1,957 research outputs found
Spectrum of Electrons in Graphene as an Alternant Macromolecule and Its Specific Features in Quantum Conductance
An exact description of electrons based on the tight-binding model of
graphene as an alternant, plane macromolecule is presented. The model molecule
can contain an arbitrary number of benzene rings and has armchair- and
zigzag-shaped edges. This suggests an instructive alternative to the most
commonly used approach, where the reference is made to the honeycomb lattice
periodic in its A and B sublattices. Several advantages of the macromolecule
model are demonstrated. The newly derived analytical relations detail our
understanding of electron nature in achiral graphene ribbons and carbon
tubes and classify these structures as quantum wires.Comment: 13 pages 8 figures, revised in line with referee's comment
Transport in Molecular Junctions with Different Metallic Contacts
Ab initio calculations of phenyl dithiol connected to Au, Ag, Pd, and Pt
electrodes are performed using non-equilibrium Green's functions and density
functional theory. For each metal, the properties of the molecular junction are
considered both in equilibrium and under bias. In particular, we consider in
detail charge transfer, changes in the electrostatic potential, and their
subsequent effects on the IV curves through the junctions. Gold is typically
used in molecular junctions because it forms strong chemical bonds with sulfur.
We find however that Pt and Pd make better electrical contacts than Au. The
zero-bias conductance is found to be greatest for Pt, followed by Pd, Au, and
then Ag
Relations between Entropies Produced in Nondeterministic Thermodynamic Processes
Landauer's erasure principle is generalized to nondeterministic processes on
systems having an arbitrary number of non-symmetrical logical states. The
condition that the process is applied in the same way, irrespective of the
initial logical state, imposes some restrictions on the individual heat
exchanges associated with each possible transition. The complete set of such
restrictions are derived by a statistical analysis of the phase-space flow
induced by the process. Landauer's erasure principle can be derived from and is
a special case of these.Comment: 12 pages with one figure; a final major revision in presentation;
physical assumptions are clarified no
Effect of dephasing on the current statistics of mesoscopic devices
We investigate the effects of dephasing on the current statistics of
mesoscopic conductors with a recently developed statistical model, focusing in
particular on mesoscopic cavities and Aharonov-Bohm rings. For such devices, we
analyze the influence of an arbitrary degree of decoherence on the cumulants of
the current. We recover known results for the limiting cases of fully coherent
and totally incoherent transport and are able to obtain detailed information on
the intermediate regime of partial coherence for a varying number of open
channels. We show that dephasing affects the average current, shot noise, and
higher order cumulants in a quantitatively and qualitatively similar way, and
that consequently shot noise or higher order cumulants of the current do not
provide information on decoherence additional or complementary to what can be
already obtained from the average current.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The conditional tunneling time for reflection using the WKB wave-function
We derive an expression for the conditional time for the reflection of a wave
from an arbitrary potential barrier using the WKB wavefunction in the barrier
region. Our result indicates that the conditional times for transmission and
reflection are equal for a symmetric barrier within the validity of the WKB
approach.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 1 eps figure include
Dynamic generation of orbital quasiparticle entanglement in mesoscopic conductors
We propose a scheme for dynamically creating orbitally entangled
electron-hole pairs through a time-dependent variation of the electrical
potential in a mesoscopic conductor. The time-dependent potential generates a
superposition of electron-hole pairs in two different orbital regions of the
conductor, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer in the quantum Hall regime. The
orbital entanglement is detected via violation of a Bell inequality, formulated
in terms of zero-frequency current noise. Adiabatic cycling of the potential,
both in the weak and strong amplitude limit, is considered.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; references update
Frequency dependent effective conductivity of two-dimensional metal-dielectric composites
We analyze a random resistor-inductor-capacitor lattice model of
2-dimensional metal-insulator composites. The results are compared with
Bruggeman's and Landauer's Effective Medium Approximations where a discrepancy
was observed for some frequency zones. Such a discrepancy is mainly caused by
the strong conductivity fluctuations. Indeed, a two-branches distribution is
observed for low frequencies. We show also by increasing the system size that
at the so-called Drude peak vanishes; it increases for vanishing losses.Comment: 7 pages including all figures, accepted in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Memory erasure in small systems
We consider an overdamped nanoparticle in a driven double-well potential as a
generic model of an erasable one-bit memory. We study in detail the statistics
of the heat dissipated during an erasure process and show that full erasure may
be achieved by dissipating less heat than the Landauer bound. We quantify the
occurrence of such events and propose a single-particle experiment to verify
our predictions. Our results show that Landauer's principle has to be
generalized at the nanoscale to accommodate heat fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The Escape Problem for Irreversible Systems
The problem of noise-induced escape from a metastable state arises in
physics, chemistry, biology, systems engineering, and other areas. The problem
is well understood when the underlying dynamics of the system obey detailed
balance. When this assumption fails many of the results of classical
transition-rate theory no longer apply, and no general method exists for
computing the weak-noise asymptotics of fundamental quantities such as the mean
escape time. In this paper we present a general technique for analysing the
weak-noise limit of a wide range of stochastically perturbed continuous-time
nonlinear dynamical systems. We simplify the original problem, which involves
solving a partial differential equation, into one in which only ordinary
differential equations need be solved. This allows us to resolve some old
issues for the case when detailed balance holds. When it does not hold, we show
how the formula for the mean escape time asymptotics depends on the dynamics of
the system along the most probable escape path. We also present new results on
short-time behavior and discuss the possibility of focusing along the escape
path.Comment: 24 pages, APS revtex macros (version 2.1) now available from PBB via
`get oldrevtex.sty
Electromotive force and internal resistance of an electron pump
We present a scattering theory of the electromotive force and internal
resistance of an electron pump. The characterization of the device performance
in terms of only two parameters requires the assumption of incoherent multiple
scattering within the circuit and complete thermalization among electrons
moving in a given direction. The electromotive force is shown to be of the
order of the driving frequency in natural units. In an open setup, the
electromotive force adds to the voltage difference between reservoirs to drive
the current, both facing a contact resistance which is absent in the case of a
closed circuit of uniform width
- …