Resonant Photovoltaic Effect in Surface-State Electrons on Liquid Helium

Abstract

We observed an ultra-strong photovoltaic effect induced by resonant intersubband absorption of microwaves in a two-dimensional electrons system on the surface of liquid helium. The effect emerges in the regime of microwave-induced vanishing of dissipative conductance reported previously [D. Konstantinov and K. Kono: Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 (2010) 226801)] and is characterized by a nonequilibrium spatial distribution of electrons in the confining electrostatic potential. The electrostatic energy acquired by an electron exceeds other relevant energies by several orders of magnitude.