Quantized Conductance by Accelerated Electrons

• Published in: arXiv.org 2023-06
• Main Author: Terasawa, Daiju
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electric contacts; Electric fields; Electrons; Kinetic energy; Perturbation; Point contact; Potential gradient; Quantum wells; Spin-orbit interactions; Splitting; Travel time; Wavelengths
• ISSN: 2331-8422

One-dimensional quantized conductance is derived from the electrons in a homogeneous electric field by calculating the traveling time of the accelerated motion and the number of electrons in the one-dimensional region. As a result, the quantized conductance is attributed to the finite time required for ballistic electrons to travel a finite length. In addition, this model requires no Joule heat dissipation, even if the conductance is a finite value, because the electric power is converted to kinetic energy of electrons. Furthermore, the relationship between the non-equilibrium source-drain bias \(V_\mathrm{sd}\) and wavenumber \(k\) in a one-dimensional conductor is shown as \(k \propto \sqrt{V_\mathrm{sd}}\). This correspondence accounts for the wavelength of the coherent electron flows emitted from a quantum point contact. Furthermore, it explains the anomalous \(0.7 \cdot 2e^2/h\) (\(e\) is the elementary charge, and \(h\) is the Plank's constant) conductance plateau as a consequence of the perturbation gap at the crossing point of the wavenumber-directional-splitting dispersion relation. We propose that this splitting is caused by the Rashba spin-orbit interaction induced by the potential gradient of the quantum well at quantum point contacts.