| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 74, Number 6, June 2006
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 1060 - 1066 | |
| Section | Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2006-10047-3 | |
| Published online | 12 May 2006 | |
Quantum-transport simulations with the Wigner-function formalism: Failure of conventional boundary-condition schemes
1
Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Torino - 10129 Torino, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Torino - 10123 Torino, Italy
3
Dipartimento di Fisica e Sez. INFN, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata” 00133 Roma, Italy
Corresponding author: Fausto.Rossi@PoliTo.It
Received:
8
February
2006
Accepted:
13
April
2006
We shall revisit the conventional treatment of open quantum devices based on the Wigner-Function formalism. Our analysis will show that the artificial spatial separation between device active region and external reservoirs —properly defined within a semiclassical simulation scheme— is intrinsically incompatible with the non-local character of quantum mechanics. More specifically, by means of an exactly-solvable semiconductor model, we shall show that the application of the conventional boundary-condition scheme to the Wigner transport equation may produce highly non-physical results, like thermal injection of coherent state superpositions and boundary-driven negative probability distributions.
PACS: 72.10.Bg – General formulation of transport theory / 85.30.-z – Semiconductor devices / 73.40.-c – Electronic transport in interface structure
© EDP Sciences, 2006
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.