1,720,976 research outputs found
Phase space analysis of quantum transport in electronic nanodevices
No full textAbstract Electronic transport in nanodevices is commonly studied theoretically and numerically within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism: a device is characterized by its scattering properties to and from reservoirs connected by perfect semi-infinite leads, and transport quantities are derived from the scattering matrix. In some respects, however, the device becomes a ‘black box’ as one only analyses what goes in and out. Here we use the Husimi function as a complementary tool for quantitatively understanding transport in graphene nanodevices. It is a phase space representation of the scattering wavefunctions that allows to link the scattering matrix to a more semiclassical and intuitive description and gain additional insight in to the transport process. In this article we use the Husimi function to analyze some of the fascinating electronic transport properties of graphene, Klein tunneling and intervalley scattering, in two exemplary graphene nanodevices. By this we demonstrate the usefulness of the Husimi function in electronic nanodevices and present novel results e.g. on Klein tunneling outside the Dirac regime and intervalley scattering at a pn-junction and a tilted graphene edge
Mesoscopic rectifiers based on ballistic transport
No full textRecent experiments on symmetry-broken mesoscopic semiconductor structures have exhibited an amazing rectifying effect in the transverse current-voltage characteristics with promising prospects for future applications. We present a simple microscopic model, which takes into account the energy dependence of current-carrying modes and explains the rectifying effect by an interplay of fully quantized and quasiclassical transport channels in the system. It also suggests the design of a ballistic rectifier with an optimized rectifying signal and predicts voltage oscillations which may provide an experimental test for the mechanism considered here
Statistics of extreme waves in random media
No full textWaves traveling through random media exhibit random focusing that leads to extremely high wave intensities even in the absence of nonlinearities. Although such extreme events are present in a wide variety of physical systems and the statistics of the highest waves is important for their analysis and forecast, it remains poorly understood, in particular, in the regime where the waves are highest. We suggest a new approach that greatly simplifies the mathematical analysis and calculate the scaling and the distribution of the highest waves valid for a wide range of parameters
Intensity fluctuations of waves in random media: What is the semiclassical limit?
No full textWaves traveling through weakly random media are known to be strongly affected by their corresponding ray dynamics, in particular in forming linear freak waves. The ray intensity distribution, which, e.g., quantifies the probability of freak waves is unknown, however, and a theory of how it is approached in an appropriate semiclassical limit of wave mechanics is lacking. We show that this limit is not the usual limit of small wavelengths, but that of decoherence. Our theory, which can describe the intensity distribution for an arbitrary degree of coherence is relevant to a wide range of physical systems, as decoherence is omnipresent in real systems
Fractal conductance fluctuations of classical origin
No full textIn mesoscopic systems, conductance fluctuations are a sensitive probe of electron dynamics and chaotic phenomena. We show that the conductance of a purely classical chaotic system, with either fully chaotic or mixed phase space, generically exhibits fractal conductance fluctuations unrelated to quantum interference. This might explain the unexpected dependence of the fractal dimension of the conductance curves on the (quantum) phase breaking length observed in experiments on semiconductor quantum dots
Estimating Lyapunov exponents in billiards
Full text linkDynamical billiards are paradigmatic examples of chaotic Hamiltonian dynamical systems with widespread applications in physics. We study how well their Lyapunov exponent, characterizing the chaotic dynamics, and its dependence on external parameters can be estimated from phase space volume arguments, with emphasis on billiards with mixed regular and chaotic phase spaces. We show that in the very diverse billiards considered here, the leading contribution to the Lyapunov exponent is inversely proportional to the chaotic phase space volume and subsequently discuss the generality of this relationship. We also extend the well established formalism by Dellago, Posch, and Hoover to calculate the Lyapunov exponents of billiards to include external magnetic fields and provide a software on its implementation
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