Abstract

Under which general conditions can fundamental principles of quantum mechanics be exploited to enhance transport in complex systems? Common wisdom suggests that quantum interference can enhance transport across perfectly periodic potentials [1], while it tends to suppress transport in disordered systems [2]. In general, multi-path quantum interference leads to erratic, large scale fluctuations of transmission probabilities when boundary conditions or other system parameters are slightly changed [3]. These fluctuations are often indicative of the strong, non-linear coupling of few degrees of freedom. Can we identify structural properties of the underlying Hamiltonians in those specific instances when they generate quantum-enhanced transport? Are these design-principles statistically robust, in the sense that they are “implementable” by controlling only few coarse-grained parameters, without claiming full control of the detailed structure of a possibly large, composite quantum system with some intrinsic randomness?

© 2013 IEEE