Coulomb drag

Coulomb drag is a transport phenomenon whereby long-range Coulomb interaction between charge carriers in two closely spaced but electrically isolated conductors induces a voltage (or, in a closed circuit, a current) in one of the conductors when an electrical current is passed through the other. The magnitude of the effect depends on the exact nature of the charge carriers and microscopic, many-body structure of the electronic systems in the two conductors. Drag measurements have become part of the standard toolbox in condensed matter physics that can be used to study fundamental properties of diverse physical systems including semiconductor heterostructures, graphene, quantum wires, quantum dots, and optical cavities.