Pulse-induced acoustoelectric vibrations in surface-gated GaAs-based quantum devices

We present the results of a numerical investigation which show the excitation of acoustoelectric modes of vibration in GaAs-based heterostructures due to sharp nano-second electric-field pulses applied across surface gates. In particular, we show that the pulses applied in quantum information processing applications are capable of exciting acoustoelectric modes of vibration including surface acoustic modes which propagate for distances greater than conventional device dimensions. We show that the pulse-induced acoustoelectric vibrations are capable of inducing significant undesired perturbations to the evolution of quantum systems.