1996/01/18 by M. Buttiker, T. Christen
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat
published as NATO ASI on 'quantum transport in semiconductor submicron structures', B. Kramer (Ed.), Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht (1996), p. 263 · 29 pages, figures not included (preprints with figures can be obtained by conventional mail on request from T.Christen [email protected])
arxiv created 1996/01/18 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
A theory of the dynamical conductance of mesoscopic conductors is presented. It is applied to mesoscopic capacitors, resonant double barriers, ballistic wires, metallic diffusive wires, and to the Corbino disk and the Hall bar in quantizing magnetic fields. Central to this approach is a discussion of the charge and potential distribution in mesoscopic conductors. It is necessary to take into account the implications of the long-range Coulomb interaction in order to obtain a charge and current conserving theory. We emphasize the low-frequency response. This has the advantage that the approach is of considerable generality. The theory can be used to discuss the self-consistency of the dc-conductance formula. The theory can also be applied to discuss the rectifying (nonlinear) behavior of mesoscopic conductors.