Acoustic Transport of Electrons in Parallel Quantum Wires

Over the last few years we have developed a new method to control single-electrons by isolating and moving them through a submicron width channel formed in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure using a surface acoustic wave. The acoustic wave acts to push electrons through the depleted submicron channel in packets each containing an integer number of electrons. Our primary motivation for studying this system has been to develop a new standard of dc current for metrological purposes, but our recent focus has widened to investigate the possibility of single-photon emission. Here we show new experimental results which demonstrate acoustoelectric current flow in adjacent 1D wires. These results have relevance both to the use of the system in a single-photon emission scheme, as well as in the creation of a proposed acoustoelectric quantum computer.