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Applied Quantum Mechanics Mid-Term: November 1st, 2011

1 hour and 15 minutes
I. CONDUCTANCE QUANTIZATION

A two dimensional electron gas is composed of a conducting layer, innite in the x direction, limited by two insulating layers in the y direction, as indicated on Fig.1, next page. The Hamiltonian on the total system is then p2 y p2 H = Hx + Hy = x + + V (y) 2m 2m (1)

A.

Preliminaries: the innite quantum well

Let us only consider the 1-dimensional quantum well along y direction. The Hamiltonian for this system is then p2 y + V (y) 2m V (y) = 0, L/2 y L/2 V (y) = , |y| > L/2 Hy = (2) (3) (4)

1. Determine the general form of the eigen states of the Hamiltonian within the quantum well as a function of the wave vector ky . Determine ky as a function of the energy E. 2. Using the appropriate boundary conditions, determine the eigen values En of the Hamiltonian and wave functions n associated with them. 3. Normalize the wave functions.

B.

Complete system

The complete system is now described by the Hamiltonian given in Eq. (1). 1. We consider only electrons propagating along positive x. Determine the form of the eigen states of the total system.
tot 2. What is the dispersion relation of the total energy En ?

(a)

(b)
(c)

10

Barrier

Conductor

x
x

Barrier L/2

-L/2

10

Quantum Well Width (a.u.)

2
C. Conductance Quantization
e h 2m Im( x

The probability current density is given by J =

) where Im(z) is the imaginary part of z. x

1. Calculate the current density along x, for each state phin . 2. For a given two-dimensional electron gas of width L, how many states are conducting current? 3. Figure 1(c) displays the conductance of a 2-dimensional electron gas as a function of the width of the quantum well. Based on the previous questions, interpret Fig. 1(c).
II. FABRICATING SCHRODINGERS CAT

A Schrodinger cat is a macroscopic state that presents a superposion between two quantum states. We consider an oscillator with pulsation described by the Hamiltonian a 1 H = h( a + ), 2 where the creation and annihilation operators have the properties: [ , a] = 1, [, a] = [ , a ] = 0. a a a The eigen states of this oscillator are written in Dirac notation |n , associated with an energy En = (n+ h a period of time [0,T], the harmonic potential is replaced by W = hg( a)2 , a
1 2 ).

(5)

(6) During (7)

where we assume g >> and T << 1. In this case, we can consider that the Hamiltonian of the oscillator is simply H = W. 1. Show that the states |n are also eigen states of W . What are the eigenvalues associated with these states? 2. We now assume that at time t=0, the initial state of the system is given by |(0) = | = e||
2

/2 n

n |n , n!

(8)

where is a complex number. What is the state |(T ) , at a time T? 3. How does |(T ) simplies at T=2/g? and at T=/g? 4. We choose T=/2g. Show that we have ein 5. Finally, show that we have 1 |(/2g) = (ei/4 | + ei/4 | ), 2 6. Assume now that = i is purely impaginary. Reminding that x= h ( + a), p = i a 2m h m ( a ), a 2 (11) (10)
2 1 1 (i 1 (1)n (1 + i)) = (ei 4 + (1)n ei 4 ), 2 2

/2

(9)

calculate the expectation values of the position and the momentum in the state |(0) = | . 7. What are the physical meanings of states | and | ? 8. For || >> 1, explain why we can call this state a Schrodingers cat.