0000000000433384
AUTHOR
K. Maschke
Coherent and incoherent electron transport along a disordered chain
Abstract The Landauer-Buttiker approach is used to describe electron transport along a chain of scatterers which allow elastic as well as inelastic processes. The inelastic scattering takes place via side branches, coupling the chain to electron reservoirs which serve as a heat bath. In this approach, coherent and dissipative transport can be treated in a unified manner, and the suppression of quantum coherence effects for increasing coupling to the heat bath can be described. The influence of disorder on the transmission properties can be characterized by an appropriate coherence length in addition to the decay of the coherence due to dissipation.
Parametrization of scatterers in the Landauer-Büttiker transport theory.
Electronic dc transport along a finite chain of scatterers that allow for elastic as well as inelastic processes is described within the Landauer-Buttiker approach. The transport channels in the chain are locally coupled via (current-conserving) side channels to electron reservoirs or heat baths that provide the phase randomization. Different choices for the parameters describing the inelastic coupling as well as the elastic (transmission and reflection) coefficients are compared. The scattering matrix of the chain is calculated with a recursive method. We show that the most general individual scatterer can be characterized by five parameters only, and that it can be represented by a subset…
Scattering and Localization of Classical Waves Along a Wave Guide with Disorder and Dissipation
The problem of localization of classical waves has recently attracted consider-able attention.1,2 Classical waves have, of course, been the subject of extensive research already in the last century, as emphasized by Landauer in his historical sketch.3 A variety of interesting phenomena is associated with classical waves like seismic waves, tidal waves, acoustic as well as optical waves. A major topic is the transport of energy or information by these waves. The current interest in classical waves is stimulated by the development of microelectronics with its very small structures, in particular very thin wires (as connections between the components of integrated circuits) which may (or may n…
Quantum Coherence Effects in One-Dimensional Chains with Inelastic Scattering
To describe the ballistic transport in a 1 D chain Landauer [1] has calculated the resistance R of a series of elastic scatterers from their transmission coefficient T $$R = \frac{h}{{{e^2}}}\frac{{1 - T}}{T}$$ (1) This relation implies complete quantum coherence between incident and all backscattered waves. Dephasing due to irreversible processes has been introduced into this model by Buttiker [2] who added inelastic scatterers coupled to an external heat bath to the chain. In this way it is possible to describe also certain dissipative aspects of electron transport. However, his approach does not allow to study the gradual transition from coherent to incoherent transport with increasing s…
Spatial fluctuations of the chemical potential in case of nearly coherent transport along an ordered chain
The Landauer-Buttiker approach is used to describe electron transport along a chain of scatterers which allow elastic as well as inelastic processes. The inelastic scattering takes place via side branches coupling the chain to electron reservoirs which serve as a heat bath. For small inelastic coupling of the scatterers to the heat bath strong interference effects lead to spatial fluctuations of the charge density. The corresponding oscillations of the chemical potential are discussed in view of phase-sensitive experiments measuring the four-probe resistance.
dc transport in dissipative disordered one-dimensional systems
We present a numerical study of the dc transport properties of dissipative disordered chains which are described by linear ensembles of interconnected scatterers. The elastic-scattering amplitudes are derived from an Anderson Hamiltonian with diagonal (site) disorder. Inelastic scattering is accounted for by connecting the sites of the Anderson chain to separate external electron reservoirs. The calculated wave-vector-dependent transmission probabilities are discussed for chains with different lengths and for different degrees of dissipation. Using the Landauer-B\"uttiker approach we obtain the dc resistance of the considered samples. Our results demonstrate the rather intricate competition…