Microscopic Theory of Quantum-Transport Phenomena in Mesoscopic Systems: A Monte Carlo Approach

A theoretical investigation of quantum-transport phenomena in mesoscopic systems is presented. In particular, a generalization to “open systems” of the well-known semiconductor Bloch equations is proposed. The presence of spatial boundary conditions manifests itself through self-energy corrections and additional source terms in the kinetic equations, whose forms are suitable for a solution via a generalized Monte Carlo simulation. The proposed approach is applied to the study of quantum-transport phenomena in double-barrier structures as well as in superlattices, showing a strong interplay between phase coherence and relaxation.