Conductance of Fully Equilibrated Quantum Wires

Jérôme Rech, Tobias Micklitz, and K. A. Matveev
Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 116402 – Published 18 March 2009

Abstract

We study the conductance of a quantum wire in the presence of weak electron-electron scattering. In a sufficiently long wire the scattering leads to full equilibration of the electron distribution function in the frame moving with the electric current. At nonzero temperature this equilibrium distribution differs from the one supplied by the leads. As a result the contact resistance increases, and the quantized conductance of the wire acquires a quadratic in temperature correction. The magnitude of the correction is found by analysis of the conservation laws of the system and does not depend on the details of the interaction mechanism responsible for equilibration.

  • Figure
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  • Received 7 January 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.116402

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Jérôme Rech1,2, Tobias Micklitz1, and K. A. Matveev1

  • 1Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
  • 2Physics Department, Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, and Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Theresienstrasse 37, 80333 Munich, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 11 — 20 March 2009

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