Optimal dephasing for ballistic energy transfer in disordered linear chains

Yang Zhang, G. Luca Celardo, Fausto Borgonovi, and Lev Kaplan
Phys. Rev. E 96, 052103 – Published 3 November 2017

Abstract

We study the interplay between dephasing, disorder, and coupling to a sink on transport efficiency in a one-dimensional chain of finite length N, and in particular the beneficial or detrimental effect of dephasing on transport. The excitation moves along the chain by coherent nearest-neighbor hopping Ω, under the action of static disorder W and dephasing γ. The last site is coupled to an external acceptor system (sink), where the excitation can be trapped with a rate Γtrap. While it is known that dephasing can help transport in the localized regime, here we show that dephasing can enhance energy transfer even in the ballistic regime. Specifically, in the localized regime we recover previous results, where the optimal dephasing is independent of the chain length and proportional to W or W2/Ω. In the ballistic regime, the optimal dephasing decreases as 1/N or 1/N, respectively, for weak and moderate static disorder. When focusing on the excitation starting at the beginning of the chain, dephasing can help excitation transfer only above a critical value of disorder Wcr, which strongly depends on the sink coupling strength Γtrap. Analytic solutions are obtained for short chains.

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  • Received 28 June 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.96.052103

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsStatistical Physics & ThermodynamicsInterdisciplinary PhysicsGeneral PhysicsNetworks

Authors & Affiliations

Yang Zhang1, G. Luca Celardo2, Fausto Borgonovi3,4, and Lev Kaplan1

  • 1Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA
  • 2Instituto de Física, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Apartado Postal J-48, Puebla 72570, Mexico
  • 3Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica and Interdisciplinary Laboratories for Advanced Materials Physics, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, via Musei 41, I-25121 Brescia, Italy
  • 4Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pavia, via Bassi 6, I-27100 Pavia, Italy

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Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 5 — November 2017

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