103 research outputs found
Decoherence due to contacts in ballistic nanostructures
The active region of a ballistic nanostructure is an open quantum-mechanical
system, whose nonunitary evolution (decoherence) towards a nonequilibrium
steady state is determined by carrier injection from the contacts. The purpose
of this paper is to provide a simple theoretical description of the
contact-induced decoherence in ballistic nanostructures, which is established
within the framework of the open systems theory. The active region's evolution
in the presence of contacts is generally non-Markovian. However, if the
contacts' energy relaxation due to electron-electron scattering is sufficiently
fast, then the contacts can be considered memoryless on timescales coarsened
over their energy relaxation time, and the evolution of the current-limiting
active region can be considered Markovian. Therefore, we first derive a general
Markovian map in the presence of a memoryless environment, by coarse-graining
the exact short-time non-Markovian dynamics of an abstract open system over the
environment memory-loss time, and we give the requirements for the validity of
this map. We then introduce a model contact-active region interaction that
describes carrier injection from the contacts for a generic two-terminal
ballistic nanostructure. Starting from this model interaction and using the
Markovian dynamics derived by coarse-graining over the effective memory-loss
time of the contacts, we derive the formulas for the nonequilibrium
steady-state distribution functions of the forward and backward propagating
states in the nanostructure's active region. On the example of a double-barrier
tunneling structure, the present approach yields an I-V curve with all the
prominent resonant features. The relationship to the Landauer-B\"{u}ttiker
formalism is also discussed, as well as the inclusion of scattering.Comment: Published versio
Residence time and collision statistics for exponential flights: the rod problem revisited
Many random transport phenomena, such as radiation propagation,
chemical/biological species migration, or electron motion, can be described in
terms of particles performing {\em exponential flights}. For such processes, we
sketch a general approach (based on the Feynman-Kac formalism) that is amenable
to explicit expressions for the moments of the number of collisions and the
residence time that the walker spends in a given volume as a function of the
particle equilibrium distribution. We then illustrate the proposed method in
the case of the so-called {\em rod problem} (a 1d system), and discuss the
relevance of the obtained results in the context of Monte Carlo estimators.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Electronic measurement and control of spin transport in Silicon
The electron spin lifetime and diffusion length are transport parameters that
define the scale of coherence in spintronic devices and circuits. Since these
parameters are many orders of magnitude larger in semiconductors than in
metals, semiconductors could be the most suitable for spintronics. Thus far,
spin transport has only been measured in direct-bandgap semiconductors or in
combination with magnetic semiconductors, excluding a wide range of
non-magnetic semiconductors with indirect bandgaps. Most notable in this group
is silicon (Si), which (in addition to its market entrenchment in electronics)
has long been predicted a superior semiconductor for spintronics with enhanced
lifetime and diffusion length due to low spin-orbit scattering and lattice
inversion symmetry. Despite its exciting promise, a demonstration of coherent
spin transport in Si has remained elusive, because most experiments focused on
magnetoresistive devices; these methods fail because of universal impedance
mismatch obstacles, and are obscured by Lorentz magnetoresistance and Hall
effects. Here we demonstrate conduction band spin transport across 10 microns
undoped Si, by using spin-dependent ballistic hot-electron filtering through
ferromagnetic thin films for both spin-injection and detection. Not based on
magnetoresistance, the hot electron spin-injection and detection avoids
impedance mismatch issues and prevents interference from parasitic effects. The
clean collector current thus shows independent magnetic and electrical control
of spin precession and confirms spin coherent drift in the conduction band of
silicon.Comment: Single PDF file with 4 Figure
Low frequency admittance of a quantum point contact
We present a current and charge conserving theory for the low frequency
admittance of a quantum point contact. We derive expressions for the
electrochemical capacitance and the displacement current. The latter is
determined by the {\em emittance} which equals the capacitance only in the
limit of vanishing transmission. With the opening of channels the capacitance
and the emittance decrease in a step-like manner in synchronism with the
conductance steps. For vanishing reflection, the capacitance vanishes and the
emittance is negative.Comment: 11 pages, revtex file, 2 ps figure
Effect of the Coulomb repulsion on the {\it ac} transport through a quantum dot
We calculate in a linear response the admittance of a quantum dot out of
equilibrium. The interaction between two electrons with opposite spins
simultaneously residing on the resonant level is modeled by an Anderson
Hamiltonian. The electron correlations lead to the appearence of a new feature
in the frequency dependence of the conductance. For certain parameter values
there are two crossover frequencies between a capacitive and an inductive
behavior of the imaginary part of the admittance. The experimental implications
of the obtained results are briefly discussed.Comment: 13 pages, REVTEX 3.0, 2 .ps figures from [email protected],
NUB-308
Determining the electronic performance limitations in top-down fabricated Si nanowires with mean widths down to 4 nm
Silicon nanowires have been patterned with mean widths down to 4 nm using top-down lithography and dry etching. Performance-limiting scattering processes have been measured directly which provide new insight into the electronic conduction mechanisms within the nanowires. Results demonstrate a transition from 3-dimensional (3D) to 2D and then 1D as the nanowire mean widths are reduced from 12 to 4 nm. The importance of high quality surface passivation is demonstrated by a lack of significant donor deactivation, resulting in neutral impurity scattering ultimately limiting the electronic performance. The results indicate the important parameters requiring optimization when fabricating nanowires with atomic dimensions
In-medium two-nucleon properties in high electric fields
The quantum mechanical two - particle problem is considered in hot dense
nuclear matter under the influence of a strong electric field such as the field
of the residual nucleus in heavy - ion reactions. A generalized
Galitskii-Bethe-Salpeter equation is derived and solved which includes
retardation and field effects. Compared with the in-medium properties in the
zero-field case, bound states are turned into resonances and the scattering
phase shifts are modified. Four effects are observed due to the applied field:
(i) A suppression of the Pauli-blocking below nuclear matter densities, (ii)
the onset of pairing occurs already at higher temperatures due to the field,
(iii) a field dependent finite lifetime of deuterons and (iv) the imaginary
part of the quasiparticle self-energy changes its sign for special values of
density and temperatures indicating a phase instability. The latter effect may
influence the fragmentation processes. The lifetime of deuterons in a strong
Coulomb field is given explicitly.Comment: ps file + 7 figures (eps
Relaxation of Electron Spin during High-Field Transport in GaAs Bulk
A semiclassical Monte Carlo approach is adopted to study the multivalley spin
depolarization of drifting electrons in a doped n-type GaAs bulk semiconductor,
in a wide range of lattice temperature ( K) and doping density
(cm). The decay of the initial non-equilibrium spin
polarization of the conduction electrons is investigated as a function of the
amplitude of the driving static electric field, ranging between 0.1 and 6
kV/cm, by considering the spin dynamics of electrons in both the and
the upper valleys of the semiconductor. Doping density considerably affects
spin relaxation at low temperature and weak intensity of the driving electric
field. At high values of the electric field, the strong spin-orbit coupling of
electrons in the -valleys significantly reduces the average spin
polarization lifetime, but, unexpectedly, for field amplitudes greater than 2.5
kV/cm, the spin lifetime increases with the lattice temperature. Our numerical
findings are validated by a good agreement with the available experimental
results and with calculations recently obtained by a different theoretical
approach.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Monte Carlo simulation of ultrafast processes in photoexcited semiconductors: Coherent and incoherent dynamics
The ultrafast dynamics of photoexcited carriers in a semiconductor is investigated by using a Monte Carlo simulation. In addition to a ‘‘conventional’’ Monte Carlo simulation, the coherence of the external light field and the resulting coherence in the carrier system are fully taken into account. This allows us to treat the correct time dependence of the generation process showing a time-dependent linewidth associated with a recombination from states off resonance due to stimulated emission. The subsequent dephasing of the carriers due to scattering processes is analyzed. In addition, the simulation contains the carrier-carrier interaction in Hartree-Fock approximation giving rise to a band-gap renormalization and excitonic effects which cannot be treated in a conventional Monte Carlo simulation where polarization effects are neglected. Thus the approach presents a unified numerical method for the investigation of phenomena occurring close to the band gap and those typical for the energy relaxation of hot carriers
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