FREQUENCY-RESPONSE OF MESOSCOPIC CONDUCTORS - A TIME-DEPENDENT LANDAUER APPROACH

We employ a time-dependent Landauer approach to study the dynamic response of a mesoscopic conductor biased with a temporal varying voltage. The system is modelled as a perfect conducting wire coupled to two large electron reservoirs whose chemical potentials are driven offset by the bias. The electronic waves are quantized on the basis of orthonormal wave Packets moving along the conductor. The time for an electron to traverse the wire between the source and the drain reservoirs is found to be the relevant time scale in determining the transient response and the characteristic frequency of the AC conductance.