2005/02/16 by Guanghui Zhou, Yuan Li, Fang Cheng +1
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Electromagnetic field #Electromagnetic radiation #Electron #Impurity #Magnetic field #Materials science #Optics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Quantum #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices #Terahertz radiation #Terahertz technology and applications #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.1939085
published as Journal of Applied Physics 97, 123521 (2005)
arxiv created 2005/02/16 · openalex publication_date 2005/06/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We investigate theoretically the electron-transport properties for a semiconductor quantum wire containing a single finite-size attractive impurity under an external terahertz electromagnetic-field illumination in the ballistic limit. Within the effective-mass free-electron approximation, the scattering matrix for the system has been formulated by means of a time-dependent mode matching method. Some interesting properties of the electron transmission for the system have been shown through numerical examples. It is found that in the case of a relatively large field amplitude and a frequency resonant with that corresponding to the difference between the two lowest lateral energy levels in the impurity region, the field-induced intersubband transition dominates the process as it does in the absence of the impurity. Furthermore, there is a steplike structure on the transmission as a function of the incident electron energy. However, in the case of a small field amplitude and nonresonant frequencies, both multiple symmetry Breit-type resonance peaks and asymmetry Fano-type dip lines appear in the electron transmission dependence on the incident energy due to the presence of the impurity and the external field. Therefore, within a certain energy range the transmission as a function of the field frequency and∕or field amplitude shows a rich structure. Moreover, the transmission dependence on the strength and size of the impurity is also discussed. Our results suggest that the electron-transport properties of a quantum wire are affected by the interplay effects between the impurity and the applied field.