An asymptotic solution of the Schrödinger equation for the elliptic wire in the magnetic field

Abstract

An asymptotic solution of the Schrödinger equation with non-separable variables is obtained for a particle confined to an infinite elliptic cylinder potential well under an applied uniform longitudinal magnetic field. Using the standard-problem method, dimension-quantized eigenvalues have been calculated when the magnetic length is large enough in comparison with the half of the distance between the boundary ellipse focuses. In semi-classical approximation, the confined electron (hole) states are divided into the boundary states (BS), ring states (RS), hyperbolic caustic states (HCS) and harmonic oscillator states (HOS). For large angular momentum quantum numbers and small radial quantum numbers, the BS and RS are grouped into the ‘whispering gallery’ mode. They associate with particles moving along the wire cross section boundary. The motion is limited from the wire core by the elliptic caustic. Consisting of the HCS and HOS, the ‘jumping ball’ modes correspond to the states of particle moving along a wire diameter when the angular momentum quantum number is much less than the radial quantum number. In this case, the motion is restricted by the hyperbolic caustics and two boundary ellipse arcs. For excited hole states in a Bi wire, the energy spectrum and space probability distribution are analyzed.