Scattering in quantum tubes

Abstract

It is possible to fabricate mesoscopic structures where at least one of the dimensions is of the order of de Broglie wavelength for cold electrons. By using semiconductors, composed of more than one material combined with a metal slip-gate, two-dimensional quantum tubes may be built. We present a method for predicting the transmission of low-temperature electrons in such a tube. This problem is mathematically related to the transmission of acoustic or electromagnetic waves in a two-dimensional duct. The tube is asymptotically straight with a constant cross-section. Propagation properties for complicated tubes can be synthesised from corresponding results for more simple tubes by the so-called Building Block Method. Conformal mapping techniques are then applied to transform the simple tube with curvature and varying cross-section to a straight, constant cross-section, tube with variable refractive index. Stable formulations for the scattering operators in terms of ordinary differential equations are formulated by wave splitting using an invariant imbedding technique. The mathematical framework is also generalised to handle tubes with edges, which are of large technical interest. The numerical method consists of using a standard MATLAB ordinary differential equation solver for the truncated reflection and transmission matrices in a Fourier sine basis. It is proved that the numerical scheme converges with increasing truncation.