Time-dependent quantum transport: A practical scheme using density functional theory

We present a computationally tractable scheme of time-dependent transport phenomena within open-boundary time-dependent density functional theory. Within this approach all the response properties of a system are determined from the time propagation of the set of >occupied> Kohn-Sham orbitals u...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Kurth, S., Stefanucci, Gianluca, Almbladh, C. O., Rubio, Angel, Gross, E. K. U.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2005
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::e2939da91b8fdf83e4387b64e9028372
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/98014
Access Level:acceso abierto
Descripción
Sumario:We present a computationally tractable scheme of time-dependent transport phenomena within open-boundary time-dependent density functional theory. Within this approach all the response properties of a system are determined from the time propagation of the set of >occupied> Kohn-Sham orbitals under the influence of the external bias. This central idea is combined with an open-boundary description of the geometry of the system that is divided into three regions: left right leads and the device region (>real simulation region>). We have derived a general scheme to extract the set of initial states in the device region that will be propagated in time with proper transparent boundary-condition at the device lead interface. This is possible due to a new modified Crank-Nicholson algorithm that allows an efficient time-propagation of open quantum systems. We illustrate the method in one-dimensional model systems as a first step towards a full first-principles implementation. In particular we show how a stationary current develops in the system independent of the transient-current history upon application of the bias. The present work is ideally suited to study ac transport and photon-induced charge-injection. Although the implementation has been done assuming clamped ions, we discuss how it can be extended to include dissipation due to electron-phonon coupling through the combined simulation of the electron-ion dynamics as well as electron-electron correlations. © 2005 The American Physical Society.