2,561 research outputs found
Extended states and dynamical localization in semiconductor superlattices
We study the quantum dynamics of electronic wave packets in quantum-well based semiconductor
superlattices subject to an applied electric field. Using a high-accuracy numerical method, we
analyze the dynamical behavior of electronic wave packets in periodic, random and random dimer
superlattices. The spatial extent of electronic states is characterized by means of the time-dependent
inverse participation ratio. We show that the delocalized states recently found in random dimer
superlattices become spatially localized under the action of the applied field ~dynamical
localization! but wavepackets are much less localized than in purely random superlattices at
moderate field. We conclude that the resonant tunneling effects causing delocalization in dimer
superlattices play an important role even in the presence of moderate electric field.This work has been supported by CICYT (Spain) under project MAT95-0325.Publicad
Electron dynamics in intentionally disordered semiconductor superlattices
We study the dynamical behavior of disordered quantum-well-based
semiconductor superlattices where the disorder is intentional and short-range
correlated. We show that, whereas the transmission time of a particle grows
exponentially with the number of wells in an usual disordered superlattice for
any value of the incident particle energy, for specific values of the incident
energy this time increases linearly when correlated disorder is included. As
expected, those values of the energy coincide with a narrow subband of extended
states predicted by the static calculations of Dom\'{\i}nguez-Adame {\em et
al.} [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 51}, 14 ,359 (1994)]; such states are seen in our
dynamical results to exhibit a ballistic regime, very close to the WKB
approximation of a perfect superlattice. Fourier transform of the output signal
for an incident Gaussian wave packet reveals a dramatic filtering of the
original signal, which makes us confident that devices based on this property
may be designed and used for nanotechnological applications. This is more so in
view of the possibility of controllingthe outp ut band using a dc electric
field, which we also discuss. In the conclusion we summarize our results and
present an outlook for future developments arising from this work.Comment: 10 pagex, RevTex, 13 Postscript figures. Physical Review B (in press
Combining data from primary and ancillary surveys to assess the association between neighborhood-level characteristics and health outcomes: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Artherosclerosis
There is increasing interest in understanding the role of neighborhood-level factors on the health of individuals. Many large-scale epidemiological studies that accurately measure health status of individuals and individual risk factors exist. Sometimes these studies are linked to area-level databases (e.g. census) to assess the association between crude area-level characteristics and health. However, information from such databases may not measure the neighborhood-level constructs of interest. More recently, large-scale epidemiological studies have begun collecting data to measure specific features of neighborhoods using ancillary surveys. The ancillary surveys are composed of a separate, typically larger, set of individuals. The challenge is then to combine information from these two surveys to assess the role of neighborhood-level factors. We propose a method for combining information from the two data sources using a likelihood-based framework. We compare it with currently used ad hoc approaches via a simulation study. The simulation study shows that the proposed approach yields estimates with better sampling properties (less bias and better coverage probabilities) compared with the other approaches. However, there are cases where some ad hoc approaches may provide adequate estimates. We also compare the methods by applying them to the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and its Neighborhood Ancillary Survey. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61232/1/3384_ftp.pd
Three-dimensional effects on extended states in disordered models of polymers
We study electronic transport properties of disordered polymers in the
presence of both uncorrelated and short-range correlated impurities. In our
procedure, the actual physical potential acting upon the electrons is replaced
by a set of nonlocal separable potentials, leading to a Schr\"odinger equation
that is exactly solvable in the momentum representation. We then show that the
reflection coefficient of a pair of impurities placed at neighboring sites
(dimer defect) vanishes for a particular resonant energy. When there is a
finite number of such defects randomly distributed over the whole lattice, we
find that the transmission coefficient is almost unity for states close to the
resonant energy, and that those states present a very large localization
length. Multifractal analysis techniques applied to very long systems
demonstrate that these states are truly extended in the thermodynamic limit.
These results reinforce the possibility to verify experimentally theoretical
predictions about absence of localization in quasi-one-dimensional disordered
systems.Comment: 16 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 5 figures on request from FDA
([email protected]). Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. MA/UC3M/09/9
Frenkel Excitons in Random Systems With Correlated Gaussian Disorder
Optical absorption spectra of Frenkel excitons in random one-dimensional
systems are presented. Two models of inhomogeneous broadening, arising from a
Gaussian distribution of on-site energies, are considered. In one case the
on-site energies are uncorrelated variables whereas in the second model the
on-site energies are pairwise correlated (dimers). We observe a red shift and a
broadening of the absorption line on increasing the width of the Gaussian
distribution. In the two cases we find that the shift is the same, within our
numerical accuracy, whereas the broadening is larger when dimers are
introduced. The increase of the width of the Gaussian distribution leads to
larger differences between uncorrelated and correlated disordered models. We
suggest that this higher broadening is due to stronger scattering effects from
dimers.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 3 ps figures. To appear in Physical Review
Dynamical phenomena in Fibonacci Semiconductor Superlattices
We present a detailed study of the dynamics of electronic wavepackets in
Fibonacci semiconductor superlattices, both in flat band conditions and subject
to homogeneous electric fields perpendicular to the layers. Coherent
propagation of electrons is described by means of a scalar Hamiltonian using
the effective-mass approximation. We have found that an initial Gaussian
wavepacket is filtered selectively when passing through the superlattice. This
means that only those components of the wavepacket whose wavenumber belong to
allowed subminibands of the fractal-like energy spectrum can propagate over the
entire superlattice. The Fourier pattern of the transmitted part of the
wavepacket presents clear evidences of fractality reproducing those of the
underlying energy spectrum. This phenomenon persists even in the presence of
unintentional disorder due to growth imperfections. Finally, we have
demonstrated that periodic coherent-field induced oscillations (Bloch
oscillations), which we are able to observe in our simulations of periodic
superlattices, are replaced in Fibonacci superlattices by more complex
oscillations displaying quasiperiodic signatures, thus sheding more light onto
the very peculiar nature of the electronic states in these systems.Comment: 7 pagex, RevTex, 5 Postscript figures. Physical Review B (in press
Mobility Edge in Aperiodic Kronig-Penney Potentials with Correlated Disorder: Perturbative Approach
It is shown that a non-periodic Kronig-Penney model exhibits mobility edges
if the positions of the scatterers are correlated at long distances. An
analytical expression for the energy-dependent localization length is derived
for weak disorder in terms of the real-space correlators defining the
structural disorder in these systems. We also present an algorithm to construct
a non-periodic but correlated sequence exhibiting desired mobility edges. This
result could be used to construct window filters in electronic, acoustic, or
photonic non-periodic structures.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages including 2 Postscript figure
Delocalization of states in two component superlattices with correlated disorder
Electron and phonon states in two different models of intentionally
disordered superlattices are studied analytically as well as numerically. The
localization length is calculated exactly and we found that it diverges for
particular energies or frequencies, suggesting the existence of delocalized
states for both electrons and phonons. Numerical calculations for the
transmission coefficient support the existence of these delocalized states.Comment: RevTeX, 12 pages, 2 PS figures adde
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