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Quantized conductance without reservoirs: Method of the nonequilibrium statistical operator

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Abstract

We introduce a generalized non-equilibrium statistical operator (NSO) to study a current-carrying system. The NSO is used to derive a set of quantum kinetic equations based on quantum mechanical balance equations. The quantum kinetic equations are solved self-consistently together with Poisson’s equation to solve a general transport problem. We show that these kinetic equations can be used to rederive the Landauer formula for the conductance of a quantum point contact, without any reference to reservoirs at different chemical potentials. Instead, energy dissipation is taken into account explicitly through the electron-phonon interaction. We find that both elastic and inelastic scattering are necessary to obtain the Landauer conductance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Bart Sorée & Wim Magnus

  2. Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020, Antwerpen, Belgium

    Wim Magnus

Authors
  1. Bart Sorée
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  2. Wim Magnus
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Correspondence to Bart Sorée.

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Sorée, B., Magnus, W. Quantized conductance without reservoirs: Method of the nonequilibrium statistical operator. J Comput Electron 6, 255–258 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-006-0094-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-006-0094-6

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