Decoherence Effects Break Reciprocity in Matter Transport

TL;DR

This paper reveals that decoherence can induce a new form of matter transport in nanoscale devices, leading to rectification and persistent currents by disrupting quantum unitary dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates how decoherence modeled by quantum jumps enables novel transport phenomena in noncentrosymmetric conductors, bridging quantum and classical regimes.

Findings

Decoherence causes charge separation in nanoscale conductors.

Persistent currents can be generated through decoherence-induced steady states.

Noncentrosymmetric conductors act as rectifiers due to decoherence effects.

Abstract

The decoherence of quantum states defines the transition between the quantum world and classical physics. Decoherence or, analogously, quantum mechanical collapse events pose fundamental questions regarding the interpretation of quantum mechanics and are technologically relevant because they limit the coherent information processing performed by quantum computers. We have discovered that the transition regime enables a novel type of matter transport. Applying this discovery, we present nanoscale devices in which decoherence, modeled by random quantum jumps, produces fundamentally novel phenomena by interrupting the unitary dynamics of electron wave packets. Noncentrosymmetric conductors with mesoscopic length scales act as two-terminal rectifiers with unique properties. In these devices, the inelastic interaction of itinerant electrons with impurities acting as electron trapping centers leads to a novel steady state characterized by partial charge separation between the two leads, or, in closed circuits to the generation of persistent currents. The interface between the quantum and the classical worlds therefore provides a novel transport regime of value for the realization of a new category of mesoscopic electronic devices.