Prospecting for the superfluid transition in electron-hole coupled quantum wells using coulomb drag

Abstract

I investigate the possibility of using Coulomb drag to detect a precursor of the predicted (but as yet not definitively observed) superfluid transition in electron-hole coupled quantum wells. The drag transresistivity rho(21) is shown to be significantly enhanced above the mean-field transition temperature T(c) and to diverge logarithmically as T-->T(+)(c), due to electron-hole pairing fluctuations which are somewhat analogous to the Maki-Thompson contribution to conductivity in metals above the superconducting T(c). The enhancement in rho(21) is estimated to be detectable at temperatures much higher than T(c).