Photon-assisted transport in semiconductor nanostructures

TL;DR

This review discusses photon-assisted electronic transport in semiconductor nanostructures driven by ac fields, highlighting experimental findings, theoretical methods like Floquet and Green's functions, and potential for quantum state control.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of experimental and theoretical approaches to photon-assisted transport, emphasizing the manipulation of quantum states in nanostructures using ac fields.

Findings

Experimental data on resonant tunneling diodes, superlattices, quantum dots

Application of Floquet and Green's function formalisms to photon-assisted transport

Demonstration of ac fields controlling quantum coherence

Abstract

In this review we focus on electronic transport through semiconductor nanostructures which are driven by ac fields. Along the review we describe the available experimental information on different nanostructures, like resonant tunneling diodes, superlattices or quantum dots, together with the theoretical tools needed to describe the observed features. These theoretical tools such as, for instance, the Floquet formalism, the non-equilibrium Green's function technique or the density matrix technique, are suitable for tackling with photon-assisted transport problems where the interplay of different aspects like nonequilibrium, nonlinearity, quantum confinement or electron-electron interactions gives rise to many intriguing new phenomena. Along the review we give many examples which demonstrate the possibility of using appropriate ac fields to control/manipulate coherent quantum states in semiconductor nanostructures.