Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 8

Mesoscopic Physics

LMU M unchen June 9, 2011


Prof. Stefan Kehrein, Dr. Alexandre Faribault Problem Set 3
Problem Set 03
Landau Levels
In this problem we study the basics of Quantum Hall Eect physics. We want to describe the
properties of a two dimensional gas of non-interacting electrons in a perpendicular magnetic
eld

B.
The description of a magnetic eld via a vector potential

A such that


A =

B gives us
great freedom. Since the rotational (curl) of any gradient of a scalar function

F(r)
_
is 0, any gradient of a scalar eld can be added to the vector potential without aecting
the physical properties of the system which only depend on the magnetic eld itself. This is
know as gauge invariance. Here we study the problem in two dierent gauges which while
leaving the physical properties of the non-interacting system the same give rise to dierent
representations of the wavefunctions having both advantages when trying to treat additional
eects such as an external potential or the interaction between particles.
1. Landau Gauge
First we study the system in Landau gauge dened by

A = B(y, 0, 0). Using the
Hamiltonian for free particles in a magnetic eld
H =
1
2m

P +
e
c

2
a) Write out explicitly the Hamiltonian in Landau gauge and the resulting dierential
form of the 2D Schr odinger equation for (x, y) .
Solution
2 Problem Set 03
H =
1
2m
_
P
x

eB
c
y
_
2
+
(P
y
)
2
2m
. (1)
So that
1
2m
_
i h

x

eB
c
y
_
2
+
1
2m
(i h)
2

2

y
2
= E

h
2
2m

x
2
+
_
i h
m
eB
c
y
_

x
+
1
2m
_
eB
c
y
_
2

h
2
2m

y
2
= E (2)
b) The equation being independent of x we can separate the wavefunctions as (x, y) =
e
ikxx
(y). Write the eective 1D Schr odinger equation for the (y) part of the wave-
function.
Solution
Making the replacement and simplifying e
ikxx
factors, we nd:
_
h
2
k
2
x
2m
_

_
hk
x
m
eB
c
y
_
+
1
2m
_
eB
c
y
_
2

_
h
2
2m
_

2

y
2
= E

_
h
2m
_
2

y
2
+
1
2m
_
hk
x

eB
c
y
_
2
= E (3)
which is just the replacement of P
x
by hk
x
.
c) What are then the full wavefunctions and eigenenergies in Landau gauge ?
N.B.: Remember that the wavefunctions of a shifted 1D quantum harmonic oscillator
H =
(

P
y
)
2
2m
+
1
2
m
2
(

Y y
0
)
2
(4)
are given by:
E
n
=
_
n +
1
2
_
h

n
=

1
2
n
n!
_
m
h
_1
4
e

m(yy
0
)
2
2 h
H
n
__
m
h
(y y
0
)
_
, (5)
Problem Set 03 3
where H
n
are Hermite polynomials.
Solution
The equation found previously is obviously an harmonic oscillator. Rear-
ranging the terms gives us
1
2
m
2
(y y
0
)
2
=
1
2m
_
hk
x

eB
c
y
_
2
=
1
2
m
_
eB
mc
_
2
_
y
hk
x
c
eB
_
2
(6)
and therefore we nd a QHO with

2
c
=
_
eB
mc
_
2
y
0
=
hk
x
c
eB

2
k
x
(7)
with the denition of the magnetic length:
=

hc
eB
(8)
The resulting wavefunctions are trivially found from the given information.
d) Schematically speaking what do these wavefunctions look like in the 2D plane.
Solution
Eigenstates in this gauge choice are then plane waves in x with wavevector
k
x
. For any given choice of k
x
this will x the position in y around which
the wavefunction will be localized in y being given by the solutions of the
QHO problem.
Figure 1: Schematic real part of the wavefunctions in Landau level n=0 (left) and n=1(right)
4 Problem Set 03
e) Assuming a nite sample of dimensions (L
x
, L
y
) how many orthogonal single particle
states does a single Landau level (a given n) contain ?
This leads to the denition of the lling factor which tells us for a given density of
electrons and a given magnetic eld, the fraction of completely lled Landau levels.
Find an expression for .
Solution
For a nite length L
x
, periodic boundary conditions lead to a quantized
momentum k
x
=
2
Lx
n where n is any integer. Consequently, in y the distance
between the center of two closeby wavefunctions in a given Landau level
is given by
y
=
2
2
Lx
. We can therefore in a sample of dimension L
y
t
Ly
y
=
LxLy
2
2
dierent wavefunctions. For a given number of electrons N
e
we
therefore populate
Ne
LxLy
2
2
= 2
2
=

0
B
Landau levels.
2. Symmetric Gauge
We now turn to a second choice of gauge known as the symmetric gauge. The vector
potential is now dened by

A =
B
2
(y, x, 0).
a) Write out the Hamiltonian in terms of the complex coordinates z =
x

i
y

, z =
x

+i
y

,
where =
_
hc
eB
.
Solution
With x =

2
(z + z), y = i

2
(z z), we nd the dierential operators

x
=

z
z
x
+

z
z
x
=
1

_

z
+

z
_

y
=

z
z
y
+

z
z
y
= i
1

_

z


z
_
. (9)
so that we can write
P
x
= i h

x
= i h
1

_

z
+

z
_
P
2
x
= h
2

2
x
2
= h
2
1

2
_

2
z
2
+ 2

2
z z
+

2
z
2
_
P
y
= i h

y
= h
1

_

z


z
_
P
2
y
= h
2

2
y
2
= h
2
1

2
_

2
z
2
2

2
z z
+

2
z
2
_
(10)
Problem Set 03 5
Here we used the fact that z, z can be treated as two independant vari-
ables (orthogonal superpositions of independant variables x, y) and that the
wavefunctions will have continuous second derivatives at every point in
space therefore allowing us to use Schwarzs theorem to exchange the order
of the two partial derivatives.
Finally we have in this gauge,
H =
1
2m
_
P
x

eB
c
y
2
_
2
+
1
2m
_
P
y
+
eB
c
x
2
_
2
=
1
2m
_
P
2
x

eB
c
yP
x
+
_
eB
c
y
2
_
2
_
+
1
2m
_
P
2
y
+
eB
c
xP
y
+
_
eB
c
x
2
_
2
_
=
1
2m
_
4
h
2

2
z z
+ i
heB
c
y
_

z
+

z
_

heB
c
x
_

z


z
_
+
1
4
_
eB
c
_
2
_
x
2
+ y
2
_
_
=
1
2m
_
_
4
h
2

2
z z
+ i
h
2

2
1

y
_

z
+

z
_

h
2

2
1

x
_

z


z
_
+
1
4
_
h

2
_
2
_
x
2
+ y
2
_
_
_
=
1
2m
_
h

_
2
_
4

2
z z
z

z
+ z

z
+
1
4
z z
_
= h
c
_
2

2
z z

1
2
z

z
+
1
2
z

z
+
1
8
z z
_
with
c
=
eB
mc
(11)
b) Dening the ladder operators
b =
1

2
_
z
2
+ 2

z
_
b

=
1

2
_
z
2
2

z
_
a =
1

2
_
z
2
+ 2

z
_
a

=
1

2
_
z
2
2

z
_
(12)
write the Hamiltonian in terms of this new set of operators.
Solution one can immediately see that since the only second derivative term
in H is the crossed

2
z z
, only terms a

a or b

b can occur. Computing the


action of a

a on any function (z, z)


a

a =
1
2
_
z
2
2

z
__
z
2
+ 2

z
_
=
zz
8
+
z
2
_

z
_

1
2

z
2

z
2

2
z z
(13)
6 Problem Set 03
which can be compared with the expression of H to conclude that
H = h
c
_
a

a +
1
2
_
with
c
=
eB
mc
(14)
c) Dening
0,0
(x, y) =
1
2
e

1
4
z z
, show that it is an eigenstate of both a

a and b

b with
eigenvalue 0. What is then the eigenenergy of this state.
Solution
By computing
a
0,0
=
1

2
_
z
2
+ 2

z
_
1
2
e

1
4
z z

_
z
2
+ (
2
4
z)
_

0,0
= 0
b
0,0
=
1

2
_
z
2
+ 2

z
_
1
2
e

1
4
z z

_
z
2
+ (
2
4
z)
_

0,0
= 0 (15)
The energy is then simply given by E =
1
2

c
, which obviously puts this state
in the lowest Landau level.
d) Compute for any integer m, the function
0,m
(x, y) (b

)
m

0,0
(x, y) and show that
it is also an eigenstate of a

a and b

b and give the eigenvalue. What is its energy?


Plot the schematic density prole
2
for these eigenfunctions.
N.B. Together, these
0,m
(x, y) form a basis for the lowest Landau level (n = 0). In
principle, one can use any linear combinations within an energy degenerate subspace
of an Hamitonian to form eigenstates of an Hamiltonian.
Using the form of the
0,m
(x, y) we can conclude that for any analytical function f(z),
the state
(x, y) f(z)e

1
4
z z
, (16)
is a correct eigenstate.
Solution
Applying b

on this state gives:

0,1
(x, y) =
1

2
_
z
2
2

z
_
1
2
e

1
4
z z

_
z 4

z
_
e

1
4
z z
= 2ze

1
4
z z
ze

1
4
z z
(17)
Problem Set 03 7
Repeating the procedure a second time gives

0,2
(x, y)
_
z 4

z
_
ze

1
4
z z
= z
2
e

1
4
z z
4

z
ze

1
4
z z
= 2z
2
e

1
4
z z
z
2
e

1
4
z z
(18)
It should be clear that recursively we simply have

0,m
(x, y) z
m
e

1
4
z z
z
m

0,0
(x, y). (19)
Since a commutes with z
m
because it only contains a derivative with respect
to z, the application of a

a on this state leads again to


a

a
0,m
(x, y) = a

0 = 0 (20)
and all of these states are also eigenstates of the Hamitonian with the same
eigenenergy found previously, i.e. E =
c
2
.
Figure 2: Density prole in the lowest Landau level for states
0,0
,
0,1
,
0,2
,
0,3
,
0,4
e) Find expressions for
n,0
(x, y) (a

)
n

0,0
(x, y) and for its eigenenergy.
Applying b

to
n,0
(x, y) in a similar fashion as in c) and d) we could show that

n,m
(x, y) (b

)
m

n,0
(x, y) are degenerate as well and form a basis for Landau level
n.
8 Problem Set 03
Solution
Since a

is equivalent to b

by simply switching the roles of z and z and since

0,0
(x, y) is invariant under this transformation, it should be immediately
clear that

n,0
(x, y) z
n
e

1
4
z z
(21)
With knowledge of ladder operator, one should know that since a

raises the
eigenvalue of a

a by one, the resulting eigenenergy is given by E


n
= h
c
(n+
1
2
).
One can however show it explicitely by applying the operator a

a to the
state, giving us
1
2
_
z
2
2

z
__
z
2
+ 2

z
_
z
n
e

1
4
z z
=
1
2
_
z
2
2

z
_
_
1
2
z z
n
e

1
4
z z
+ 2n z
n1
e

1
4
z z

1
2
z z
n
e

1
4
z z
_
=
_
z
2
2

z
_
n z
n1
e

1
4
z z
= n z
n
e

1
4
z z
= n
n,0
(x, y), (22)
giving us the previously stated result.

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi