Time-dependent transport of electrons through a photon cavity

TL;DR

This paper models the time-dependent transport of Coulomb-interacting electrons in a quantum wire coupled to a photon cavity, revealing how initial photon states influence electron transport properties.

Contribution

It introduces a non-Markovian master equation approach that fully accounts for electron-photon interactions without approximations, enabling detailed analysis of complex geometries.

Findings

Initial cavity photon number affects transport behavior

Electron-photon interactions influence quasiparticle lifetimes

Photon polarization impacts transport properties

Abstract

We use a non-Markovian master equation to describe the transport of Coulomb interacting electrons through an electromagnetic cavity with one quantized photon mode. The central system is a finite parabolic quantum wire that is coupled weakly to external parabolic quasi-one-dimensional leads at $t=0$. With a stepwise introduction of complexity to the description of the system and a corresponding stepwise truncation of the ensuing many-body spaces we are able to describe the time-dependent transport of Coulomb-interacting electrons through a geometrically complex central system. We take into account the full electromagnetic interaction of electrons and cavity photons without resorting to the rotating wave approximation or reduction of the electron states to two levels. We observe that the number of initial cavity photons and their polarization can have important effects on the transport properties of the system. The quasiparticles formed in the central system have a lifetime limited by the coupling to the leads and radiation processes active on a much longer timescale.