527 research outputs found
Ballistic Composite Fermions in Semiconductor Nanostructures
We report the results of two fundamental transport measurements at a Landau
level filling factor of 1/2. The well known ballistic electron transport
phenomena of quenching of the Hall effect in a mesoscopic cross-junction and
negative magnetoresistance of a constriction are observed close to B~=~0 and
. The experimental results demonstrate semi-classical charge
transport by composite fermions, which consist of electrons bound to an even
number of flux quanta.Comment: 9 pages TeX 3.1415 C version 6.1, 3 PostScript figure
Analysis of the temperature-dependent quantum point contact conductance in view of the metal-insulator transition in two dimensions
The temperature dependence of the conductance of a quantum point contact has
been measured. The conductance as a function of the Fermi energy shows
temperature-independent fixed points, located at roughly multiple integers of
. Around the first fixed point at e/h, the experimental data for
different temperatures can been scaled onto a single curve. For pure thermal
smearing of the conductance steps, a scaling parameter of one is expected. The
measured scaling parameter, however, is significantly larger than 1. The
deviations are interpreted as a signature of the potential landscape of the
quantum point contact, and of the source-drain bias voltage. We relate our
results phenomenologically to the metal-insulator transition in two dimensions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Quantum interference and Klein tunneling in graphene heterojunctions
The observation of quantum conductance oscillations in mesoscopic systems has
traditionally required the confinement of the carriers to a phase space of
reduced dimensionality. While electron optics such as lensing and focusing have
been demonstrated experimentally, building a collimated electron interferometer
in two unconfined dimensions has remained a challenge due to the difficulty of
creating electrostatic barriers that are sharp on the order of the electron
wavelength. Here, we report the observation of conductance oscillations in
extremely narrow graphene heterostructures where a resonant cavity is formed
between two electrostatically created bipolar junctions. Analysis of the
oscillations confirms that p-n junctions have a collimating effect on
ballistically transmitted carriers. The phase shift observed in the conductance
fringes at low magnetic fields is a signature of the perfect transmission of
carriers normally incident on the junctions and thus constitutes a direct
experimental observation of ``Klein Tunneling.''Comment: 13 pages and 6 figures including supplementary information. The paper
has been modified in light of new theoretical results available at
arXiv:0808.048
Multiple Projection Optical Diffusion Tomography with Plane Wave Illumination
We describe a new data collection scheme for optical diffusion tomography in
which plane wave illumination is combined with multiple projections in the slab
imaging geometry. Multiple projection measurements are performed by rotating
the slab around the sample. The advantage of the proposed method is that the
measured data can be much more easily fitted into the dynamic range of most
commonly used detectors. At the same time, multiple projections improve image
quality by mutually interchanging the depth and transverse directions, and the
scanned (detection) and integrated (illumination) surfaces. Inversion methods
are derived for image reconstructions with extremely large data sets. Numerical
simulations are performed for fixed and rotated slabs
Wigner Crystal in One Dimension
A one--dimensional gas of electrons interacting with long--range Coulomb
forces () is investigated. The excitation spectrum consists
of separate collective charge and spin modes, with the charge excitation
energies in agreement with RPA calculations. For arbitrarily weak Coulomb
repulsion density correlations at wavevector decay extremely slowly and
are best described as those of a one--dimensional Wigner crystal. Pinning of
the Wigner crystal then leads to the nonlinear transport properties
characteristic of CDW. The results allow a consistent interpretation of the
plasmon and spin excitations observed in one--dimensional semiconductor
structures, and suggest an interpretation of some of the observed features in
terms of ``spinons''. A possible explanation for nonlinear transport phenomena
is given.Comment: 10 pages, RevTe
Correlation and symmetry effects in transport through an artificial molecule
Spectral weights and current-voltage characteristics of an artificial
diatomic molecule are calculated, considering cases where the dots connected in
series are in general different. The spectral weights allow us to understand
the effects of correlations, their connection with selection rules for
transport, and the role of excited states in the experimental conductance
spectra of these coupled double dot systems (DDS). An extended Hubbard
Hamiltonian with varying interdot tunneling strength is used as a model,
incorporating quantum confinement in the DDS, interdot tunneling as well as
intra- and interdot Coulomb interactions. We find that interdot tunneling
values determine to a great extent the resulting eigenstates and corresponding
spectral weights. Details of the state correlations strongly suppress most of
the possible conduction channels, giving rise to effective selection rules for
conductance through the molecule. Most states are found to make insignificant
contributions to the total current for finite biases. We find also that the
symmetry of the structure is reflected in the I-V characteristics, and is in
qualitative agreement with experiment.Comment: 25 figure files - REVTEX - submitted to PR
Electron focusing, mode spectroscopy and mass enhancement in small GaAs/AlGaAs rings
A new electron focusing effect has been discovered in small single and
coupled GaAs/AlGaAs rings. The focusing in the single ring is attributed solely
to internal orbits. The focusing effect allows the ring to be used as a small
mass spectrometer. The focusing causes peaks in the magnetoresistance at low
fields, and the peak positions were used to study the dispersion relation of
the one-dimensional magnetoelectric subbands. The electron effective mass
increases with the applied magnetic field by a factor of , at a magnetic
field of . This is the first time this increase has been measured
directly. General agreement obtains between the experiment and the subband
calculations for straight channels.Comment: 13 pages figures are available by reques
Anomalous Thermal Transport in Quantum Wires
We study thermal transport in a one-dimensional quantum wire, connected to
reservoirs. Despite of the absence of electron backscattering, interactions in
the wire strongly influence thermal transport. Electrons propagate with unitary
transmission through the wire and electric conductance is not affected. Energy,
however, is carried by bosonic excitations (plasmons) which suffer from
scattering even on scales much larger than the Fermi wavelength. If the
electron density varies randomly, plasmons are localized and {\em charge-energy
separation} occurs. We also discuss the effect of plasmon-plasmon interaction
using Levinson's theory of nonlocal heat transport.Comment: replaced with published versio
A linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics approach to optimization of thermoelectric devices
Improvement of thermoelectric systems in terms of performance and range of
applications relies on progress in materials science and optimization of device
operation. In this chapter, we focuse on optimization by taking into account
the interaction of the system with its environment. For this purpose, we
consider the illustrative case of a thermoelectric generator coupled to two
temperature baths via heat exchangers characterized by a thermal resistance,
and we analyze its working conditions. Our main message is that both electrical
and thermal impedance matching conditions must be met for optimal device
performance. Our analysis is fundamentally based on linear nonequilibrium
thermodynamics using the force-flux formalism. An outlook on mesoscopic systems
is also given.Comment: Chapter 14 in "Thermoelectric Nanomaterials", Editors Kunihito
Koumoto and Takao Mori, Springer Series in Materials Science Volume 182
(2013
Quantum transport and momentum conserving dephasing
We study numerically the influence of momentum-conserving dephasing on the
transport in a disordered chain of scatterers. Loss of phase memory is caused
by coupling the transport channels to dephasing reservoirs. In contrast to
previously used models, the dephasing reservoirs are linked to the transport
channels between the scatterers, and momentum conserving dephasing can be
investigated. Our setup provides a model for nanosystems exhibiting conductance
quantization at higher temperatures in spite of the presence of phononic
interaction. We are able to confirm numerically some theoretical predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
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