Scattering induced current in a tight-binding band

TL;DR

This paper investigates how repeated interactions with two-level systems in a static electric field lead to a steady current in a tight-binding model, suppressing Bloch oscillations and revealing new transport behavior.

Contribution

It demonstrates that interactions with two-level systems induce a steady current and suppress Bloch oscillations in a tight-binding electron model.

Findings

Repeated interactions suppress Bloch oscillations.

Steady current is induced by two-level system interactions.

Statistical properties of the current are characterized.

Abstract

In the single band tight-binding approximation, we consider the transport properties of an electron in a homogeneous static electric field. We show that repeated interactions of the electron with two-level systems in thermal equilibrium suppress the Bloch oscillations and induce a steady current, the statistical properties of which we study.