Over the last decade, much progress has been made towards understanding the physics of two-dimensional (2-D) systems. Their goal is to pursue a new set of interesting phenomena associated with such systems: the escape of electrons out of the 2-D layer. This escape involves tunneling of an electron through a barrier whose parameters are determined by interactions with the environment. It is therefore extremely sensitive to correlations, the presence of an electromagnetic field or interactions with elementary excitations (e.g. ripplons, phonons) in coupled systems. This research will contribute to understanding many other systems where escape in the presence of interactions is encountered, as in atomic physics, electron transport in semiconductors, diffusion in solids, etc.
