Electromechanical noise in a diffusive conductor
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
2007-05-23 v1
Abstract
Electrons moving in a conductor can transfer momentum to the lattice via collisions with impurities and boundaries, giving rise to a fluctuating mechanical stress tensor. The root-mean-squared momentum transfer per scattering event in a disordered metal (of dimension L greater than the mean free path l and screening length xi) is found to be reduced below the Fermi momentum by a factor of order l/L for shear fluctuations and (xi/L)^2 for pressure fluctuations. The excitation of an elastic bending mode by the shear fluctuations is estimated to fall within current experimental sensitivity for a nanomechanical oscillator.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0110593,
title = {Electromechanical noise in a diffusive conductor},
author = {A. V. Shytov and L. S. Levitov and C. W. J. Beenakker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0110593},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages including 1 figure