Homogenization of the Schrödinger equation with a time oscillating potential

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Publication:2492123



Abstract: We study the homogenization of a Schrodinger equation in a periodic medium with a time dependent potential. This is a model for semiconductors excited by an external electromagnetic wave. We prove that, for a suitable choice of oscillating (both in time and space) potential, one can partially transfer electrons from one Bloch band to another. This justifies the famous "Fermi golden rule" for the transition probability between two such states which is at the basis of various optical properties of semiconductors. Our method is based on a combination of classical homogenization techniques (two-scale convergence and suitable oscillating test functions) and of Bloch waves theory.


The authors consider the Schrödinger equation \(\partial _{t}u_{\varepsilon }-\Delta u_{\varepsilon }+\left( \varepsilon ^{-2}c\left( x/\varepsilon \right) +d_{\varepsilon }\left( x,t\right) \right) u_{\varepsilon }=0\), posed in \(\mathbb{R}^{N}\times \left( 0,T\right) \), where \(c_{\varepsilon }\) is a potential which is supposed to be periodic and of order \(\varepsilon ^{-2}\), and \(d_{\varepsilon }\) is another potential which may depend on the time parameter. The solution \(u_{\varepsilon }\) starts at \(t=0\) from a wave packet \(u_{\varepsilon }^{0}\), which is given a special structure involving the solution of the so-called Bloch cell problem. The purpose of the paper is to describe the asymptotic behaviour of the solution \(u_{\varepsilon }\), when \(\varepsilon \) goes to zero. The authors first prove estimates on the solution \(u_{\varepsilon }\) and its gradient in terms of \(u_{\varepsilon }^{0}\) and its gradient. They then use the two-scale convergence, introduced by \textit{G. Nguetseng} [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 20, No. 3, 608--623 (1989; Zbl 0688.35007)] and follow previous works by the first author within this context of Bloch waves. The special structure of the initial condition allows to compute an explicit approximate expression of the solution \(u_{\varepsilon }\), which involves the solution of a homogenized Schrödinger equation. In the last part of the paper, the authors slightly modify the above Schrödinger equation introducing an electromagnetic vector potential \( \mathcal{A}_{\varepsilon }\) which is given a special structure, too. They give again an explicit approximate solution of the problem. They also consider a resonant case for the Schrödinger equation.











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