Thermal conductance in quantum wire with two obstacles

Based on the scattering-matrix method, the influence of obstacles on the thermal conductance in quantum wire was investigated. Three types of obstacles are employed in our calculation. We present a detailed study of the thermal conductance as a function of distance between two obstacles and temperature. The results show that there is qualitative difference in the dependence of the thermal conductance versus width between two obstacles for different temperatures. We also find that the calculated thermal conductance increases with the width W of quantum wire in all cases.     

Phase diagrams of a ferroelectric superlattice: A Green’s function technique study

A Fermi-type Green’s function method has been used to investigate the phase transition properties of a ferroelectric superlattice with two alternating materials on the basis of the transverse Ising model. By performing a higher-order decoupling to the equations of motion for the Green’s functions, the eigenfrequencies of the infinite ferroelectric superlattice are obtained. Moreover, we discuss the dependence of the phase diagrams on the interface coupling strength, the transverse field, and the thicknesses of two slabs. The comparison between the Green’s function technique and the usual mean-field approximation is illustrated.     

Effect of boundary treatments on quantum transport current in the Green’s function and Wigner distribution methods for a nano-scale DG-MOSFET

In this paper, we conduct a study of quantum transport models for a two-dimensional nano-size double gate (DG) MOSFET using two approaches: non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) and Wigner distribution. Both methods are implemented in the framework of the mode space methodology where the electron confinements below the gates are pre-calculated to produce subbands along the vertical direction of the device while the transport along the horizontal channel direction is described by either approach. Each approach handles the open quantum system along the transport direction in a different manner. The NEGF treats the open boundaries with boundary self-energy defined by a Dirichlet to Neumann mapping, which ensures non-reflection at the device boundaries for electron waves leaving the quantum device active region. On the other hand, the Wigner equation method imposes an inflow boundary treatment for the Wigner distribution, which in contrast ensures non-reflection at the boundaries for free electron waves entering the device active region. In both cases the space-charge effect is accounted for by a self-consistent coupling with a Poisson equation. Our goals are to study how the device boundaries are treated in both transport models affects the current calculations, and to investigate the performance of both approaches in modeling the DG-MOSFET. Numerical results show mostly consistent quantum transport characteristics of the DG-MOSFET using both methods, though with higher transport current for the Wigner equation method, and also provide the current–voltage (I–V) curve dependence on various physical parameters such as the gate voltage and the oxide thickness.     

The magnetic properties of one-dimensional spin-1 ferromagnetic Heisenberg model in a magnetic field within Callen approximation

The effect of magnetic field h on the magnetic properties of the one-dimensional spin-1 ferromagnetic Heisenberg model is studied by the double-time Green’s function method. The magnetization and susceptibility are obtained within the Callen approximation. The zero-field susceptibility is as a decreasing function of the temperature T. The magnetization m increases in the whole field region, but the susceptibility maximum χ(T_m) decreases. The position T_m of the susceptibility maximum is both solved analytically and fits well to be a power law T_m∼h^γ at low fields and to be linear increasing at high fields. The height χ(T_m) decreases as a power law χ(T_m)∼h^−β with h increasing. The exponents (γ,β) obtained in our results agree with the other theoretical results. Our results are roughly in agreement with the results obtained in the experiment of Ni(OH)(NO₃)H₂O.     

Alternating current transport property for a two-channel interacting quantum wire

We study theoretically the alternating current (ac) transport property through a two-channel clean quantum wire of finite length in the presence of both inter-channel and intra-channel electron-electron (e-e) interactions. Using the bosonization technique and linear response theory, we have obtained analytical expressions of the ac conductance. Interestingly, the ac conductance oscillations, with two different frequencies, form a beat which governs the behavior of the transport property in the presence of inter-channel e-e interaction. This result provides us with a new way to control the transport property of narrow quantum wires by engineering the Fermi velocities in the two different channels, i.e., the electron density.     

Electron-interface-optical-phonon interaction in rectangular quantum wire and quantum dot

Under the dielectric continuum model and separation of variables, the interface optical (IO) phonon modes and electron-optical-phonon interaction in rectangular quantum wire and quantum dot embedded in a nonpolar matrix are studied. We found that there exist various types of IO phonon modes in rectangular nanostructures. The IO phonon modes in rectangular quantum wire include IO-propagating (IO-PR) and IO-IO hybrid phonon modes, while the IO phonon modes in rectangular quantum dot contain IO-IO-PR and IO-PR-PR hybrid phonon modes. The results of numerical calculation show that these hybrid phonon modes contain corner optical (CO) phonon modes and edge optical (EO) phonon modes. The potential applications of these results are also discussed.     

Effect of inelastic electron-phonon interaction on tunneling magnetoresistance through ferromagnetic-organic molecule-ferromagnetic junction

We have studied the effect of inelastic electron-phonon interaction on the spin-dependent transport properties of a molecule, trans-polyacetylene (trans-PA), as a molecular bridge sandwiched between two ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes. The work is based on a tight-binding Hamiltonian model within the framework of a generalized Green’s function technique and relies on the Landauer-Büttiker formalism as the basis for studying the current-voltage characteristic of this system. We use the wide-band approximation for FM electrodes. It is shown that due to inelastic interactions, the spin currents increase in a finite value of voltage and tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) decreases compared with TMR obtained in the absence of phonons.     

Phonon energy in an anharmonic quasi-one-dimensional solid

For the first time, the phonon energy per unit volume in a large anharmonic quasi-one-dimensional solid is determined by considering all polarizations of the various modes of phonon propagation and by assuming the solid as a lattice of atoms behaving as the Morse oscillators. In this context the equilibrium phonon occupation number, which is given by the Bose distribution, replaces formally the vibrational quantum number into the expression for the Morse-oscillator energy. In addition, the quasi-harmonic solid is discussed within the above framework so that the phonon energy per unit volume is calculated for a large quasi-harmonic and quasi-one-dimensional solid.     

Theoretical investigations on the orientational dependence of electron transport through porphyrin molecular wire

The effect of molecular orientation on the electron transport behavior of single porphyrin sandwiched between two gold (111) electrodes is investigated by density functional theory calculations combined with non-equilibrium Green’s function method. The results show that the porphyrin with parallel connection to gold (111) electrodes is more conductive than the porphyrin with diagonal connection to gold (111) electrodes. The mechanism of the difference of electron transport for these two molecular junctions is analyzed from the transmission spectra and the molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian states. It is found that the intrinsic nature of the molecule, such as the π-conjugated framework and the strength of molecule–electrode coupling, are the essential reason for generating this difference of electron transport for the two molecular systems.     

Phonon dynamics of hexagonal Y Mn1−xFexO3

Phonon dynamics was investigated on Y Mn_1−xFe_xO₃(0≤x≤0.20) hexagonal manganite polycrystals. Phonon modes were properly assigned using results obtained on Y MnO₃ single crystal, by mixing the ab plane and the c axis optical responses. Upon increasing the Fe content, most of the phonon mode frequencies do not vary drastically. However, some modes involving Y and O atom displacements along the c axis are affected by doping. Indeed, a redshift of their transverse optical frequency was interpreted as an elongation of Y-O distance along the c-axis, resulting in a change in yttrium coordination.     

A high accuracy algorithm for 3D periodic electromagnetic scattering

We develop a highly accurate numerical method for scattering of 3D electromagnetic waves by doubly periodic structures. We approximate scattered fields using the Müller boundary integral formulation of Maxwell’s equations. The accuracy is achieved as singularities are isolated through the use of partitions of unity, leaving smooth, periodic integrands that can be evaluated with high accuracy using trapezoid sums. The removed singularities are resolved through a transformation to polar coordinates. The method relies on the ideas used in the free space scattering algorithm of Bruno and Kunyansky.     

Polarons in a cylindrical quantum well wire with finite confining potential

The polaron self-energy and the correction to the electron effective mass in a cylindrical quantum well wire (QWW) are studied by the perturbation approach. The interactions of electrons with different phonon modes in the QWW system, including the confined longitudinal optical phonon modes, in the wire (LO1), in the barrier materials (LO2) and in the interface optical (IO) phonon modes, are considered. The result shows that the LO1 phonon’s contribution to the polaron self-energy increases gradually as the radius of the wire increases, and finally reaches that of the three-dimensional limit, while the LO2 phonon contributes only when the radius of the wire is very small. Also, the contribution of the IO phonon modes first increases quickly as the wire radius increases and soon reaches a maximum, then reduces to zero monotonically.     

First-order hyperpolarizability of ZnS nanocrystal quantum dots studied by hyper-Rayleigh scattering

Hyper-Rayleigh scattering technique was used to measure for the first time the first-order hyperpolarizability (β) of ZnS nanocrystals with 2.5 nm mean diameter. Results show that the ‘per ZnS particle’ β value is 2.34×10⁻²⁷ esu and the ‘per ZnS formula unit’ β value is 1.63×10⁻²⁸ esu. An increase by at least two orders of magnitude in the β value per ZnS formula unit is found when compared with bulk ZnS. Two possible contributions originating from nanocrystal surface electric field and solvent field were experimentally excluded. Other two contributions, bulk-like contribution and surface contribution, are considered. Especially, the latter is emphasized due to the special surface structure of nanocrystals.     

Thermal transport in four-terminal graphene nano-junctions

The thermal transport properties of four-terminal graphene nano-junctions (FGNJs) consisting of semi-infinite armchair-edged nanoribbon and zigzag-edged nanoribbon were calculated. The thermal transport in FGNJs is sensitive to their geometric shape. The thermal conductance of FGNJs depends on the width of semi-infinite graphene nanoribbons and center region. These thermal transport phenomena can be explained by analyzing the phonon transmission coefficient. Compared with previous thermal rectifiers, reverse modulation can be obtained by changing the width of the thermal terminal. The results provide significant physical models and theoretical validity in designing the thermal devices based on the graphene nano-junctions.     

Magnetic properties of a mixed spin-1 and spin-2 Heisenberg ferrimagnetic system: Green’s function study

The magnetic behaviors of a mixed spin-1 and spin-2 Heisenberg ferrimagnetic system on a square lattice are studied by using the double-time temperature-dependent Green’s function technique. In order to decouple the higher order Green’s functions, Anderson and Callen’s decoupling and random phase approximations have been used. The system is described in the presence of an external magnetic field. We illustrate the influences of the nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions and the single-ion anisotropies with an external magnetic field on compensation and critical temperatures. We found that the system that includes only the nearest-neighbor interaction and the single-ion anisotropies does not have a compensation temperature. When the next-nearest-neighbor interactions exceed a certain minimum value, a compensation temperature begins to appear. For some negative values of single-ion anisotropies, there exist first-order phase transitions. The system has first-order phase transition properties when it is under the influence of an external magnetic field.     

Carrier scattering by Auger mechanism in a single quantum wire

We report on time-resolved microphotoluminescence experiments in a single GaAs/GaAlAs V-shaped quantum wire as a function of optical excitation intensity. At low pump power we observe that excitons are localized in quantum boxes formed by the local potential minima existing along the wire axis. As the pump power is increased, state filling of the lowest lying levels of the boxes appears. When two carriers occupy the first excited level of the box, a very efficient Auger scattering occurs, leading to a transfer of carriers from one box to another neighbouring one. The intradot Auger scattering time has been measured and is of the same order of magnitude as the LA-phonon emission rate. Received 5 February 2001     

One-dimensional model of a quantum nonlinear harmonic oscillator

In this paper we study the quantization of the nonlinear oscillator introduced by Mathews and Lakshmanan. This system with position-dependent mass allows a natural quantization procedure and is shown to display shape invariance. Its energy spectrum is found by factorization. The linear harmonic oscillator appears as the λ → 0 limit of this nonlinear oscillator, whose energy spectrum and eigenfunctions are compared to the linear ones.     

Simulation of the electrical characteristics of a one-dimensional quantum dot array

A quantum dot array, consisting of Au dots, was prepared by the linear aggregation technique and assembled between two electrodes. We study the voltage–current characteristic of the quantum dot array, using a Non-Equilibrium Green’s Function (NEGF) model based on the Keldysh formalism. The results of our simulation and experimental data are compared. The simulated voltage–current curve is a reasonable fit with the measured data. It shows that the present model can be used to study quantum dot arrays. Furthermore, our results indicate that the electrical characteristics of an Au dot array are directly related to the coupling parameters.     

The influence of spin-flip scattering on the preparation and detection of a single spin state in a quantum dot attached to a spin battery

Recently, the possibility of an all electrical scheme of preparation and readout for a single spin state in a single quantum dot attached to spin biased leads has been shown [F. Chi et al. Phys. Rev. B 81, 075310 (2010)]. However, spin scattering mechanisms have been omitted. To remedy this lack we consider the influence of the spin-flip scattering process on the proposed preparation and readout scheme.