Rigorous Formulation of High-Field Quantum Transport Applied to the Case of Electrons Scattered by Dilute Resonant Impurities

Abstract

A rigorous procedure is devised for generating quantum transport equations in an arbitrarily strong uniform electric field. An analytic implementation of the procedure is possible for the case of electrons scattering off a dilute random distribution of resonant-level impurities. In the limit of local scattering, the collision integral assumes a relaxation form, with a field-dependent relaxation time, thus reducing the calculation of the current to quadrature.