Kavli Affiliate: Joel E. Moore
| First 5 Authors: Johannes Mitscherling, Dan S. Borgnia, SuryaNeil Ahuja, Joel E. Moore, Vir B. Bulchandani
| Summary:
Traditional theories of electron transport in crystals are based on the
Boltzmann equation and do not capture physics arising from quantum coherence.
We introduce a transport formalism based on ”orbital Wigner functions”, which
accurately captures quantum coherent physics in multiband fermionic systems. We
illustrate the power of this approach compared to traditional semiclassical
transport theory by testing it numerically against microscopic simulations of
one-dimensional, non-interacting, two-band systems — the simplest systems
capable of exhibiting inter-orbital coherence. We show that orbital Wigner
functions accurately capture strongly non-equilibrium features of electron
dynamics that lie beyond conventional Boltzmann theory, such as the ballistic
transport of a relative phase between microscopic orbitals and topological
Thouless pumping of charge both at non-zero temperature and away from the
adiabatic limit. Our approach is motivated in part by modern ultracold atom
experiments that can prepare and measure far-from-equilibrium charge transport
and phase coherence in multiband fermionic systems, calling for correspondingly
precise theories of transport. The quantitative accuracy exhibited by our
approach, together with its capacity to capture nontrivial physics even at the
ballistic scale, establishes orbital Wigner functions as an ideal starting
point for developing a fully systematic theory of transport in crystals.
| Search Query: ArXiv Query: search_query=au:”Joel E. Moore”&id_list=&start=0&max_results=3