PERIODO: MARZO - MAGGIO 2015


The development of nanotechnology has unambiguously shown that in nanoscale systems electrons can behave in a fully quantum mechanical way. Under appropriate conditions, their wavelike nature makes electronic transport coherent and characterized by peculiar laws, different from both the Statistical Mechanics of macroscopic systems and from the Physics of microscopic systems. These discoveries have paved the way to a research field, called Mesoscopic Physics. The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to Mesoscopic Systems, pointing out their main physical features, the theoretical modeling, and the experimental realizations, with a special focus on carbon-based materials such as nanotubes and graphene. The quantum coherence effects on the behavior of the electronic current for an arbitrary mesoscopic system (Landauer-Buettiker formula) will be particularly discussed. The final part of the is concerned with some special topics, such as hybrid structures, i.e. systems realized connecting mesoscopic systems to superconductors in order to obtain desired and controllable transport properties (supercurrent transistors with semiconductors and nanotubes).

Program

1. Short survey about Quantum Mechanics
2. Introduction to Mesoscopic Physics, characteristic length-scales and purely mesoscopic effects
3. Experimental realizations. Nanostructures, carbon-based electronics. Graphene: realization, electronic spectrum and its applications
4. Modeling mesoscopic systems: the Landauer-Buettiker formula and its applications to quantum wires and Carbon Nanotubes.
5. Generalization to the multi-channel case: conductance quantization and applications to Quantum Point Contacts
6. Short review about superconductivity and Josephson Effect
7. Hybrid structures with superconductors: the phenomenon of Andreev reflection, models for supercurrent Transistors and Beenakkers' formula.

Duration: 20 hrs


Lecture Schedule: (all lectures in Aula 2F, at the Department of Applied Science and Technology of Politecnico, corridor of the door#1)

Friday, March 6, 2015, 09:00-12:00
Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 09:00-12:00
Friday, March 13, 2015, 09:00-12:00
Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 09:00-12:00
Friday, March 20, 2015, 09:00-12:00
Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 09:00-12:00
Friday, March 27, 2015, 09:00-12:00,


Remarks:
Lecture notes of the course will be available. The final exam consists of a very informal test, where the PhD student is expected to discuss at the blackboard the core topics of the course. PhD students from other Universities than Politecnico are welcome to attend: they can receive a certificate of attendance and final exam from SCUDO (Scuola di Dottorato del Politecnico di Torino), for acknowledgement by their home Institutions.