Electron Transport in a Quantum Wire: Effect of a High-Frequency Electromagnetic Field

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the electron transport properties in a semiconductor quantum wire, where a finite-rang high-frequency electromagnetic field in the ballistic limit is imposed. Within the effective mass free-electron approximation, the scattering matrix for the system has been formulated by means of a time dependent mode matching method. Some interesting properties of the electron transmission for the system have been shown. It is found that, although the electrons in a nanowire only suffer from lateral collisions with photons, the reflection of electrons also takes place. And when the frequency of the electromagnetic field is resonant with the two lateral energy levels, the field induced inter subband transition dominates the process, and there is a steparising on the transmission as a function of the incident electron energy. Moreover, the transmission dependence on the mode coupling is also discussed.