Single-electron transport driven by surface acoustic waves in quasi-one-dimensional channel

Fourier grid Hamiltonian method is applied to calculate the quantized acoustoelectric current induced by surface acoustic wave (SAW) in a quasi-one-dimensional channel defined in a GaAsAlxGa1−xAs heterostructure by split gate. Using simple models for the electrostatic potential barrier and piezoelectric potential, we obtain the first quantized plateau. Moreover, the role of the parameter β, defined as a ratio of piezoelectric potential amplitude to the effective height of electrostatic potential barrier induced by split gate, is also examined during the calculations of the instantaneous ground state energies and the single-electron tunneling probabilities. The flatness of the plateau is also discussed.