BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS FOR OPEN QUANTUM-SYSTEMS DRIVEN FAR FROM EQUILIBRIUM

被引:563
作者
FRENSLEY, WR [1 ]
机构
[1] TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC, CENT RES LABS, DALLAS, TX 75265 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1103/RevModPhys.62.745
中图分类号
O4 [物理学];
学科分类号
0702 ;
摘要
This is a study of simple kinetic models of open systems, in the sense of systems that can exchange conserved particles with their environment. The system is assumed to be one dimensional and situated between two particle reservoirs. Such a system is readily driven far from equilibrium if the chemical potentials of the reservoirs differ appreciably. The openness of the system modifies the spatial boundary conditions on the single-particle Liouville-von Neumann equation, leading to a non-Hermitian Liouville operator. If the open-system boundary conditions are time reversible, exponentially growing (unphysical) solutions are introduced into the time dependence of the density matrix. This problem is avoided by applying time-irreversible boundary conditions to the Wigner distribution function. These boundary conditions model the external environment as ideal particle reservoirs with properties analogous to those of a blackbody. This time-irreversible model may be numerically evaluated in a discrete approximation and has been applied to the study of a resonant-tunneling semiconductor diode. The physical and mathematical properties of the irreversible kinetic model, in both its discrete and its continuum formulations, are examined in detail. The model demonstrates the distinction in kinetic theory between commutator superoperators, which may become non-Hermitian to describe irreversible behavior, and anticommutator superoperators, which remain Hermitian and are used to evaluate physical observables. © 1990 The American Physical Society.
引用
收藏
页码:745 / 791
页数:47
相关论文
共 140 条
[61]   THE MONTE-CARLO METHOD FOR THE SOLUTION OF CHARGE TRANSPORT IN SEMICONDUCTORS WITH APPLICATIONS TO COVALENT MATERIALS [J].
JACOBONI, C ;
REGGIANI, L .
REVIEWS OF MODERN PHYSICS, 1983, 55 (03) :645-705
[62]   NONEQUILIBRIUM GREEN-FUNCTION TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO HOT-ELECTRON QUANTUM TRANSPORT [J].
JAUHO, AP .
SOLID-STATE ELECTRONICS, 1989, 32 (12) :1265-1271
[63]   NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF TRANSIENT-RESPONSE AND RESONANT-TUNNELING CHARACTERISTICS OF DOUBLE-BARRIER SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES AS A FUNCTION OF EXPERIMENTAL PARAMETERS [J].
JENSEN, KL ;
BUOT, FA .
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 1989, 65 (12) :5248-5250
[64]   THE EFFECTS OF SCATTERING ON CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS, TRANSIENT-RESPONSE, AND PARTICLE TRAJECTORIES IN THE NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF RESONANT TUNNELING DIODES [J].
JENSEN, KL ;
BUOT, FA .
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 1990, 67 (12) :7602-7607
[65]   NUMERICAL-CALCULATION OF PARTICLE TRAJECTORIES AND TUNNELING TIMES FOR RESONANT TUNNELING BARRIER STRUCTURES [J].
JENSEN, KL ;
BUOT, FA .
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 1989, 55 (07) :669-671
[66]  
Kadanoff L. P., 1962, QUANTUM STAT MECH GR
[67]  
KELDYSH LV, 1965, SOV PHYS JETP-USSR, V20, P1018
[68]   TRANSIENT SWITCHING BEHAVIOR OF THE RESONANT-TUNNELING DIODE [J].
KLUKSDAHL, NC ;
KRIMAN, AM ;
FERRY, DK ;
RINGHOFER, C .
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, 1988, 9 (09) :457-459
[69]   SELF-CONSISTENT STUDY OF THE RESONANT-TUNNELING DIODE [J].
KLUKSDAHL, NC ;
KRIMAN, AM ;
FERRY, DK ;
RINGHOFER, C .
PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 1989, 39 (11) :7720-7735
[70]   QUANTUM THEORY OF ELECTRICAL TRANSPORT PHENOMENA [J].
KOHN, W ;
LUTTINGER, JM .
PHYSICAL REVIEW, 1957, 108 (03) :590-611