Dissipation in a Quantum Wire: Fact and Fantasy

Mukunda P. Das, Frederick Green

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Where, and how, does energy dissipation of electrical energy take place in a ballistic wire? Fully two decades after the advent of the transmissive phenomenology of electrical conductance, this deceptively simple query remains unanswered. We revisit the quantum kinetic basis of dissipation and show its power to give a definitive answer to our query. Dissipation leaves a clear, quantitative trace in the non-equilibrium current noise of a quantum point contact; this signature has already been observed in the laboratory. We then highlight the current state of accepted understandings in the light of well-known yet seemingly contradictory measurements. The physics of mesoscopic transport rests not in coherent carrier transmission through a perfect and dissipationless metallic channel, but explicitly in their dissipative inelastic scattering at the wire's interfaces and adjacent macroscopic leads.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationMesoscopic, Nanoscopic, and Macroscopic Materials - Proceedings of the International Workshop on Mesoscopic, Nanoscopic, and Macroscopic Materials, IWMNMM 2008
    EditorsS. N. Behera, B. K. Roul, S. M. Bose
    PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics Inc.
    Pages26-34
    Number of pages9
    ISBN (Electronic)9780735405936
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008
    EventInternational Workshop on Mesoscopic, Nanoscopic, and Macroscopic Materials, IWMNMM 2008 - Bhubaneswar, India
    Duration: 2 Jan 20084 Jan 2008

    Publication series

    NameAIP Conference Proceedings
    Volume1063
    ISSN (Print)0094-243X
    ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

    Conference

    ConferenceInternational Workshop on Mesoscopic, Nanoscopic, and Macroscopic Materials, IWMNMM 2008
    Country/TerritoryIndia
    CityBhubaneswar
    Period2/01/084/01/08

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