Quantum Transport

Conventional transport theory though uses parameters derived from quantum mechanical principles such as energy gap and effective mass, mostly utilizes classical or semi-classical approach. Contrarily, electrical transport in mesoscopic systems is enriched by a number of exotic phenomena driven by the quantum nature of the charge carriers such as quantum tunneling, quantum Hall effects, conductance quantization, flux-quantization, Aharanov-Bohm effect, single-electron charging, Kondo effect and Josephson effects. This course is aimed at giving a comprehensive introduction to many of these phenomena and equipping the prospective students to understand the physical concept and follow the latest developments in this field. The content and lectures are aimed to cater to the senior undergraduate and graduate students aspiring to do their advanced research in area such as solid-state quantum computing technologies, quantum electrical sensing and metrology. INTENDED AUDIENCE : Final year M.Sc. or integrated BS-MS students and Ph. D studentsPREREQUISITES : Introductory Quantum Mechanics & Introductory Solid State PhysicsINDUSTRIES SUPPORT : IBM, Philips Semiconductor, NTT Japan, SQC Sydney, D-Wave systems

Week 1:Introduction, Quantum confinement effects in transport, Density of statesWeek 2:Surface states & band bending, Metal semiconductor contacts Semiconductor heterostructuresWeek 3:2D electron systems, Quantum confinement by electrostatic shaping, Overview of device fabrication techniques. Week 4:2D systems: Flux quantization, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations & Quantum Hall effect
Week 5:2D systems: Weak-localization, Universal conductance fluctuations, Aharonov-Bohm effectWeek 6:2D layered systems, Spin-Orbit coupling, topological insulatorsWeek 7:1D systems: Quantum point contacts, NanowiresWeek 8:1D systems: atomic point contacts, charge sensing techniques
Week 9:0D systems: Gated Quantum dots, artificial atoms, Coulomb blockade, Single electron chargingWeek 10:0D systems: Shell filling, single electron states, Coupled quantum dots, spin-qubitsWeek 11:Mesoscopic superconductivity: Josephson junctions, AC and DC Josephson effects, SQUID Week 12:Quantum electrical Metrology, quantum electrical amplifiers