Conductance and Statistical Properties of Chaotic and Integrable Electron Waveguides

We show that the S-matrix for electrons propagating in a waveguide has different statistical properties depending on whether the waveguide cavity shape gives rise to chaotic or integrable behavior classically. We obtain distributions of energy level spacings for integrable and chaotic billiards shaped like the waveguide cavity. We also obtain distributions for Wigner delay times and resonance widths for the waveguide, for integrable and chaotic cavity geometries. Our results, obtained by direct numerical calculation of the electron wave function, are consistent with the predictions of random matrix theory.     

Quantum-chaotic scattering effects in semiconductor microstructures

We show that classical chaotic scattering has experimentally measurable consequences for the quantum conductance of semiconductor microstructures. These include the existence of conductance fluctuations-a sensitivity of the conductance to either Fermi energy or magnetic field-and weak-localization-a change in the average conductance upon applying a magnetic field. We develop a semiclassical theory and present numerical results for these two effects in which we model the microstructures by billiards attached to leads. We find that the difference between chaotic and regular classical scattering produces a qualitative difference in the fluctuation spectrum and weak-localization lineshape of chaotic and nonchaotic structures. While the semiclassical theory within the diagonal approximation accounts well for the weak-localization lineshape and for the spectrum of the fluctuations, we uncover a surprising failure of the semiclassical diagonal-approximation theory in describing the magnitude of these quantum transport effects.     

Entanglement distribution statistic in Andreev billiards

We investigate statistical aspects of the entanglement production for open chaotic mesoscopic billiards in contact with superconducting parts, known as Andreev billiards. The complete distributions of concurrence and entanglement of formation are obtained by using the Altland–Zirnbauer symmetry classes of circular ensembles of scattering matrices, which complements previous studies in chaotic universal billiards belonging to other classes of random matrix theory. Our results show a unique and very peculiar behavior: the realization of entanglement in a Andreev billiard always results in non-separable state, regardless of the time reversal symmetry. The analytical calculations are supported by a numerical Monte Carlo simulation.     

Elliptic Flowers: New Types of Dynamics to Study Classical and Quantum Chaos

We construct examples of billiards where two chaotic flows are moving in opposite directions around a non-chaotic core or vice versa; the dynamics in the core are chaotic but flows that are moving in opposite directions around it are non-chaotic. These examples belong to a new class of dynamical systems called elliptic flowers billiards. Such systems demonstrate a variety of new behaviors which have never been observed or predicted to exist. Elliptic flowers billiards, where a chaotic (non-chaotic) core coexists with the same (chaotic/non-chaotic) type of dynamics in flows were recently constructed. Therefore, all four possible types of coexisting dynamics in the core and tracks are detected. However, it is just the beginning of studies of elliptic flowers billiards, which have already extended the imagination of what may happen in phase spaces of nonlinear systems. We outline some further directions of investigation of elliptic flowers billiards, which may bring new insights into our understanding of classical and quantum dynamics in nonlinear systems.     

Quantum-classical correspondence in the wave functions of andreev billiards

We present a classical and quantum mechanical study of an Andreev billiard with a chaotic normal dot. We demonstrate that the nonexact velocity reversal and the diffraction at the edges of the normal-superconductor contact render the classical dynamics of these systems mixed indicating the limitations of a widely used retracing approximation. We point out the close relation between the mixed classical phase space and the properties of the quantum states of Andreev billiards, including periodic orbit scarring and localization of the wave function onto other classical phase space objects such as intermittent regions and quantized tori.     

Semiclassical approximation for transmission through open Sinai billiards

We use a semiclassical approximation to study the transport through the weakly open chaotic Sinai quantum billiards which can be considered as the schematic of a Sinai mesoscopic device,with the diffractive scatterings at the lead openings taken into account.The conductance of the ballistic microstructure which displays universal fluctuations due to quantum interference of electrons can be calculated by Landauer formula as a function of the electron Fermi wave number,and the transmission amplitude can be expressed as the sum over all classical paths connecting the entrance and the exit leads.For the Sinai billiards,the path sum leads to an excellent numerical agreement between the peak positions of power spectrum of the transmission amplitude and the corresponding lengths of the classical trajectories,which demonstrates a good agreement between the quantum theory and the semiclassical theory.     

Separation of particles in time-dependent focusing billiards

We consider a family of stadium-like billiards with time-dependent boundaries. Two different cases of time dependence are studied: (i) the fixed boundary approximation and (ii) the exact model which takes into account the motion of the boundary. It is shown that when the billiards possess strong chaotic properties, the sequence of their boundary perturbations is the Fermi acceleration phenomenon which is three times larger than in the case of the fixed boundary approximation. However, weak mixing in such billiards leads to particle separation. Depending on the initial velocity three different things occur: (i) the particle ensemble may accelerate; (ii) the average velocity may stay constant or (iii) it may even decrease.     

Proximity-induced subgaps in andreev billiards

We examine the density of states of an Andreev billiard and show that any billiard with a finite upper cutoff in the path length distribution P(s) will possess an energy gap on the scale of the Thouless energy. An exact quantum mechanical calculation for different Andreev billiards gives good agreement with the semiclassical predictions when the energy dependent phase shift for Andreev reflections is properly taken into account. Based on this new semiclassical Bohr-Sommerfeld approximation of the density of states, we derive a simple formula for the energy gap. We show that the energy gap, in units of Thouless energy, may exceed the value predicted earlier from random matrix theory for chaotic billiards.     

Nodal domains statistics: a criterion for quantum chaos

We consider the distribution of the (properly normalized) numbers of nodal domains of wave functions in 2D quantum billiards. We show that these distributions distinguish clearly between systems with integrable (separable) or chaotic underlying classical dynamics, and for each case the limiting distribution is universal (system independent). Thus, a new criterion for quantum chaos is provided by the statistics of the wave functions, which complements the well-established criterion based on spectral statistics.     

Scattering from Spatially Localized Chaotic and Disordered Systems

A version of scattering theory that was developed many years ago to treat nuclear scattering processes, has provided a powerful tool to study universality in scattering processes involving open quantum systems with underlying classically chaotic dynamics. Recently, it has been used to make random matrix theory predictions concerning the statistical properties of scattering resonances in mesoscopic electron waveguides and electromagnetic waveguides. We provide a simple derivation of this scattering theory and we compare its predictions to those obtained from an exactly solvable scattering model; and we use it to study the scattering of a particle wave from a random potential. This method may prove useful in distinguishing the effects of chaos from the effects of disorder in real scattering processes.     

On the signs of quantum chaos in a scattering billiard K system with kinks of the lateral boundary

Signs of quantum chaos in the spectra of linear Hamiltonian systems including scattering billiards of various configurations with kinks of the lateral surface have been experimentally studied. A billiard with kinks of the lateral surface at which the second derivative is indefinite constitutes a scattering K system. As a result, the spectrum of such a billiard and the corresponding model resonator becomes chaotic and the distribution of spectral intervals is close to a Wigner distribution. The spectral rigidity curves have been measured for a model microwave cavity whose shape is similar to the scattering billiard with kinks of the lateral surface. It has been found that the characteristics of the chaotic spectrum, the distribution of the spectral intervals, and the spectral rigidity curves for billiards with kinks of the lateral boundary exhibit signs of quantum chaos.     

Effect of noise in open chaotic billiards

We investigate the effect of white-noise perturbations on chaotic trajectories in open billiards. We focus on the temporal decay of the survival probability for generic mixed-phase-space billiards. The survival probability has a total of five different decay regimes that prevail for different intermediate times. We combine new calculations and recent results on noise perturbed Hamiltonian systems to characterize the origin of these regimes and to compute how the parameters scale with noise intensity and billiard openness. Numerical simulations in the annular billiard support and illustrate our results.     

Universality of level spacing distributions in classical chaos

We suggest that random matrix theory applied to a matrix of lengths of classical trajectories can be used in classical billiards to distinguish chaotic from non-chaotic behavior. We consider in 2D the integrable circular and rectangular billiard, the chaotic cardioid, Sinai and stadium billiard as well as mixed billiards from the Limaçon/Robnik family. From the spectrum of the length matrix we compute the level spacing distribution, the spectral auto-correlation and spectral rigidity. We observe non-generic (Dirac comb) behavior in the integrable case and Wignerian behavior in the chaotic case. For the Robnik billiard close to the circle the distribution approaches a Poissonian distribution. The length matrix elements of chaotic billiards display approximate GOE behavior. Our findings provide evidence for universality of level fluctuations—known from quantum chaos—to hold also in classical physics.     

Scars in nonintegrable and rational billiards

We numerically study quantum mechanical features of the Bunimovich stadium billiard and the rational billiards which approach the former as the number of their sides increases. The statistics of energy levels and eigenfunctions of the rational billiards becomes indistinguishable from that of the Bunimovich stadium billiard below a certain energy. This fact contradicts the classical picture in which the Bunimovich stadium billiard is chaotic, but the rational billiard is pseudointegrable. It is numerically confirmed that the wave functions do not detect the fine structure, which is much smaller than the wavelength.     

A reciprocal phase-perturbation theory for rough-surface scattering

We study the scattering of a scalar plane wave from a two-dimensional, randomly rough surface, on which the Dirichlet boundary condition is satisfied. The scattering amplitude is obtained in the form of the Fourier transform of an exponential, in which the exponent is written as an expansion in powers of the surface profile function. It is shown that the latter expansion can be written in such a way that the corresponding scattering matrix is manifestly reciprocal. Numerical results for the reflectivity, and for the contribution to the mean differential reflection coefficient from the incoherent component of the scattered field, are obtained and compared with the predictions of small-amplitude perturbation theory and the Kirchhoff approximation. As the wavelength of the incident wave is varied continuously the results of the phase-perturbation theory change continuously from those of the small-amplitude perturbation theory to those of the Kirchhoff approximation.     

Experimental verification of fidelity decay: from perturbative to fermi golden rule regime

The scattering matrix was measured for a flat microwave cavity with classically chaotic dynamics. The system can be perturbed by small changes of the geometry. We define the "scattering fidelity" in terms of parametric correlation functions of scattering matrix elements. In chaotic systems and for weak coupling, the scattering fidelity approaches the fidelity of the closed system. Without free parameters, the experimental results agree with random matrix theory in a wide range of perturbation strengths, reaching from the perturbative to the Fermi golden rule regime.     

Stickiness in mushroom billiards

We investigate the dynamical properties of chaotic trajectories in mushroom billiards. These billiards present a well-defined simple border between a single regular region and a single chaotic component. We find that the stickiness of chaotic trajectories near the border of the regular region occurs through an infinite number of marginally unstable periodic orbits. These orbits have zero measure, thus not affecting the ergodicity of the chaotic region. Notwithstanding, they govern the main dynamical properties of the system. In particular, we show that the marginally unstable periodic orbits explain the periodicity and the power-law behavior with exponent gamma=2 observed in the distribution of recurrence times.     

A reciprocal phase-perturbation theory for rough-surface scattering

Abstract

We study the scattering of a scalar plane wave from a two-dimensional, randomly rough surface, on which the Dirichlet boundary condition is satisfied. The scattering amplitude is obtained in the form of the Fourier transform of an exponential, in which the exponent is written as an expansion in powers of the surface profile function. It is shown that the latter expansion can be written in such a way that the corresponding scattering matrix is manifestly reciprocal. Numerical results for the reflectivity, and for the contribution to the mean differential reflection coefficient from the incoherent component of the scattered field, are obtained and compared with the predictions of small-amplitude perturbation theory and the Kirchhoff approximation. As the wavelength of the incident wave is varied continuously the results of the phase-perturbation theory change continuously from those of the small-amplitude perturbation theory to those of the Kirchhoff approximation.