On the problem of generalizing the semiconductor Bloch equation from a closed to an open system

Abstract

A microscopic theory for the description of quantum-transport phenomena in systems with open boundaries is proposed. We shall show that the application of the conventional Wigner-function formalism to this problem leads to unphysical results, such as injection of coherent electronic states from the contacts. To overcome such basic limitation, we propose a generalization of the standard Wigner-function formulation, able to properly describe the incoherent nature of carrier injection at the device spatial boundaries as well as the interplay between phase coherence and energy relaxation/dephasing within the device active region. The proposed theoretical scheme constitutes a quantum-mechanical derivation of the phenomenological injection model commonly employed in the simulation of open quantum devices.