The self-consistent Bloch-equation in one dimension (Q803404)

A simplified model to calculate a thermal equilibrium density matrix for electrons, under the assumption of Boltzmann statistics, is developed by coupling Bloch and Poisson equations. For the resulting nonlinear parabolic problem \(d\rho (\beta)/d\beta =\rho_{xx}+f(\rho (\beta)),\quad \beta >0,\rho (\beta =0)=\rho_ 0;\rho (x=0,x',\beta)=\rho (x=1,x',\beta)=0,\quad \beta >0,\) where the nonlinear term f is given by: \(f(\phi)=-W(x)\phi,\) \(W_{xx}=-(n(x)-C(x)),\quad x\in (0,1),\) \(W(0)=V_ 0,\quad W(1)=V_ 1,\) \(n(x)=\phi (x,x)/\int^{1}_{0}\phi (y,y)dy,\) existence and uniqueness proofs are obtained through the use of Banach's fixed point theorem. A possible application of this model for the confinement of electrons in the quantum well in a heterostructure semiconductor device is suggested.