Phonon generation by current-carrying nanostructures

Abstract

We calculate the rate of acoustic phonon generation by a current-carrying, ballistic quantum channel, defined in a two-dimensional electron gas by a split-gate. Both uniform and nonuniform channels are considered. The generation rate of acoustic phonons of a particular frequency and direction of propagation is a steplike function of the applied bias voltage, with threshold voltages that are calculated in the paper. The emitted phonons have a characteristic angular distribution which changes significantly at the thresholds. The voltage dependence of the generation rate is shown to be sensitive to the shape of the channel. Thus the spectral and spatial distributions of the emitted phonons bear information both on electron-phonon coupling in the vicinity of the device and on characteristics of the electron spectrum.