CAOL*2019, September 6-8 — SOZOPOL, BULGARIA
Full-mode analysis of the plasmon oscillations of
2D electron gas subjected to electric field
V.V. Korotyeyev, V.A Kochelap
Department of Theoretical Physics
Institute of Semiconductor Physics of NASU
03028 Kyiv, Ukraine
koroteev@ukr.net, kochelap@ukr.net
Abstract—Plasmon dispersion law including wavevectror de-
pendencies of the oscillation frequency, ω ′ (q), and the damping
ω ′′ (q) of 2D electron gas subjected to the steady-state electric
field were analyzed in the frameworks of general kinetic theory
of collisionless plasma. Two particular cases of ungated and gated
2D electron gas were considered. We found that the spectra of
2D plasmons have the following peculiarities: multi-branched
character, strong dependence of Landau damping vs dielectric
surrounding of 2D gas, the strong non-reciprocal dispersion with
respect to the direction of electron drift, existence of an extended
instability range of wavevectors where plasmons propagating
along the electron drift have essential increment of oscillations,
ω ′′ > 0. Also, the effect of the mode interaction under applied
field was identified.
Index Terms—Landau damping, plasmon instability, non-
reciprocity, THz plasmonics
I. I NTRODUCTION
In the past decade the great success in the terahertz (THz)
technologies is in part associated with the rapid develop-
ment of a special field of research often mentioned as THz
plasmonics [1]. THz plasmonics uses the effects of strong
coupling of electromagnetic waves with plasmon oscillations
of electron gas in the presence of artificially structured surfaces
(plasmonic metamaterials).
An important development of THz plasmonics deals with
grating-based plasmonic structures coupled with a two-
dimensional electron gas (2DEG) [2]. The working principles
of such hybrid plasmonic structures are based on the excitation
of plasmon oscillations in the conductive channel of a quantum
heterostructure or in a doped sheet of graphene in the presence
of subwavelength metallic grating. The broad functional abili-
ties of these structures are due to the essential wavevectror
dispersion of 2DEG plasmon oscillations [3], their strong
dependence on the dielectric surrounding of the 2DEG [4]
and small damping of the plasmons at high mobilities of the
2DEG.
Moreover, these structures open the possibility to use them
as sources of THz radiation. The sufficiently strong applied
electric field can trigger the effect of the plasmon instability.
In modern literature different kind of possible mechanisms
are discussed. Among them it should be noted the effect of
the Cherenkov-like plasmon instability [5], [6], effect of the
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978-1-7281-1814-7/19/31.00 c 2019 IEEE
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244
L. Varani
Institute of Electronics and Systems
UMR CNRS 5214, University of Montpellier
Montpellier, France
luca.varani@umontpellier.fr
mode interaction [7], that can occur in the drifting 2D electron
gas (2DEG) under the grating. Also, different kind of plasmon
instabilities are discussed for structures with configuration of
the diode or field-effect transistor [8]–[10].
The many theories describing the plasmon properties of
2DEG are based on hydrodynamic treatment of the electron
transport. This approach implies high electron concentrations,
when strong electron-electron scattering totally controls both
steady-state and high-frequency electron kinetics. In the oppo-
site case of the low electron concentrations, the description of
plasmon excitations should be based on the general kinetic
approaches that was for the first time developed by L.D.
Landau for 3D collisionless electron plasma [11], [12] and
later by H.Totsuji for 2D electron plasma [13].
The consideration of the electric field effect on the plasma
properties was done by A. I. Akhiezer and A. G. Sitenko
in pioneer paper [14]. Authors showed that plasmon mode
propagating along electron drift can be unstable. Later, J.
Wilkins and co-workers discussed in the frames of the same
transport model the hot-electron screening effect [15] and the
effect of the two-stream instability [16]. However, at that
time, this theoretical activity did not obtain a proper interest
due to the lack of high-quality samples for experimental
verifications. The advances in the modern growth technology
of the high-mobility quantum-well heterostructure together
with an emergence of new high-mobility material such as a
graphene stimulate the detail investigations of the plasmonic
properties of the highly non-equilibrium 2DEG.
Recently, in the frameworks of the kinetic approach the
effect of the field-induced negative absorptivity and triggering
of the plasmon instability was predicted for AlGaAs/GaAs
QW [17], narrow graphene strips [18] and low-doped sheet
of graphene [19]. Former two papers were concentrated on
the study of high-frequency conductivity of 2DEG and cal-
culations of the spectral characteristics of the grating-based
plasmonic structures. In latter paper, the evolution of the
plasmon excitation was numerically simulated in time.
The aim of this paper is to present a detailed investigation
of the plasmon spectra of 2DEG with parabolic electron
dispersion law subjected to the electric field.
 CAOL*2019, September 6-8 — SOZOPOL, BULGARIA 245

II. T RANSPORT MODEL AND THEORETICAL APPROACH The Poisson equation (6) is solved with respect to the z−
The investigations of the plasmonic properties of the 2DEG coordinate, assuming the appropriate boundary conditions. As
are based on the Vlasov system of equations which includes a result of solution, the equation (6) can be formulated for the
the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) high-frequency potential, Φ̃q (0, t) , in the plane of 2DEG:
∫ ∞
∂G p ∂G ∂Φ ∂G 2πe
+ ∗ +e ˆ
= I{G}, (1) Φ̃q (0, t) = − g̃q (p, t)dp, (7)
∂t m ∂r ∂r ∂p |q|κ(|q|) −∞
z=0

the Poisson equation where κ(|q|) has a sense of the effective dielectric permittivity.
( ) ( ) The explicit forms of κ(|q|) for two considered cases of gated
∂ ∂Φ ∂ ∂Φ
ϵ(z) + ϵ(z) = 4πe[n(r, t) − n0 ]δ[z], (2) and ungated heterostructures are given below.
∂r ∂r ∂z ∂z
Following the Landau approach [11], we consider the initial
and relationship between electron concentration, n(r, t), and value problem by using the Laplace transform. Eqs.(5) and (7)
total electron distribution function, G(p, r, t): formulated for Laplace-components take the form:
∫ ∞ ( qpx) ∂g̃ω,q ∂g0
n(r, t) = G(p, r, t)dp. (3) −g̃i (p)−i ω− ∗ g̃ω,q +eE0 = −ieq Φ̃ω,q (0) (8)
−∞ m ∂px ∂px
∫ ∞
The Boltzmann equation is written for parabolic and isotropic 2πe
Φ̃ω,q (0) = − g̃ω,q (p)dp, (9)
electron dispersion law with scalar effective mass, m∗ . In the |q|κ(|q|) −∞
most general case distribution function G are the function of
ˆ with g̃i (p) being an initial perturbation of the electron distri-
the electron momentum p, coordinates, r, and time, t. I{G}
bution function in the moment of time, t = 0. The given form
is collision integral. The electron coordinate, r = {x, y}, and
of this function explicitly determines ∫ the initial perturbation
momentum, p = {px , py }, are the two-dimensional vectors.
of electron concentration, ñi (0) = g̃i (p)dp as well an elec-
In the Poisson equation, Φ(r, z, t) is the self-consistent elec-
trostatic potential, Φ̃q (0, 0) ≡ Φ̃i (0) = −2πeñi (0)/|q|κ(|q|).
trostatic potential and function ϵ(z) describes the dielectric
The main requirement to the form of g̃i (p) is the integrability
surrounding of 2DEG. Dirac delta-function δ[z] corresponds
over whole momentum space. The solution of Eq.(9) gives
to the infinitely-thin treatment of the 2DEG. The n0 is the
the Laplace components of the high-frequency distribution
steady-state 2D electron concentration
function:
Let’s the steady-state and uniform electric field, E0 , is ∫
applied to the plane of 2DEG. This field induces an steady- iq Φ̃ω,q (0) px ′ ∂g0 (p′x ,py )
g̃ω,q (p) = − dpx Kω,q (px ,p′x )
state electron drift. The plasmon oscillations of drifting 2DEG ∫ px E0 −∞ ∂p′x
are treated as an small-signal perturbations which have the 1
+ dp′ g̃i (p′x , py )Kω,q (px ,p′x ),
wave-like form. Under this assumption, the system of Eqs. eE0 −∞ x
(1)-(3) have to be linearized. For this, we present the G (10)
and Φ as a sum of steady-state and high-frequency parts: where core
G(p, r, t) = g0 (p) + g̃q (p, t) exp(iqr) and Φ(r, z, t) = [ ]
′ i{ω(px − p′x ) − q(p2x − p′2
x )/2m }
∗
Φ0 (r) |z=0 +Φ̃q (z, t) exp(iqr), where q is the wavevector Kω,q (px ,px ) = exp
eE0
of plasmon wave. Now Eqs. (1)-(3) can be written as follows:
∂g0 Substituting Eq. (10) into Eq.(9) and using inverse Laplace
−eE0 ˆ 0}
= I{g (4) transform, we can determine an evolution in time of electric
∂p
characteristics of 2DEG, particularly self-consistent potential.
where E0 = − ∂Φ0 (r)/∂r|z=0 = const and ∫ ∞+ir
1 N (ω, q)
∂g̃q iqp ∂g̃q ∂g0 Φ̃q (0, t) = dω exp(−iωt), (11)
+ ∗ g̃q − eE0 = −ieq Φ̃q (0, t), (5) 2π −∞+ir ∆(ω, q)
∂t m ∂p ∂p
( ) ∫ ∞
∂ ∂ Φ̃q where r should be chosen in such way that line of integration
ϵ(z) −ϵ(z)q 2 Φ̃q = 4πeδ[z] g̃q (p, t)dp. (6) lies above of all poles of ∆(ω, q). Function N (ω, q) and
∂z ∂z −∞
∆(ω, q) can be written as follows:
It is noteworthy that the function g0 is a solution of Eq. (4), ∫ ∞ ∫ px
Φ̃i (0)
in which all actual collision processes should be taken into N (ω, q) = ∫ ∞ dp dp′x g̃i (p′x , py )Kω,q
account. Examples of such functions can be found elsewhere. −∞ −∞
eE0 g̃i (p)dp
The high-frequency part of the BTE (5) is written in collision- −∞
less limit. The estimations of this limit will be done below (12)
for particular heterostructure. In what follows, we assume that and
∫ ∞ ∫
E0 = {−E0 , 0} and q = {q, 0}. Positive/negative values of q 2πiqe px
∂g0 (p′x ,py )
∆(ω, q) = 1 − dp dp′x Kω,q .
correspond to the plasmons propagating along/oposite electron E0 |q|κ(|q|) −∞ −∞ ∂p′x
drift. (13)

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 CAOL*2019, September 6-8 — SOZOPOL, BULGARIA 246

The asymptotes of the integral in Eq.(11) at large t will be
determined by zeros of function ∆, i.e, Φq (0, t) ∼ exp(−iωk t)
where ωk is the solution of characteristic equation,
∆(ωk , q) = 0
The temporal evolution of the high-frequency potential will be
an superposition of the different plasmon modes oscillating
with frequency ωk′ which amplitudes increases/decreases in
time depending on a sign of ωk′′ .
III. C HARACTERISTIC EQUATION
The analysis of the plasmon spectra, ωk (q), will be done
for steady-state distribution, g0 , having the form of so-called
shifted Maxwellian function.
[ ]
n0 (px − m∗ Vd )2 + p2y
g0 = exp − , (15)
2πm∗ kB Te 2m∗ kB Te
where kB is the Boltzmann constant, Vd and Te are the drift
velocity, and electron temperature, respectively. Performing
integration in Eq.(13) with function (15), the characteristic
equation (14) takes the form:
qD 1 √
1+ [1 + i πξWF [ξ]] = 0, (16)
|q|κ(|q|) 1 + iγq
where WF [ξ] is so called complex scaled complemented
error√ function or Faddeeva function [20], ξ = sgn[q](Ωq −
Vd )/ 1 + iγq , qD = 2πe2 n0 /kB Te is the Debye wave
number of 2D plasma, γq = eE0 /qkB Te has a meaning of the
relative gain of electron energy from the field E0 for a spatial
period of the plasmon excitation, Ωq = ω/VT q and Vd =
Vd /VT are the dimensionless frequency and√ drift velocity with
respect to the thermal velocity, VT = 2kB Te /m∗ . Thus,
the account of field term in BTE, written for perturbations,
slightly modifies the standard characteristic equation of 2D
by the Doppler factor, Vd q. (II)- damping of these modes is
the independent on Vd , and one is determined by the relative
gain, γq . (III)- account of the field term in BTE can lead to the
possibility of the emergence of the unstable plasmon branches,
(14)
with ωk′′ (q) > 0. Indeed, from the second equation of (18), we
see that in the {ξ ′ , ξ ′′ }-plane there is a critical line defined as:
(√ ) 12
1+γq2 −1
ξ ′′ = − (√ ′
) 12 ξ . (19)
1+γq2 + 1
The possible solutions of the system (17) lying above the
critical line will correspond to the unstable modes (ω ′′ > 0).
Otherwise, the plasmon modes will be damped (ω ′′ < 0).
IV. M AIN RESULTS
In our analysis we will consider two cases of ungated and
gated 2DEG. For the both cases, we assume very thin barrier
layer of QW heterostructure with thickness, d, so that |q|d <<
1. At this, the effective dielectric permittivity takes the form
[4]: κ(|q|) = (ϵ0 + ϵ2 )/2 ≡ κ = const for ungated 2DEG and
κ(|q|) = ϵ1 /2|q|d for gated 2DEG, where ϵ0 , ϵ1 and ϵ2 are
the dielectric permittivities of the vacuum, barrier and buffer
layers, respectively.
A. equilibrium case, E0 = 0
At E = 0 the solutions of the characteristic equation (17)
depend on the single dimensionless parameter Q. The Fig.1
provides the graphical analysis of the possible solutions of the
characteristic equation and their location in the {ξ ′ , ξ ′′ }-plane.
1

plasmons [13] and leads to the emergence of the additional 0

k=0

factor, γq .
Further, the characteristic Eq.16 can be rewritten in the 2
k=1

compact form: 2
''

Z(ξ) + Q + iE = 0, (17) -2 k=2

which
√ contains complex-valued Z−function, Z(ξ) = 1 + k=3

i πξWF (ξ), and two dimensionless parameters Q =

κ(|q|)q/qD and E = γq Q.
-4
The numerical solution of Eq.(17) allows us to find all -4 -2 0 2 4
possible roots ξk′ (q) and ξk′′ (q), where k numerates the cor- '
responding branches of plasmon spectrum. Having these roots
we can restore plasmon spectrum by means the following Fig. 1. Zero-level isolines of the function Z ′ (ξ ′ , ξ ′′ ) + Q calculated at Q =
transformations: 0.05 (thick black lines) and Q = 0.5 (black thin lines), and zero-level isolines
[ of the function Z ′′ (ξ ′ , ξ ′′ ) + E at E = 0 (red lines). Colored curves with
VT |q| (√ ) 12 (√ ) 12 ] origins (marked by circles) and termini (marked by triangles) represent for
ωk′ = Vd q + √ 1+γq2 +1 ξk′ − 1+γq2 −1 ξk′′ the first four modes the loci of solutions of Eq (17) obtained at a variation
[ 2 ) 12 ] of Q from 0.05 to 0.5. Grey lines are given by function |ξ ′′ | = 1/|ξ ′ |
′′ VT |q| (√ ) 12 (√
which demarcate the regions in the {ξ ′ , ξ ′′ }-plane where parameter σ in the
ωk = √ 1+γq2 + 1 ξk′′ + 1+γq2 −1 ξk′ , asymptotic expansion of Z−function (Eq.(20)) takes the values 0, 1 and 2.
2
(18)
The form of the relationships (18) allows us to make At given Q the desirable solutions are given by the intersec-
the several important conclusions. (I) - drift velocity, Vd , tion points of the black and red lines which represent the zero-
renormalizes the oscillation frequency of the plasmons modes level isolines of the functions Z ′ (ξ ′ , ξ ′′ ) + Q and Z ′′ (ξ ′ , ξ ′′ ),

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 CAOL*2019, September 6-8 — SOZOPOL, BULGARIA 247

respectively. These points are marked by circles for small of the thermal as well and plasmonic mode at large Q (Q >>
Q = 0.05 and by triangles for relatively large Q = 0.5. As 1/4π) can be approximated by following expression:
seen, the Eq. (17) allows multiple solutions. Varying Q, these [ [ ] ( )]
′ (0) 1 Q 1
solutions follow in the lower half-plane the spacial trajectories ωk≈ Vd q+VT |q|xk 1− (0)2 ln √ (0)
+O (0)4 ,
(loci of solutions) which symmetrically located in the III and [ 4xk [ 2π2x ] k ( xk)]
IV quadrants. These trajectories coincide with the parts of the 1 Q 1
ωk′′≈ −VT |q|xk 1+ (0)2 ln √
(0)
zero-level isolines of the function Z ′′ (ξ ′ , ξ ′′ ). The symmetrical (0)
+O (0)4 ,
4xk 2π2xk xk
pair of the trajectories correspond to two modes which have (22)
the same oscillation frequency and damping but they propagate (0) √
where xk = π(k + 3/8) and k = 0, 1, 2, 3.... This mode
in the opposite directions. have almost linear dispersion. In the absence of the electron
The two longest loci of solutions (green lines) which asymp- drift their phase velocity is determined by thermal velocity, VT .
totically tend to the axis ξ ′′ = 0 at the small Q correspond For this reason, these modes will be called as thermal ones.
to the plasmonic modes. These modes have highest quality Also, they have a weak (logarithmic) dependence on dielectric
factors. Other modes which are described by much shorter surrounding which are included in dimensionless parameter Q.
trajectories represent the overdamped oscillations. For them As seen from Fig.2 the obtained asymptotic expressions are
|ξ ′′ | ∼ |ξ ′ | and subsequently |ω ′ | ∼ |ω ′′ |. These modes we
will call as thermal ones. 0.2
(a) k=0

The asymptotic expansion of the function WF (ξ) [22] gives

k=1

k=2

D
k=3
that:

'/V q
0.1

T
k
√
Z(ξ) ≈ −1/2ξ 2 −3/4ξ 4 −15/8ξ 6 ...+ iσ πξ exp(−ξ 2 ). (20) 0.0

0.0

D
This form allows us to solve Eq. (17) at Q << 1 by successive
''/V q
T

-0.1
approximations. Using relationship (18), we found asymptotes
k

of plasmonic modes: (b)

-0.2
0.00 0.25 0.50
[ ]
VT |q| 3Q kq/q
D

ω0′ ≈ Vd q+ √ 1+ ,
2Q 2
( )3/2 ( ) Fig. 2. Dependencies of ωk′ (q) (a) and ωk′′ (q) (b) of ungated 2DEG including
′′
√ VT |q| 1 1 first four branches k = 0, 1, 2, 3. Thin solid curves represent the result
ω0 ≈ − π √ exp − (21) of numerical calculations. Other curves are the results of the asymptotic
2Q 2Q 2Q expressions (21) (dashed lines) and (22) (dash-dotted lines).

For the ungated 2DEG, dimensional √ parameter Q ≡
Q
√ D = κ|q|/q D , then prefactor VT |q|/ 2Q ≡ ωp =
2πe2 n0 |q|/κm∗ is the standard frequency of the ungated
2D plasmons obtained in hydrodynamic model of 2DEG [3].
The damping of the plasmon mode is the exponentially small
at q << qD .
For the gated 2DEG, (when |q|d << 1) parameter Q =
ϵ1 /2qD d and one can be expressed in terms of a ratio of
squires of the thermal velocity, VT and√the characteristic phase
velocity of gated plasmons, Vp = 4πe2 n0 d/ϵ1 m∗ , i.e,
Q ≡ Vp = VT /2Vp . Velocity Vp is the phase velocity of
2 2
gated plasmons obtained in the hydrodynamic model under
equilibrium [3], [21]. From this it follows that dispersion of
the gated plasmonic mode, ω ′ (q) and ω ′′ (q) remains the linear
in the wide range of the wavevector. The mechanism of the
Landau damping of plasmon oscillations can be much more
important in the case of the gated 2DEG than for ungated one.
The counter plot in Fig. 1 shows us that together with high-
quality plasmonic modes there is another family of solutions
(marked by k = 1, 2, ...). These solutions are realized at ξ ′′ <
−|ξ ′ |−1 (σ = 2) and they describe overdamped modes. We
found (details will be published elsewhere) that the dispersion
well agreed with the results of numerical calculations.
B. non-equilibrium case, E0 ̸= 0
The electric field applied to the 2DEG can essentially
modify the plasmon spectra due to the several factors. One of
them is the electron drift that leads to the non-zero contribution
of the Doppler shift term, Vd q and non-reciprocal behavior
of the oscillation frequency, ω ′ (q) with respect to sign of
the q. Second one is the non-zero contribution of the gain
γq = eE0 /kB Te q as well as dimensionless parameter E. As
follows from Eqs. (18) these parameters can have a impact on
both ω ′ (q) and ω ′′ (q)
The contour plot in Fig.3 illustrates the graphical solution
of Eq. (17) at E ̸= 0. Even at small E = 0.015 the form
of the zero-level isolines of function Z ′′ (ξ ′ , ξ ′′ ) + E essen-
tially modifies in comparison with equilibrium case (Fig.2).
Particularly, it is strongly deformed the plasmonic locus of
solutions. We see that a part of plasmonic locus of solution
which belongs to the IV quadrant can pass in the vicinity of
the one of the thermal locus of solution. At this, it is expected
the emergence of the mode interaction effect. Moreover, at
small Q = 0.005 (corresponding value of γq = 3), at least,
the first four roots in IV quadrant (marked by colored circles)

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 CAOL*2019, September 6-8 — SOZOPOL, BULGARIA 248

described by the expressions (24):

√ [ (1)
]
eE |q| x
ωk′ |q>0 ≈ Vd q+2
0 (0)
4 x 1+ k (0) ,
m∗ k 2γq xk
k=0
√ [ (0)
]
2 k=1
eE |q| x
ωk′ |q<0 ≈ Vd q+2
0 (1)
k=2
xk + k ,
k=3 m∗ 2γq
0 √ [ (0)
]
eE0 |q| (1) xk
''

′′
Line2

ωk |q>0 ≈ 2 xk − ,
-2 m∗ 2γq
Line1 √
′′ eE0 |q| (0)
-4
ωk |q<0 ≈ −2 x , (24)
m∗ k
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 (0) √ (0) √
with xk = π(k + 5/8) (for q > 0), xk = π(k + 1/8)
(1) (0) √ (0)
'
(for q < 0) and xk = −1/4xk × ln[E/ 2π2xk ] (for both
sign of q). As seen, in the contrast of the plasmonic mode
Fig. 3. The same as in Fig.1 calculated at Q = 0.005 (thick black lines),
Q = 0.5 (thin black lines), and E = 0.015 (red lines). Dash-dotted Lines the oscillation frequency of the thermal modes in this limit is
1 and 2 are the critical lines given by Eq. (19) and correspond to the γq ≡ strongly renormalized by the electric field. They acquire the
E/Q = 3, 0.03, respectively. squire root wavevector dispersion of the ω ′ . The increasing of
the electric field, E0 , √
leads to the increasing of the frequency
proportionally to the E0 .
The comparison of spectral characteristics ω0′ (q) and ω0′′ (q),
lie above the critical line (Line 1) defined by Eq. (19). It means obtained as the result of the numerical calculations, for ungated
that these modes have positive values of ω ′′ - increment. The and gated 2DEG (see Fig.4) is performed for modeling param-
other roots that belong to the II, III are located below critical eters of GaAs QW with two values of electron concentration
lines and they correspond to the damped modes. At relatively n0 = 1011 and 3 × 1011 cm−2 at applied electric field E0 = 2
large, Q = 0.5 (corresponding value of γq = 0.03), all roots kV/cm. For such parameters, characteristic dimensionless field
(marked by triangles), including the IV quadrant, lie below
critical line (Line 2) . They correspond to the damped modes. (a) ungated 10
11
cm
-2

6 11 -2
ungated 3x10 cm
We found that plasmonic mode, in the range of dimen- gated 10
11
cm
-2
'/2 , THz

sionless parameters when 1/2 × Q/(Q2 + E 2 ) >> 1, can 4 gated 3x10

11
cm
-2

be approximated as follows:
2

0
[ ] 0.5 (b)

′ VT |q| 3Q 15(Q2 − E 2 )
ω0 ≈ Vd q + √ 1+ +
''/2 , THz

2Q 2 8
[ ]
′′ 3 V T |q| 5Q
ω0 ≈ ± √ E 1+ , (23)
2 2Q 2
where upper/lower signs corresponds to the mode propagating
along (q > 0) /opposite(q < 0) the electron drift. For the
ungated 2DEG, parameter E ≡ ED = κeE0 /kB Te qD does not
depend on q. The obtained asymptotes indicates that plasmonic
mode has squire-root wavevector dependence of ω ′′ (q) > 0 (at
q > 0) which linear proportional to E0 . At q < 0, ω ′′ (q) < 0
and the damping of the mode is increased with an increasing
of E0 . However, the oscillation frequency (except of Doppler
term), is weakly renormalized by the electric field. For gated
2DEG, parameters Q = Vp = const and E ≡ EQ = Vp γq ∼
1/q. Then, Eqs.(23) indicates that plasmonic mode with q > 0
is described by the wide instability range where ω ′′ is almost
constant.
In the case, when E >> 1/4π and γq >> 1 the asymptotic
behavior of the plasmonic as well thermal modes can be
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-0.5 0.0 0.5
qd
Fig. 4. Dependencies of ω ′ (q) (a) and ω ′ (q) calculated for the ungated
(black curves) and gated (red curves) plasmonic modes at two electron
concentrations, n0 = 1011 cm−2 (solid curves) and n0 = 3 × 1011 cm−2
(dash-dotted curves). Applied electric field, E0 = 2 kV/cm, and electron
temperature, Te = 100 K. Thickness, d = 10 nm.
arisen for ungated 2DEG ED , takes the values of 0.11 and
0.036 for lower and higher concentrations, respectively. The
characteristic parameter Vp determined quality factor of the
gated mode is equal to 0.43 (for the concentration, n0 =
1×1011 cm−2 ) and 0.14 (for the concentration, n0 = 3×1011
cm−2 ).
As seen from Fig.4, the both ungated (pair of the black
curves) and gated (pair of the red curves) plasmonic modes
exhibit for positive q instability range of wavevectors. How-
ever, the size of this range and amplitude of the increment

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 CAOL*2019, September 6-8 — SOZOPOL, BULGARIA
strongly depend on values of electron concentrations. The
instability range of the ungated plasmonic mode calculated at
lower electron concentrations (black solid curve) is restricted
by the wavevectors of qd ∼ 0.5 (d = 10 nm). The amplitude
of increment ω ′′ can reach essential values of 2.5 THz. At the
same concentration, gated plasmonic mode (solid red curve)
demonstrates much narrower instability range qd < 0.2 and
much smaller amplitudes of the increment, ω ′′ ∼ 0.6 THz. It
can be explained by the stronger effect of the Landau damping
for the gated 2DEG (characteristic parameter Vp ∼ 1). At
higher concentrations, the instability range of ungated plas-
monic mode (black dash-dotted curves) becomes a much larger
due to the larger characteristic wavevectors ,q ∼ qD , at which
Landau damping becomes essential. Moreover the increment,
ω ′′ (q) shows well-pronounced non-monotonic behavior which
is the result of the interaction of the plasmonic mode with one
of the thermal modes.
The applicability of the used model of the collisionless high-
frequency electron dynamics requires the
√ fulfilment of the
following inequalities: ωτsc ≫ 1, qlsc = q 2kB Te /m∗ τsc≫1,
where τsc is the hot electron relaxation time. For q = π × 105
cm−1 (plasmon wavelength is 200 nm), we have that ω ′ /2π ≈
3 and ω ′′ /2π ≈ 0.3 THz (see vertical line in Fig.4). For
τsc = 0.5 ps, we obtain following estimations: qlsc ≈ 3.5
ω ′ τsc ≈ 10 and ω ′′ τsc ≈ 1. Latter denotes on possibility of
the development of the field-induced plasmon instability in
the high-quality AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with electron
concentrations of 3 × 1011 cm−2 .
V. SUMMARY
Summarizing this paper, we emphasize the following key
results. We showed that the spectrum of plasmon oscillations
of 2DEG gas has a multi-branched form with plasmonic mode
and set of the thermal modes. Oscillation frequency and
damping of the plasmonic mode is strongly influenced by the
dielectric surroundings of the 2DEG. Effect of the Landau
damping can be much more essential for gated 2DEG than
for ungated one. The thermal modes are the overdamped os-
cillations. They are less sensitive to the dielectric surroundings
and their appearance relates to the statistical treatment of the
2DEG. The spectrum of the plasmonic as well thermal modes
manifest strong non- reciprocal behavior with respect to the
direction of the applied electric fields. The modes propagating
opposite electron drift are always damped oscillations with
ω ′′ < 0. The increasing of the amplitudes of the electric
field increases their damping. The modes propagating along
electron drift have the finite range of q where they are
unstable with ω ′′ > 0. Instability range and amplitudes of
the increment strongly depend on the type of the modes,
dielectric surroundings and amplitude of the electric field.
Under applied electric field, we identified the emergence of
the effect of mode interaction. Latter manifests itself as well-
pronounced modulation of ω ′′ (q) of the plasmonic mode in
the its instability range.
We suggest that discussed phenomena can be used for the
development of THz emitting devices.
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249
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF Project 01DK17028).
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