Mesoscopic Physics and Nanotechnology – serie

"Mesoscopic physics" refers to the physics of structures larger than a nanometer (one billionth of a meter) but smaller than a micrometer (one millionth of a meter). This size range is the stage on which the exciting new research on submicroscopic and electronic and mechanical devices is being done. This research often crosses the boundary between physics and engineering, since engineering such tiny electronic components (as many as one million transistors can be fitted onto a single chip) requires a firm grasp of quantum physics. Applications for the future may include such wonders as microscopic robot surgeons that will travel through the blood stream to repair clogged arteries; submicroscopic actuators and builders; and supercomputers that fit on the head of a pin.

Mesoscopic physics refers to the physics of structures larger than a nanometer (one billionth of a meter) but smaller than a micrometer (one millionth of a meter). This size range is the stage on which the exciting new research on submicroscopic and electronic and mechanical devices is being done. This research often crosses the boundary between physics and engineering, since engineering such tiny electronic components requires a firm grasp of quantum physics. Applications for the future may include such wonders as microscopic robot surgeons that travel through the blood stream to repair clogged arteries, submicroscopic actuators and builders, and supercomputers that fit on the head of a pin. The world of the future is being planned and built by physicists, engineers, and chemists working in the microscopic realm. This book can be used as the main text in a course on mesoscopic physics or as a supplementary text in electronic devices, semiconductor devices, and condensed matter physics courses. For this new edition, the author has substantially updated and modified the material especially of chapters 3: Dephasing, 8: Noise in mesoscopic systems, and the concluding chapter 9.

This book presents the statistical theory of complex wave scattering and quantum transport in physical systems which have chaotic classical dynamics, as in the case of microwave cavities and quantum dots, or which possess quenched randomness, as in the case of disordered conductors - with an emphasis on mesoscopic fluctuations. The statistical regularity of the phenomena is revealed in a natural way by adopting a novel maximum-entropy approach. Shannon's information entropy is maximised, subject to the symmetries and constraints which are physically relevant, within the powerful and non-perturbative theory of random matrices; this is a most distinctive feature of the book. Aiming for a self-contained presentation, the quantum theory of scattering, set in the context of quasi-one-dimensional, multichannel systems, and related directly to scattering problems in mesoscopic physics, is introduced in chapters two and three. The linear-response theory of quantum electronic transport, adapted to the context of mesoscopic systems, is discussed in chapter four. These chapters, together with chapter five on the maximum-entropy approach and chapter eight on weak localization, have been written in a most pedagogical style, suitable for use on graduate courses. In chapters six and seven, the problem of electronic transport through classically chaotic cavities and quasi-one-dimensional disordered systems is discussed. Many exercises are included, most of which are worked through in detail, aiding graduate students, teachers, and research scholars interested in the subject of quantum transport through disordered and chaotic systems.

Dynamics of billiard balls and their role in physics have received wide attention since the monumental lecture by Lord Kelvin at the turn of the 19th century. Billiards can nowadays be created as quantum dots in the microscopic world enabling one to envisage the so-called quantum chaos, i.e. quantum manifestation of chaos of billiard balls. In fact, owing to recent progress in advanced technology, nanoscale quantum dots, such as chaotic stadium and antidot lattices analogous to the Sinai Billiard, can be fabricated at the interface of semiconductor heterojunctions. This book begins its exploration of the effect of chaotic electron dynamics on ballistic quantum transport in quantum dots with a puzzling experiment on resistance fluctuations for stadium and circle dots. Throughout the text, major attention is paid to the semiclassical theory which makes it possible to interpret quantum phenomena in the language of the classical world. Chapters one to four are concerned with the elementary statistical methods (curvature, Lyapunov exponent, Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy and escape rate), which are needed for a semiclassical description of transport in quantum dots. Chapters five to ten discuss the topical subjects in the field, including the ballistic weak localization, Altshuler-Aronov-Spivak oscillation, partial time-reversal symmetry, persistent current, Arnold diffusion and Coulomb blockade.

Nanomagnetism is a rapidly expanding area of research which appears to be able to provide novel applications. Magnetic molecules are at the very bottom of the possible size of nanomagnets and they provide a unique opportunity to observe the coexistence of classical and quantum properties. The discovery in the early 90's that a cluster comprising twelve manganese ions shows hysteresis of molecular origin, and later proved evidence of quantum effects, opened a new research area which is still flourishing through the collaboration of chemists and physicists. This book is the first attempt to cover in detail the new area of molecular nanomagnetism, for which no other book is available. In fact research and review articles, and book chapters are the only tools available for newcomers and the experts in the field. It is written by the chemists originators and by a theorist who has been one of the protagonists of the development of the field, and is explicitly addressed to an audience of chemists and physicists, aiming to use a language suitable for the two communities.

Mesoscopic physics refers to the physics of structures larger than a nanometer (one billionth of a meter) but smaller than a micrometer (one millionth of a meter). This size range is the stage on which the exciting new research on submicroscopic and electronic and mechanical devices is being done. This research often crosses the boundary between physics and engineering, since engineering such tiny electronic components requires a firm grasp of quantum physics. Future applications for this work could include wonders such as microscopic robot surgeons that travel through the blood stream to repair clogged arteries, submicroscopic actuators and builders, and supercomputers that fit on the head of a pin. The world of future is being planned and built by physicists, engineers, and chemists working in the microscopic realm.This book can be used as the main text in a course on mesoscopic physics or as a supplementary text in electronic devices, semiconductor devices, and condensed matter physics courses. For this new edition, the author has substantially updated and modified the bibliography and the material on dephasing and noise in mesoscopic systems. A brief discussion of new nanosystems has been added.