Narrow Results

Edge states have been a backbone of our understanding of the experimental basis of the quantum Hall effect for quite some time. Interestingly, this comprises a quantum system with well defined currents and particle trajectories. The role of trajectories in quantum mechanics has been a problematic question of interpretation for quite some time, and the open quantum dot is a natural system in which to probe this question. Contrary to early speculation, a set of well defined quantum states survives in the open quantum dot. These states are the pointer states and provide a transition into the classical states that can be found in these structures. These states provide resonances, which are observable as oscillatory behavior in the magnetoconductance of the dots. But, they have well defined current directions within the dots. Consequently, one expects trajectories to be a property of these states as well. As one crosses from the low to the high field regime, quite steady trajectories and consequent wave functions can easily be identified and examined. In this talk, we review the current understanding and the support for the decoherence theory.

Quantum transport for different models of isomer molecules attached with two semi-infinite leads is studied on the basis of the Green's function technique. The electronic transport property is strongly affected by (a) the relative position of the atoms in these molecules and (b) the molecular coupling strength with the leads.

We explore electron transport properties in molecular wires made of heterocyclic molecules (pyrrole, furan and thiophene) by using the Green's function technique. Parametric calculations are given based on the tight-binding model to describe the electron transport in these wires. It is observed that the transport properties are significantly influenced by (a) the heteroatoms in the heterocyclic molecules and (b) the molecule-to-electrodes coupling strength. Conductance (g) shows sharp resonance peaks associated with the molecular energy levels in the limit of weak molecular coupling, while they get broadened in the strong molecular coupling limit. These resonances get shifted with the change of the heteroatoms in these heterocyclic molecules. All the essential features of the electron transfer through these molecular wires become much more clearly visible from the study of our current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, and they provide several key information in the study of molecular transport.

A Kronig–Penney model with short-range correlated impurities is used to investigate the electronic transport properties of one-dimensional disordered systems simulating both superlattices, protein chains, and polymers. Physical magnitudes characterizing the electronic charge transfer are analytically the transmission coefficient and the localization length. It is shown that a set of delocalized states occurs at particular well-defined energies. The divergence of the localization length is investigated and a critical exponent 1 is found for the barrier case which differs with the results of literature. These results support the idea that the nature of the extended states depend on the typical nature of the correlation in disorder. On this basis, the conductance of disordered superlattices is investigated as well as the relative fluctuations of the transmission coefficient.

Investigation on (2-dimensional) (2D) materials is growing significantly due to the fundamental electronic properties in the direct inherent bandgap, higher carrier mobility, and easier exfoliation. Phosphorene as a new 2D configuration has presented excellent potential in electronic and optoelectronic applications. In this study, the conductivity of monolayer phosphorene and Einstein’s relations as fundamental parameters in semiconductor manufacturing are analytically modeled. In addition, dependency of conductivity on normalized Fermi energy ($\eta$) is demonstrated. According to the simulation results, conductivity and Einstein’s relation are completely dependent on temperature, therefore, rising up the temperature leads to conductivity and diffusion coefficient (Dn) growth. Indeed, conductivity is saturated when the normalized Fermi energy exceeds than 6. Also, the conductivity and Einstein’s relation dependency to voltage are studied. Results show that carrier conductivity and the electron diffusion coefficient (Dn) increase by amplifying the voltage.

The quantum conductance of the electron interferometers composed of the armchair and metallic zigzag single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in an axial magnetic field lower than 100 T has been studied by using the tight-binding approximation and Landauer–Buttiker formula. Quantum conductance oscillation as a function of gate voltage due to Fabry–Perot like electron interference was found. The analytical expressions of the rapid and slow conductance oscillation periods for the armchair SWNTs have been derived. It is shown that they depend on the magnetic field, gate voltage, and tube length. For the case of the metallic zigzag SWNTs, except rapid conductance oscillation, slow conductance oscillation was also found, which should not exist without the axial magnetic field.

The transport properties of graphene T-type structure (GTS), both armchair-edged and zigzag-edged, are studied systematically within Landauer formalism in terms of tight binding Green's function method. For armchair-edged GTS (AGTS), a phase diagram of conductance in parameter space of Fermi energy and the stub width is presented. When a gate voltage is applied in the stub, a perfect linear dependence of the gap position shift of conductance on the gate voltage is found. The origin of the conductance gap as well as such linear behavior is explained. For the zigzag-edged GTS (ZGTS), it is found that the dependence of the transport properties on the stub height can be classified into two groups that tightly depend on whether the stub width equals 3n-1 or not.

Cu_0.5K_0.25Tl_0.25Ba₂Ca₃Cu₄O_12-δ superconductor samples were synthesized and their dielectric properties were measured between 80 K and 290 K by means of capacitance (C) and conductance (G) measurements with the test frequency (f) in the range of 10 KHz to 4 MHz. A negative capacitance (NC) occurrence was observed, which most likely arose from the superior Fermi level of ceramic superconductor samples than metal electrodes. Also the NC may be due to the space charge situated at the multiple insulator–superconductor interfaces (grain boundaries) in the materials. The negative dielectric constant (ε′) and loss factor (tan δ) show strong dispersion at low frequencies. The lower thermal agitation at 80 K may boost the polarizability and hence the dielectric constants (ε′ and ε″).

In this letter, we investigate the transport properties of one-dimensional semiconducting Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with parabolic band structure near the Dirac point. The analytical model of effective mobility is developed by using the conductance approach, which differs from the conventional method of extracting the effective mobility using the well-known Matthiessen rule. Graphene nanoribbons conductance model developed was applied in the Drude model to obtain the effective mobility, which then gives nearly close comparison with the experimental data.

In this paper, our focus is on ABA trilayer graphene nanoribbon (TGN), in which the middle layer is horizontally shifted from the top and bottom layers. The conductance model of TGN as a FET channel is presented based on Landauer formula. Besides the good reported agreement with experimental study lending support to our model, the presented model demonstrates that minimum conductivity increases dramatically by temperature. It also draws parallels between TGN and bilayer graphene nanoribbon, in which similar thermal behavior is observed. Maxwell–Boltzmann approximation is employed to form the conductance of TGN near the neutrality point. Analytical model in degenerate regime in comparison with reported data proves that TGN-based transistor will operate in degenerate regime like what we expect in conventional semiconductors. Moreover, our model confirms that in similar condition, the conductivity of TGN is less than bilayer graphene nanoribbon as reported in some experiments.

In this paper, we analyze two phase transitions in exciton bilayer systems: a topological phase transition to a phase which hosts Majorana fermions and a phase transition to a Wigner crystal. Using generic simple models for different phases, we discuss the conductance properties of the latter when contacted to metallic leads and demonstrate the possibility to observe the different phase transitions by simple conductance measurements.

The terahertz nonlinear optical response in Kronig–Penney (KP) type graphene superlattice is demonstrated. The single-, triple- and quintuple-frequencies of the fifth-order nonlinear responses are investigated for different frequencies and temperatures with the angle φ along the periodicity of the superlattice toward the external field tuning from 0 to π/2. The results show that the fifth-order nonlinear optical conductance of graphene superlattice is enhanced in the terahertz regime when φ = 0, i.e. an external field is applied along the periodicity of the superlattice. The fifth-order nonlinear optical conductances at φ = 0 for different frequencies and temperatures are calculated. The results show that the nonlinear optical conductance is enhanced in low frequency and low temperature. Our results suggest that KP type graphene superlattices are preferred structures for developing graphene-based nonlinear photonics and optoelectronics devices.

It is shown that the Kubo equation for the Hall conductance can be expressed as an integral which implies quantization of the Hall conductance. The integral can be interpreted as the first Chern class of a $U(1)$ principal fiber bundle on a two-dimensional torus. This accounts for the conductance given as an integer multiple of $e^2∕h$. The formalism can be extended to deduce the fractional conductivity as well.

Using the non-equilibrium Green’s function technique, conductance through a parallel-coupled double quantum dot (PCDQD) with a side-coupled quantum dot system is investigated. The evolution of the conductance strongly depends on the coupling between the side-coupled quantum dot and PCDQD. Moreover, the conductance as a function of the level of side-couple quantum dot is investigated. Numerical results indicate the lineshape of Fano resonance can be modulated by adjusting the interdot coupling strength.

Periodic nanostructure is a novel method to manipulate the electronic properties in electronics. An efficient method in this paper is proposed to judge whether m identical periods’ magnetic nanostructure is a periodic structure by judging whether its physical structure and its magnetic vector potential structure both keep periodic. By investigating the influence of the $\delta$-doping potential on the electron transport properties with m identical periods’ magnetic barrier nanostructure of InAs system, it shows that, firstly, the resonant peak of transmission probability, conductance, and spin polarization has been induced by splitting into (2$m-1$) folds with m units nanostructure, respectively, especially when the resonant peak of transmission probability is almost close to 1 as the incident energy is lower; secondly, the height of $\delta$-doping potential has an extensive influence on the resonant peak of transmission probability, which the resonant peak will be more dependent of the height of $\delta$-doping potential increasing. Meanwhile, the conductance will be decreased with the height of $\delta$-doping potential increasing.

We examine the effect of interactions between the electrons on the conductance of a system of quantum wires containing a ring. The electrons are taken to be weakly interacting, and scattering matrices are introduced at the junctions present in the system. Using a renormalization group method, we compute the conductances of these systems as functions of the temperature. Our results show that the conductance depends on the temperature as a result of the interactions.

We demonstrate field emission (FE) properties of imogolite including turn-on field and life time stability. Imogolite is found to be a good electron emitter under external electric field. The conductance of bound water molecules adsorbed on imogolite surface is measured and compared with bulk water molecules at various pH values, i.e., at various proton concentrations. At low concentration, most protons pass through bound water on imogolite rather than bulk water. At high concentration, on the other hand, protons move more easily through bulk water than bound water. Explanations are given in this paper.

The electronic transport characteristics through a single phenalenyl molecule sandwiched between two metallic electrodes are investigated by using Green's function technique. A parametric approach, based on the tight-binding model, is used to study the transport characteristics through such molecular bridge system. The electronic transport properties are significantly influenced by (a) the molecule-to-electrodes interface structure and (b) the molecule-to-electrodes coupling strength.

Quantum transport properties through some multilevel quantum dots sandwiched between two metallic contacts are investigated by the use of Green's function technique. Here, we do parametric calculations, based on the tight-binding model, to study the transport properties through such bridge systems. The electron transport properties are significantly influenced by (a) the number of quantized energy levels in the dots, (b) the dot-to-electrodes coupling strength, (c) the location of the equilibrium Fermi energy E_F, and (d) the surface disorder. In the limit of weak-coupling, the conductance (g) shows sharp resonance peaks associated with the quantized energy levels in the dots, while, they get substantial broadening in the strong-coupling limit. The behavior of the electron transfer through these systems becomes much more clearly visible from our study of the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics. In this context, we also describe the noise power of current fluctuations (S) and determine the Fano factor (F) which provides an important information about the electron correlation among the charge carriers. Finally, we explore a novel transport phenomenon by studying the surface disorder effect in which the current amplitude increases with the increase of the surface disorder strength in the strong disorder regime, while, the amplitude decreases in the limit of weak disorder. Such an anomalous behavior is completely opposite to that of bulk disordered system where the current amplitude always decreases with the disorder strength. It is also observed that the current amplitude strongly depends on the system size which reveals the finite quantum size effect.

A novel feature of electron transport is explored through a thin film of varying impurity density with the distance from its surface. The film, attached to two metallic electrodes, is described by simple tight-binding model and its coupling to the electrodes is treated through Newns–Anderson chemisorption theory. It is observed that in the strong disorder regime the amplitude of the current passing through the film increases with the increase of the disorder strength, while it decreases in the weak disorder regime. This anomalous behavior is completely opposite to that of conventional disordered systems. Our results also predict that the electron transport is significantly influenced by the finite size of the thin film.