Microscopic Theory of Transconductivity

Measurements of momentum transfer between two closely spaced mesoscopic electronic systems, which couple via Coulomb interaction but where tunneling is inhibited, have proven to be a fruitful method of extracting information about interactions in mesoscopic systems. We report a fully microscopic theory for transconductivity σ12, or, equivalently, momentum transfer rate between the system constituents. Our main formal result expresses the transconductivity in terms of two fluctuation diagrams, which are topologically related, but not equivalent to, the Azlamazov-Larkin and Maki-Thompson diagrams known for superconductivity. In the present paper the magnetic field dependence of σ12 is discussed, and we find that σ12(B) is strongly enhanced over its zero field value, and it displays strong features, which can be understood in terms of a competition between density-of-states and screening effects