Giant acoustoelectric effect in GaAs/LiNbO3 hybrids

Abstract

The acoustoelectric effect in a hybrid of a strong piezoelectric material and a semiconductor layer containing a two-dimensional electron system is investigated. Caused by the very strong interaction between a surface acoustic wave and the mobile carriers in the semiconductor, the acoustoelectric effect is very large as compared to other materials, which might be interesting for device applications. Moreover, the tunability of the sheet conductivity of the electron system enables us to tune the magnitude of the acoustoelectric effect over a wide range. We present experimental results for a GaAs/LiNbO3 layered hybrid system at room temperature and describe our experimental findings quantitatively using a recently developed model calculation.