate that previously ignored q=2k_F scattering processes can be very important to the drag at low densities and small layer separations.
We study the Coulomb drag transresistivity between graphene layers employing the finite temperature density response function. We analyze the Coulomb coupling between the two layers and show that a universal scaling behavior, independent of the interlayer distance can be deduced. We argue that this universal behavior may be experimentally observable in a system of two carbon nanotubes of large radius.
The Coulomb drag phenomenon in a Coulomb-coupled double quantum dot system is revisited with a simple model that highlights the importance of simultaneous tunneling of electrons. Previously, cotunneling effects on the drag current in mesoscopic setups have been reported both theoretically and experimentally. However, in both cases the sequential tunneling contribution to the drag current was always present unless the drag level position were too far away from resonance. Here, we consider the case of very large Coulomb interaction between the dots, whereby the drag current needs to be assisted …
We study the way back-scattering electron--electron interaction generates Coulomb drag between quantum wires with different densities. At low temperature $T$ the system can undergo a commensurate-- incommensurate transition as the potential difference $|W|$ between the two wires passes a critical value $Δ$, and this transition is reflected in a marked change in the dependence of drag resistivity on $W$ and $T$. At high temperature a density difference between the wires suppresses Coulomb drag induced by back scattering, and we use the Tomonaga--Luttinger model to study this suppression in deta…
We work out a theory of the Coulomb drag current created under the ballistic transport regime in a one-dimensional nanowire by a ballistic non-Ohmic current in a nearby parallel nanowire. As in the Ohmic case, we predict sharp oscillation of the drag current as a function of gate voltage or the chemical potential of electrons. We study also dependence of the drag current on the voltage V across the driving wire. For relatively large values of V the drag current is proportional to V^2.
I suggest to use the effect of Coulomb drag between two closely positioned graphite monolayers (graphene sheets) for experimental measurement of the strength of weak non-linearities of the spectrum in graphene. I consider trigonal warping as a representative mechanism responsible for the drag effect. Since graphene is relatively defect-free, I evaluate the drag conductivity in the ballistic regime and find that it is proportional to the fourth power of the warping strength.
We study Coulomb drag in a system consisting of a carbon nanotube (CNT) and monolayer graphene. Within the Fermi liquid theory we calculate the drag resistivity and find that the dimensional mismatch of the system components leads to a dependence of the drag rate on the carrier density, temperature, and spacing, which is substantially different from what is known for graphene double layers. Due to the competing effects of forward and backward scattering, we identify new features of the drag dependence on the electron density, which allows us to control their relative contribution to the drag r…
We present a theory for Coulomb drag between two mesoscopic systems. Our formalism expresses the drag in terms of scattering matrices and wave functions, and its range of validity covers both ballistic and disordered systems. The consequences can be worked out either by analytic means, such as the random matrix theory, or by numerical simulations. We show that Coulomb drag is sensitive to localized states, which usual transport measurements do not probe. For chaotic 2D-systems we find a vanishing average drag, with a nonzero variance. Disordered 1D-wires show a finite drag, with a large varian…
We demonstrate that in a wide range of temperatures Coulomb drag between two weakly coupled quantum wires is dominated by processes with a small interwire momentum transfer. Such processes, not accounted for in the conventional Luttinger liquid theory, cause drag only because the electron dispersion relation is not linear. The corresponding contribution to the drag resistance scales with temperature as T^2 if the wires are identical, and as T^5 if the wires are different.
We develop a Boltzmann-Langevin description of Coulomb drag effect in clean double-layer systems with large interlayer separation $d$ as compared to the average interelectron distance $λ_F$. Coulomb drag arises from density fluctuations with spatial scales of order $d$. At low temperatures, their characteristic frequencies exceed the intralayer equilibration rate of the electron liquid, and Coulomb drag may be treated in the collisionless approximation. As temperature is raised, the electron mean free path becomes short due to electron-electron scattering. This leads to local equilibration of …
We study drag effect in a system of two electrically isolated quantum point contacts (QPC), coupled by Coulomb interactions. Drag current exhibits maxima as a function of QPC gate voltages when the latter are tuned to the transitions between quantized conductance plateaus. In the linear regime this behavior is due to enhanced electron-hole asymmetry near an opening of a new conductance channel. In the non-linear regime the drag current is proportional to the shot noise of the driving circuit, suggesting that the Coulomb drag experiments may be a convenient way to measure the quantum shot noise…
We review the fabrication and key transport properties of graphene double layers, consisting of two graphene monolayers placed in close proximity, independently contacted, and separated by an ultra-thin dielectric. We outline a simple band structure model relating the layer densities to the applied gate and inter-layer biases, and show that calculations and experimental results are in excellent agreement both at zero and in high magnetic fields. Coulomb drag measurements, which probe the electron-electron scattering between the two layers reveal two distinct regime: (i) diffusive drag at eleva…
Coulomb drag between nanoscale conductors is of both fundamental and practical interest. Here, we theoretically study drag in a double quantum-dot (QD) system consisting of a biased drive QD and an unbiased drag QD coupled via a direct interdot Coulomb interaction. We demonstrate that the Coulomb drag is driven by the charge fluctuations in the drive QD, and show how the properties of the associated quantum noise allow to distinguish it from, e.g., shot-noise driven drag in circuits of weakly interacting quantum conductors. In the strong-interaction regime exhibiting an orbital ("pseudospin") …
Coulomb drag between two quantum wires is exponentially sensitive to the mismatch of their electronic densities. The application of a magnetic field can compensate this mismatch for electrons of opposite spin directions in different wires. The resulting enhanced momentum transfer leads to the conversion of the charge current in the active wire to the spin current in the passive wire.
We study the spin Coulomb drag in a quasi-two-dimensional electron gas beyond the random phase approximation (RPA). We find that the finite transverse width of the electron gas causes a significant reduction of the spin Coulomb drag. This reduction, however, is largely compensated by the enhancement coming from the inclusion of many-body local field effects beyond the RPA, thereby restoring good agreement with the experimental observations by C. P. Weber \textit{et al.}, Nature, \textbf{437}, 1330 (2005).
The influence of a longitudinal magnetic field on the Coulomb drag current created in the ballistic transport regime in a quantum well by a ballistic current in a nearby parallel quantum well is investigated. We consider the case where the magnetic field is so strong that the Larmour radius is smaller than the width of the well. Both in Ohmic and non-Ohmic case, sharp oscillations of the drag current as a function of the gate voltage or chemical potential are predicted. We also study dependence of the drag current on the voltage $V$ across the driving wire, as well as on the magnetic field $B$…
Recently, novel Coulomb drag mechanisms in capacitively coupled double quantum dots were uncovered by the T-matrix based master equation (TME). The TME is so far the primary approach to studying Coulomb drag in the weak-coupling regime; however, its accuracy and reliability remain unexplored. Here, we evaluate the performance of the TME for Coulomb drag via a comparison with numerically exact results obtained by the hierarchical equation-of-motion approach. We find that the TME can capture qualitative current evolutions versus dot levels, temperature, and effective coupling strengths, but only…
Recent measurements revealed an anomalous Coulomb drag in graphene, hinting at new physics at charge neutrality. The anomalous drag is explained by a new mechanism based on energy transport, which involves interlayer energy transfer, coupled to charge flow via lateral heat currents and thermopower. The old and new drag mechanisms are governed by distinct physical effects, resulting in starkly different behavior, in particular for drag magnitude and sign near charge neutrality. The new mechanism explains the giant enhancement of drag near charge neutrality, as well as its sign and anomalous sen…
Dirac fermions are actively investigated, and the discovery of the quantized anomalous Hall effect of massive Dirac fermions has spurred the promise of low-energy electronics. Some materials hosting Dirac fermions are natural platforms for interlayer coherence effects such as Coulomb drag and exciton condensation. Here we determine the role played by the anomalous Hall effect in Coulomb drag in massive Dirac fermion systems. We focus on topological insulator films with out-of plane magnetizations in both the active and passive layers. The transverse response of the active layer is dominated by…
We present a theory of negative Coulomb drag in capacitively coupled quantum wires based on the commensurability of the electron density and the long-range nature of the Coulomb interaction in the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. The commensurability introduces a notion of doped particles and holes. We point out that the long-range interaction allows a particle-hole pairing over the wires and that the particle-hole pairing brings about the positive drag of holes, that is, the negative drag.
We report Coulomb drag measurements between vertically-integrated quantum wires separated by a barrier only 15 nm wide. The temperature dependence of the drag resistance is measured in the true one-dimensional (1D) regime where both wires have less than one 1D subband occupied. As a function of temperature, an upturn in the drag resistance is observed in three distinct devices at a temperature $T^* \sim 1.6$ K. This crossover in Coulomb drag behaviour is consistent with Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid models for the 1D-1D drag between quantum wires.
Coupled 2D sheets of electrons and holes are predicted to support novel quantum phases. Two experiments of Coulomb drag in electron-hole (e-h) double bilayer graphene (DBLG) have reported an unexplained and puzzling sign reversal of the drag signal. However, we show that this effect is due to the multiband character of DBLG. Our multiband Fermi liquid theory produces excellent agreement and captures the key features of the experimental drag resistance for all temperatures. This demonstrates the importance of multiband effects in DBLG: they have a strong effect not only on superfluidity, but al…
We report the observation of Coulomb drag between a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas in graphene and a one-dimensional (1D) wire composed of a carbon nanotube. We find that drag occurs when the bulk of graphene is conducting, but is strongly suppressed in the quantum Hall regime when magnetic field confines conducting electrons to the edges of graphene and far from the nanotube. Out-of-equilibrium and non-linear drag measurements show intriguing interplay between 1D and 2D conductors. These hybrid electronic devices of novel geometry could lead to potential applications for Van der Waals elec…
Coulomb drag experiments can give us information about the interaction state of double-layer systems. Here, we demonstrate anomalous Coulomb drag behaviours in a two-dimensional electron-electron bilayer system constructed by stacking atomically thin MoS2 on opposite sides of thin dielectric layers of boron nitride. In the low temperature regime, the measured drag resistance does not follow the behaviour predicted by the Coulomb drag models of exchanging momenta and energies with the particles in Fermi-liquid bilayer systems. Instead, it shows an upturn to higher and higher values. We investig…
Using a novel structure, consisting of two, independently contacted graphene single layers separated by an ultra-thin dielectric, we experimentally measure the Coulomb drag of massless fermions in graphene. At temperatures higher than 50 K, the Coulomb drag follows a temperature and carrier density dependence consistent with the Fermi liquid regime. As the temperature is reduced, the Coulomb drag exhibits giant fluctuations with an increasing amplitude, thanks to the interplay between coherent transport in the graphene layer and interaction between the two layers.
Coulomb drag between parallel quantum wells provides a uniquely sensitive measurement of electron correlations since the drag response depends on interactions only. Recently it has been demonstrated that a new regime of strong interactions can be accessed for devices consisting of two monlolayer graphene (MLG) crystals, separated by few layer hexagonal boron-nitride. Here we report measurement of Coulomb drag in a double bilayer graphene (BLG) stucture, where the interaction potential is anticipated to be yet further enhanced compared to MLG. At low temperatures and intermediate densities a ne…
Coulomb drag shot noise has been studied theoretically for 1D interacting electron systems, which are realized e.g. in single-wall nanotubes. We show that under adiabatic coupling to external leads, the Coulomb drag shot noise of two coupled or crossed nanotubes contains surprising effects, in particular a complete locking of the shot noise in the tubes. In contrast to Coulomb drag of the average current, the noise locking is based on a symmetry of the underlying Hamiltonian and is not limited to asymptotically small energy scales.
We evaluate the Coulomb drag current in two finite-length Tomonaga-Luttinger-liquid wires coupled by an electrostatic backscattering interaction. The drag current in one wire shows oscillations as a function of the bias voltage applied to the other wire, reflecting interferences of the plasmon standing waves in the interacting wires. In agreement with this picture, the amplitude of the current oscillations is reduced with increasing temperature. This is a clear signature of non-Fermi-liquid physics because for coupled Fermi liquids the drag resistance is always expected to increase as the temp…
We investigate the effect of exchange and correlation (xc) in low-density electron bilayers. Along with the direct Coulomb interaction, the effective electron-electron interaction mediated by the exchange of virtual polar optical (PO) phonons is considered. We find that the introduction of xc corrections results in a significant enhancement of the transresistivity and qualitative changes in its temperature dependence. The virtual PO-phonon contribution behaves similarly to the Coulomb drag and reduces noticeably the total drag thereby resulting in a better agreement with the recent experimenta…
We study the Coulomb drag between two single graphene sheets in intrinsic and extrinsic graphene systems with no interlayer tunneling. The general expression for the nonlinear susceptibility appropriate for single-layer graphene systems is derived using the diagrammatic perturbation theory, and the corresponding exact zero-temperature expression is obtained analytically. We find that, despite the existence of a non-zero conductivity in an intrinsic graphene layer, the Coulomb drag between intrinsic graphene layers vanishes at all temperatures. In extrinsic systems, we obtain numerical results …
Two-dimensional (2D) heterointerfaces often provide extraordinary carrier transport as exemplified by superconductivity or excitonic superfluidity. Recently, double-layer graphene separated by few-layered boron nitride demonstrated the Coulomb drag phenomenon: carriers in the active layer drag the carriers in the passive layer. Here, we propose a new switching device operating via Coulomb drag interaction at a graphene/MoS2 (GM) heterointerface. The ideal van der Waals distance allows strong coupling of the interlayer electron-hole pairs, whose recombination is prevented by the Schottky barrie…
We develop a Luttinger liquid theory of the Coulomb drag of persistent currents flowing in concentric mesoscopic rings, by incorporating non-linear corrections to the electron dispersion relation. We demonstrate that at low temperatures, interactions between electrons in different rings generate an additional phase and thus alter the period of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations. The resulting nondissipative drag depends strongly on the relative parity of the electron numbers. We also show that interactions set a new temperature scale below which the linear response theory does not apply at certain val…
We show that the Coulomb drag effect exhibits saturation at small temperatures, when calculated to the third order in the interlayer interactions. The zero-temperature transresistance is inversely proportional to the third power of the dimensionless sheet conductance. The effect is therefore the strongest in low mobility samples. This behavior should be contrasted with the conventional (second order) prediction that the transresistance scales as a certain power of temperature and is almost mobility-independent. The result demonstrates that the zero-temperature drag is not an unambiguous signat…
The onset of exciton condensation in a topological insulator thin film was recently predicted. We calculate the critical temperature for this transition, taking into account screening effects. Furthermore, we show that the proximity to this transition can be probed by measuring the Coulomb drag resistivity between the surfaces of the thin film as a function of temperature. This resistivity shows an upturn upon approaching the exciton-condensed state.
We analyze theoretically charge transport in Coulomb coupled graphene waveguides (GWGs). The GWGs are defined using antidot lattices, and the lateral geometry bypasses many technological challenges of earlier designs. The drag resistivity $ρ_D$, which is a measure of the many-particle interactions between the GWGs, is computed for a range of temperatures and waveguide separations. It is demonstrated that for $T>0.1T_F$ the drag is significantly enhanced due to plasmons, and that in the low-temperature regime a complicated behavior may occur. In the weak coupling regime the dependence of drag o…
Motivated by very recent studies of Coulomb drag in grahene-BN-graphene system we develop a theory of Coulomb drag for the Fermi liquid regime, for the case when the ratio of spacer thickness $d$ to the Fermi wavelength of electrons is arbitrary. The concentration ($n$) and thickness dependence of the drag resistivity is changed from $n^{-3}d^{-4}$ for the thick spacer to $n^{-1}|\ln{(nd^2)}|$ for the thin one.
I investigate the possibility of using Coulomb drag to detect a precursor of the predicted (but as yet not definitively observed) superfluid transition in electron-hole coupled quantum wells. The drag transresisitivity $ρ_{21}$ is shown to be significantly enhanced above the transition temperature $T_c$ and to diverge logarithmically as $T\to T_c^+$, due to electron-hole pairing fluctuations which are somewhat analogous to the Maki-Thompson contribution to conductivity in metals above the superconducting $T_c$. The enhancement in $ρ_{21}$ is estimated to be detectable at temperatures much high…
We study the effect of correlations between impurity potentials in different layers on the Coulomb drag in a double-layer electron system. It is found that for strongly correlated potentials the drag in the diffusive regime is considerably enhanced as compared to conventional predictions. The appropriate experimental conditions are discussed, and the new experiments are suggested.
We theoretically study the Coulomb drag in graphene when there is a temperature difference between the layers. Within the degenerate limit for equal layer densities, we find that this can lead to significant deviations from the usual quadratic temperature dependence of the drag resistivity. The exact behavior depends strongly on the phase space available for intraband scattering, and is not symmetrical when the temperatures of the layers are interchanged. In particular, when one layer is at a much higher temperature $T$ than the other, the drag resistivity behaves as $ρ_D\sim T/d^5$, where $d$…
We consider mesoscopic fluctuations of Coulomb drag transresistivity between two layers at a Landau level filling factor $ν=1/2$ each. We find that at low temperature sample to sample fluctuations exceed both the ensemble average and the corresponding fluctuations at B=0. At the experimentally relevant temperatures, the variance of the transresistivity is proportional to $T^{-1/2}$. We find the dependence of this variance on density and magnetic field to reflect the attachment of two flux quanta to each electron.
