Coulomb drag between two-dimensional and one-dimensional electron gases

Abstract

We investigate the low-temperature Coulomb drag resistance between a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) electron layer and an electron gas in a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire theoretically using a Fermi liquid model. The 2D layer is assumed to be degenerate. The dependence of the resistance on the temperature, the layer-wire distance, and the electron density is studied. In high-density wires, the dominant contribution to the drag arises from small-momentum-transfer (i.e., forward) scattering near each Fermi point. In low-density wires, however, backscattering becomes important at low temperatures. The resistance is found to be significantly larger in low-density wires.