Electron-electron interactions and two-dimensional - two-dimensional tunneling

TL;DR

This paper derives formulas for dc tunneling conductance between interacting 2D electron systems at finite temperature, exploring how conductance depends on voltage and temperature to measure electron-electron scattering rates, with results matching experiments.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical framework for understanding tunneling conductance in interacting 2D systems and links conductance behavior to electron-electron scattering rates.

Findings

Calculated electron lifetime as a function of temperature.

Vertex corrections significantly increase scattering rate.

Results agree quantitatively with experimental data.

Abstract

We derive and evaluate expressions for the dc tunneling conductance between interacting two-dimensional electron systems at non-zero temperature. The possibility of using the dependence of the tunneling conductance on voltage and temperature to determine the temperature-dependent electron-electron scattering rate at the Fermi energy is discussed. The finite electronic lifetime produced by electron-electron interactions is calculated as a function of temperature for quasiparticles near the Fermi circle. Vertex corrections to the random phase approximation substantially increase the electronic scattering rate. Our results are in an excellent quantitative agreement with experiment.