A Theory of High Electric Field Transport

The Generalized Quantum Langevin Equation (GLE) approach to the quantum transport of many electron systems is developed to study the high electric field transport. Two GLE equations, one for the center-of-mass momentum and the other for the center-of-mass energy, are obtained. The non-linear transport effects due to the presence of a high electric field are reflected directly in the memory functions of momentum and energy. By including velocity fluctuations, “collision broadening” and the “intra-collision field effect” appear in our transport equations quite naturally. In our theory, these quantum effects are illustrated by the phenomena of the level broadening, the velocity fluctuation relaxation and acceleration effects.