Reflection and transmission of ballistic electrons at a potential barrier

The reflection as well as transmission of ballistic electrons at a potential barrier is studied as a function of the angle of incidence. The samples are based on high mobility two dimensional electron gases in AlGaAs/GaAs -heterostructures using split gate point contacts for collimated emission as well as detection of ballistic electron beams. The variable electrostatic barrier is formed as a depletion space charge layer by biasing a 45° tilted gate strip. An external magnetic field is used to adjust the angle of incidence. The experimental results are compared to a model for the transmission and reflection coefficients at a potential boundary.     

Crossover from diffusive to ballistic transport in periodic quantum maps

We derive an expression for the mean square displacement (MSD) of a particle whose motion is governed by a uniform, periodic, quantum multi-baker map. The expression is a function of both time, t, and Planck’s constant, h, and allows a study of both the long time, t→∞, and semi-classical, h→0, limits taken in either order. We evaluate the expression using random matrix theory as well as numerically, and observe good agreement between both sets of results. The long time limit shows that particle transport is generically ballistic for any fixed value of Planck’s constant. However, for fixed times, the semi-classical limit leads to diffusion. The mean square displacement for non-zero Planck’s constant, and finite time, exhibits a crossover from diffusive to ballistic motion, with crossover time on the order of the inverse of Planck’s constant. We argue that these results are generic for a large class of 1D quantum random walks, similar to the quantum multi-baker, and that a sufficient condition for diffusion in the semi-classical limit is classically chaotic dynamics in each cell. Some connections between our work and the other literature on quantum random walks are discussed. These walks are of some interest in the theory of quantum computation.     

Interaction-induced magnetoresistance: from the diffusive to the ballistic regime

We study interaction-induced quantum correction deltasigma(alphabeta) to the conductivity tensor of electrons in two dimensions for arbitrary Ttau, where T is the temperature and tau the transport mean free time. A general formula is derived, expressing deltasigma(alphabeta) in terms of classical propagators ("ballistic diffusons"). The formalism is used to calculate the interaction contribution to the magnetoresistance in a classically strong transverse field and smooth disorder in the whole range of temperatures from the diffusive (Ttau<1) to the ballistic (Ttau greater, similar 1) regime.     

Unified semiclassical approach to electronic transport from diffusive to ballistic regimes

We show that by integrating out the electric field and incorporating proper boundary conditions,a Boltzmann equation can describe electron transport properties,continuously from the diffusive to ballistic regimes.General analytical formulas of the conductance in D = 1,2,3 dimensions are obtained,which recover the Boltzmann–Drude formula and Landauer–B ¨uttiker formula in the diffusive and ballistic limits,respectively.This intuitive and efficient approach can be applied to investigate the interplay of system size and impurity scattering in various charge and spin transport phenomena,when the quantum interference effect is not important.     

Reflection of keV-energy electrons from multilayer surfaces

The energy spectra of electrons reflected from multilayer targets are studied theoretically and experimentally. A self-consistent theory of electron reflection from multilayer surfaces is constructed. Simple analytical models of electron reflection that illustrate the feasibility of the depth profiling of multilayer targets are presented. The energy spectra of electrons normally incident on Nb/Si and Nb/Al/Nb/Si targets and reflected from them at an angle of 45° to the normal are taken. A method for the depth profiling of such structures is elaborated.     

Transition from the ballistic to the diffusive regime in a turbid medium

By varying the absorption coefficient and width of an intralipid-India ink solution in a quasi-one-dimensional experiment, we investigate the transition between the ballistic and the diffusive regimes. The medium's attenuation coefficient changes abruptly between two different values within a single mean free path. This problem is analyzed both experimentally and theoretically, and it is demonstrated that the transition location depends on the scattering coefficient as well as on the measuring solid angle.     

Transition from diffusive to ballistic dynamics for a class of finite quantum models

The transport of excitation probabilities amongst weakly coupled subunits is investigated for a class of finite quantum systems. It is demonstrated that the dynamical behavior of the transported quantity depends on the considered length scale; e.g., the introduced distinction between diffusive and ballistic transport appears to be a scale-dependent concept, especially since a transition from diffusive to ballistic behavior is found in the limit of small as well as in the limit of large length scales. All these results are derived by an application of the time-convolutionless projection operator technique and are verified by the numerical solution of the full time-dependent Schr?dinger equation which is obtained by exact diagonalization for a range of model parameters.     

Drag of ballistic electrons by an ion beam

Drag of electrons of a one-dimensional ballistic nanowire by a nearby one-dimensional beam of ions is considered. We assume that the ion beam is represented by an ensemble of heavy ions of the same velocity V. The ratio of the drag current to the primary current carried by the ion beam is calculated. The drag current turns out to be a nonmonotonic function of velocity V. It has a sharp maximum for V near v _nF/2, where n is the number of the uppermost electron miniband (channel) taking part in conduction and v _nF is the corresponding Fermi velocity. This means that the phenomenon of ion beam drag can be used for investigation of the electron spectra of ballistic nanostructures. We note that whereas observation of the Coulomb drag between two parallel quantum wires may in general be complicated by phenomena such as tunneling and phonon drag, the Coulomb drag of electrons of a one-dimensional ballistic nanowire by an ion beam is free of such spurious effects.     

Correlation functions for restricted Brownian motion from the ballistic through to the diffusive regimes

We calculate the spectra of the correlation functions for fields with arbitrary spatial dependence as seen by Brownian particles in bounded geometries from knowledge of the spectra of the conditional probability density functions in the infinite domain. Our results show a significant difference for the spectra for 1D, 2D and 3D motions. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of the influence of dimensionality on the form of the correlation functions. Our results also show the different power dependence on frequency for the ballistic and diffusive cases and the treatment of the crossover is unique.     

Resonant light delay in GaN with ballistic and diffusive propagation

We report on a strong delay in light propagation through bulk GaN, detected by time-of-flight spectroscopy. The delay increases resonantly as the photon energy approaches the energy of a neutral-donor bound exciton (BX), resulting in a velocity of light as low as 2100 km/s. In the close vicinity of the BX resonance, the transmitted light contains both ballistic and diffusive components. This phenomenon is quantitatively explained in terms of optical dispersion in a medium where resonant light scattering by the BX resonance takes place in addition to the polariton propagation.     

碳纳米管的热导率:从弹道到扩散输运

采用非平衡分子动力学方法研究了300 K和1000 K时（5,5）碳纳米管热导率随长度的变化.在室温下,碳纳米管长度小于40 nm时热导率与长度呈线性关系,此时导热处于弹道输运阶段,单位面积弹道热导为5.88×10⁹ Wm^-2K^-1．随着碳纳米管长度的增加,其热导率逐渐增加,但增加速度随长度逐渐减小,此时导热处于弹道—扩散输运阶段,并随长度的增加从以弹道输运为主向以扩散输运为主转变．长度大于10 μm时由于弹道输运可以忽略,导热近似达到完全 关键词： 碳纳米管 热导率 弹道输运 低维导热     

Spatial field distributions in the transition from ballistic to diffusive transport in randomly corrugated waveguides

A detailed analysis of the statistical properties of the transmitted field in corrugated waveguides in the transition from ballistic to diffusion transport is presented. The field distributions are found to be highly dependent on the incident mode excited. When the speckle contrast is one, our results agree with recent experiments where the intensity distribution follows the predictions of the random-phasor-sum model, even though the field phase is not uniformly distributed. Clear deviations from the Gaussian statistics are found which can be interpreted in terms of " K" distributions arising either from a small number of scatterers or from perturbations of the speckle pattern on propagation.     

硅纳米薄膜中声子弹道扩散导热的蒙特卡罗模拟

通过建立声子散射概率函数描述声子在输运过程中的散射,提出了一种模拟声子弹道扩散导热的蒙特卡罗方法,并将其应用于硅纳米薄膜中的稳态和瞬态弹道扩散导热过程的研究. 提出的蒙特卡罗方法对边界发射的声子束进行跟踪,根据散射概率函数模拟声子束在传播区域内经历的散射过程,并通过统计声子束的分布得到温度分布. 稳态导热过程的模拟发现,尺寸效应会引起边界温度跳跃,其值随着Knudsen数的增大而增大;计算的硅纳米薄膜的热导率随着厚度的增大而增大,与文献中的实验数据和理论模型相符. 通过瞬态导热过程的模拟得到了纳米薄膜内的温度分布随时间的变化,发现瞬态导热过程中的热波现象与空间尺度相关,材料尺寸越小,弹道输运越强,薄膜中的热波现象也越显著. 关键词： 纳米薄膜 弹道扩散导热 蒙特卡罗模拟 尺寸效应     

Optical detection of ballistic electrons injected by a scanning-tunneling microscope

We demonstrate a spectroscopic technique which is based on ballistic injection of minority carriers from the tip of a scanning-tunneling microscope into a semiconductor heterostructure. By analyzing the resulting electroluminescence spectrum as a function of tip-sample bias, both the injection barrier height and the carrier scattering rate in the semiconductor can be determined. This technique is complementary to ballistic electron emission spectroscopy since minority instead of majority carriers are injected, which give the opportunity to study the carrier trajectory after injection.     

Pivotal role of ballistic and quasi-ballistic electrons on LED efficiency

Significant progress in the power conversion efficiency and brightness of InGaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) has paved the way for these devices to be considered for LED lighting. In this realm, however, the efficiency must be retained at high injection levels in order to generate the lumens required. Unfortunately, LEDs undergo a monotonic efficiency degradation starting at current densities even lower than 50 A/cm² which would hinder LED insertion into the general lighting market. The physical origins for the loss of efficiency retention are at present a topic of intense debate given its enormous implications. This paper reviews the current status of the field regarding the mechanisms that have been put forward as being responsible for the loss of efficiency, such as Auger recombination, electron overflow (spillover), current crowding, asymmetric injection of electrons and holes, and poor transport of holes through the active region, the last one being applicable to multiple quantum well designs. While the Auger recombination received early attention, increasing number of researchers seem to think otherwise at the moment in that it alone (if any) cannot explain the progressively worsening loss of efficiency reduction as the InN mole fraction is increased. Increasing number of reports seems to suggest that the electron overflow is one of the major causes of efficiency degradation. The physical driving force for this is likely to be the relatively poor hole concentration and transport, and skewed injection favoring electrons owing to their relatively high concentration. Most intriguingly there is recent experimental convincing evidence to suggest that quasi-ballistic electrons in the active region, which are not able to thermalize within the residence time and possibly longitudinal optical phonon lifetime, contribute to the carrier overflow which would require an entirely new thought process in the realm of LEDs.     

Transmission spectra of ballistic electrons in conventional and effective-mass superlattices

In this paper, we compare transmission spectra of electrons propagated in ballistic transport regime in finite conventional and finite effective-mass superlattices. Taking into account the off-center-zone transport as well as center-zone one, we show theoretically that the Bragg transmission of carriers and the kinetic confinement effect are presented not only in the effective-mass superlattice but in the conventional one as well. However, these effects appear at the center of the Brillouin zone only in the case of the effective-mass superlattice. In the conventional superlattice, the effects are observable at the periphery of the Brillouin zone.