Sequential measurement of displacement and conduction currents in electronic devices

摘要

The extension of the Ramo-Schockley-Pellegrini theorem for quantum systemsallows to define a positive-operator valued measure (POVM) for the totalconduction plus displacement electrical current. The resulting current operatoris characterized by two parameters, viz. the width of the associated Gaussianfunctions and the lapse of time between consecutive measurements. For largeGaussian dispersions and small time intervals, the operator obeys to acontinuous weak-measurement scheme. Contrarily, in the limit of very narrowGaussian widths and a single-shot measurement, the operator corresponds to astandard von Neumann (projective) measurement. We have implemented theresulting measurement protocol into a quantum electron transport simulator.Numerical results for a resonant tunneling diode show the great sensibility ofcurrent-voltage characteristics to different parameter configurations of thetotal current operator.