Conductance of fully equilibrated quantum wires.

Journal Article · Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Phys. Rev. Lett.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.116402· OSTI ID:951581

Rech, J; Micklitz, T; Matveev, K A

We study the conductance of a quantum wire in the presence of weak electron-electron scattering. In a sufficiently long wire the scattering leads to full equilibration of the electron distribution function in the frame moving with the electric current. At nonzero temperature this equilibrium distribution differs from the one supplied by the leads. As a result the contact resistance increases, and the quantized conductance of the wire acquires a quadratic in temperature correction. The magnitude of the correction is found by analysis of the conservation laws of the system and does not depend on the details of the interaction mechanism responsible for equilibration.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 951581
• Report Number(s): ANL/MSD/JA-63556; PRLTAO; TRN: US200912%%47
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 102, Issue Mar. 20, 2009; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRONS
QUANTUM WIRES
SCATTERING