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Applied Sciences

Quantum Eigenstates of Curved and Varying Cross-Sectional Waveguides

Jens Gravesen, Morten Willatzen

Published Oct 16, 2020• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A simple one-dimensional differential equation in the centerline coordinate of an arbitrarily curved quantum waveguide with a varying cross section is derived using a combination of differential geometry and perturbation theory. The model can tackle curved quantum waveguides with a cross-sectional shape and dimensions that vary along the axis. The present analysis generalizes previous models that are restricted to either straight waveguides with a varying cross-section or curved waveguides, where the shape and dimensions of the cross section are fixed. We carry out full 2D wave simulations on a number of complex waveguide geometries and demonstrate excellent agreement with the eigenstates and energies obtained using our present 1D model. It is shown that the computational benefit in using the present 1D model to calculate both 2D and 3D wave solutions is significant and allows for the fast optimization of complex quantum waveguide design. The derived 1D model renders direct access as to how quantum waveguide eigenstates depend on varying cross-sectional dimensions, the waveguide curvature, and rotation of the cross-sectional frame. In particular, a gauge transformation reveals that the individual effects of curvature, thickness variation, and frame rotation correspond to separate terms in a geometric potential only. Generalization of the present formalism to electromagnetics and acoustics, accounting appropriately for the relevant boundary conditions, is anticipated.

DOI
10.3390/app10207240

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A simple one-dimensional differential equation in the centerline coordinate of an arbitrarily curved quantum waveguide with a varying cross section is derived using a combination of differential geometry and perturbation theory. The model can tackle curved quantum waveguides with a cross-sectional shape and dimensions that vary along the axis. The present analysis generalizes previous models that are restricted to either straight waveguides with a varying cross-section or curved waveguides, where the shape and dimensions of the cross section are fixed. We carry out full 2D wave simulations on a number of complex waveguide geometries and demonstrate excellent agreement with the eigenstates and energies obtained using our present 1D model. It is shown that the computational benefit in using the present 1D model to calculate both 2D and 3D wave solutions is significant and allows for the fast optimization of complex quantum waveguide design. The derived 1D model renders direct access as to how quantum waveguide eigenstates depend on varying cross-sectional dimensions, the waveguide curvature, and rotation of the cross-sectional frame. In particular, a gauge transformation reveals that the individual effects of curvature, thickness variation, and frame rotation correspond to separate terms in a geometric potential only. Generalization of the present formalism to electromagnetics and acoustics, accounting appropriately for the relevant boundary conditions, is anticipated.
We investigate the quantum mechanics of a single particle constrained to move along an arbitrary smooth reference curve by a confinement that is allowed to vary along the waveguide. The Schr\"odinger equation is evaluated in the adapted coordinate frame and a transverse-mode decomposition is performed, taking into account both curvature and torsion effects and the possibility of a cross-section potential that changes along the curve in an arbitrary way. We discuss the adiabatic structure of the problem, and examine nonadiabatic couplings that arise due to the curved geometry, the varying transverse profile, and their interplay. The exact multimode matrix Hamiltonian is taken as the natural starting point for few-mode approximations. Such approximate equations are provided, and it is worked out how these recover known results for twisting waveguides and can be applied to other types of waveguide designs. The quantum waveguide Hamiltonian is recast into a form that clearly illustrates how it generalizes the Born-Oppenheimer Hamiltonian encountered in molecular physics. In analogy to the latter, we explore the local gauge structure inherent to the quantum waveguide problem and suggest the usefulness of diabatic states, giving an explicit construction of the adiabatic-to-diabatic basis transformation.
We study the quantum dynamics of a particle confined in a twisted tube with a linearly varying cross section. By relating a general linear transformation matrix to the system's Hamiltonian, we use an extended thin-layer method to derive an effective Hamiltonian for tangential motion under mild and general linear transformations. Explicit forms are provided for three fundamental transformations: rotation, scaling, and shearing. Rotation introduces a gauge field coupled to angular momentum, while scaling and shearing produce geometric potentials that lift degeneracies in non-circular cross sections. In square cross sections, these transformations cause energy splittings among formerly degenerate states, whereas circular cross sections retain degeneracy. Through an example combining rotation and squeezing, we analyze state evolution and compute the quantum geometric tensor to quantify geometric response. Our results demonstrate how geometric transformations can tailor quantum states and suggest that circular waveguides are more robust against mode mixing.
Introduction: Nowadays extraordinary properties of nano world and economical problems are the reasons for directing techniques toward micro implements, electronic circuits dimensions have been reduced to 10 to 100 nano meters. Moreover microstructures in cells with nano meter dimensions have been investigated by biologists, there are structures in electronic and biology which are very similar to the billiards and the electromagnetic waveguides but their dimensions are in nano meter range, therefore they were called quantum waveguides and billiards. Aim: In this research billiards and quantum waveguides at any arbitrary cross sectional area have been investigated. Method: A considerable effort was devoted in solving Helmholtz’s equation with two dimensional cross sectional areas. Linear combinations of plane waves or Heller methods for several types of connective and no connective billiards with regular and irregular shapes have been used. Then eigenvalues and eigenvectors were calculated. At the final part by applying a simple method billiard type (chaotic or quiet) in a quantum scale has been realized. Results and Discussions: In this paper two types of circular and stadium billiards have been studied and by using Heller’s method and applying the numerical solution, energy levels together with the function forms have been attained. Conclusions: This paper shows that Heller’s method despite its quickness and simplicity is a very accurate method for finding eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Although in high eigenvalues the calculation is weighted, nevertheless this method is an acceptable computational method for the investigation of quantum nanobilliards such as quantum points.
Quantum mechanics nominally works in a space of infinite dimensions. In practice, however, the computer-based solution of quantum-mechanical problems relies on a restriction of that space to a high but finite number of dimensions. This is important since computational quantum-mechanical simulations have a huge presence in today's physical science. In many instances, the finite-dimensional space needs to evolve during a simulation. In this work, the authors extend the formalism used for finite spaces to that of evolving spaces. Here, well-known equations acquire a new meaning in the language of the curved spaces familiar to general relativity. The authors provide a novel geometric approach to calculating tensorially well-defined derivatives of quantum-mechanical state and operator representations with respect to arbitrary external parameters. Contributions due to basis function evolution play the role of the Christoffel symbol terms of Riemannian geometry. The curvature of the resulting geometry is equivalent to Berry's curvature, but generalized for possibly nonorthogonal, smoothly varying basis functions. This work provides insights into dynamical quantum simulations that enable the development of improved simulation algorithms. It also opens up new scientific horizons, as is ever the case when establishing formal links between different subfields of physics.
We investigate the effective dynamics of a particle confined near a space curve. In the strict thin-layer reduction of the nondegenerate transverse ground state, torsion does not enter the local effective Hamiltonian, which contains only the curvature-induced scalar geometric potential. In contrast, for a thin guide with finite transverse width, a leading-order adiabatic projection onto the twofold-degenerate first-excited transverse band renders the rotation of the Frenet normal frame dynamically relevant and generates a matrix-valued Abelian gauge potential. Using a projection-based derivation in a co-rotating Frenet-frame basis, we show that this effective gauge potential is directly determined by the local torsion of the curve. The resulting effective Hamiltonian takes a gauge-covariant form and produces two transverse-mode branches whose parabolic dispersions are shifted in opposite directions in momentum space. For closed curves, the associated holonomy is controlled by the integrated torsion and leads to geometric interference. These results provide a direct realization of a Wilczek--Zee-type connection induced purely by spatial geometry in curved quantum waveguides. We further construct a classical-wave analogue using the degenerate bending modes of an isotropic elastic rod, demonstrating that the same torsion-induced gauge structure appears in continuum wave physics.
The propagation of matter waves in curved geometry is relevant for ion transport, atomtronics and electrons in nanowires. Curvature effects are usually addressed within the adiabatic limit and treated via an effective potential acting on the manifold to which the particles are strongly confined. However, the strength of the confinements that can be achieved experimentally are limited in practice, and the adiabatic approximation often appears too restrictive for realistic guides. Here, we work out a design method for 2D sharply bent waveguides beyond this approximation using an exact inverse-engineering technique. The efficiency of the method is confirmed by the resolution of the 2D nonlinear Schrödinger equation in curved geometry. In this way, we realize reflectionless and ultrarobust curved guides, even in the presence of interactions. Here, the transverse stability is improved by several orders of magnitude when compared to circular guides of similar size.