Classical chaos and ballistic transport in a mesoscopic channel
Phys. Rev. B 54, 11410 – Published 15 October, 1996
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.54.11410
Abstract
We study transport properties in the classical ballistic regime of a two-dimensional electron channel with sinusoideal (rippled) boundaries. We calculate the transmission coefficient, the average number of collisions, and the mean path length, as a function of ripple amplitude. The Poincaré plots of the associated dynamical system (the infinitely long channel) exhibit the generic transition to chaos as the amplitude of the ripples is increased. The chaotic nature of the finite channel is manifested by the fractal character of a response function. Transport features and dynamical properties are correlated. We compare our results with those that consider collisions with random (rough) boundaries. A criterion is proposed to distinguish between regular and chaotic dynamics by measuring classical resistivity. © 1996 The American Physical Society.