Distribution of transmitted charge through a double-barrier junction.

Abstract

The distribution function of transmitted charge through a double-barrier junction is studied at zero temperature and at small applied voltage. Both a semiclassical model, in which the transport is described by jump rates, and a quantum-mechanical model, which averages over resonant and nonresonant states, are used to determine the characteristic function of the transmitted electrons. It is demonstrated that for large times the logarithm of the characteristic function is equal within the two approaches. The charge distribution is in between a Gaussian and a Poisson distribution if both barriers have equal height and reduces to a Poisson distribution if one barrier is much higher than the other. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.