Effect of electron-electron interaction on hot ballistic electron beams

Abstract

Electron-electron scattering of ballistic electrons in a two-dimensional electron gas was studied as a function of the electron excess energy above the Fermi energy and of temperature. At low temperatures of 1.4 K it is found that for excess energies of approximately 30% of the Fermi energy the electrons in a ballistic electron beam are already scattered significantly due to electron-electron interaction. A very good agreement between our experimental data and theory was found, when the measured data were compared with numerical calculations based on a theory of Giuliani and Quinn [Phys. Rev. B 26, 4421 (1982)], while the agreement was only poor for the analytical approximation of the electron-electron scattering rate.