Coherent quantum transport in disordered systems: II. Temperature dependence of carrier diffusion coefficients from the time-dependent wavepacket diffusion method

Abstract

The time-dependent wavepacket diffusion method for carrier quantum dynamics (Zhong and Zhao 2013 J. Chem. Phys. 138 014111), a truncated version of the stochastic Schrödinger equation/wavefunction approach that approximately satisfies the detailed balance principle and scales well with the size of the system, is applied to investigate the carrier transport in one-dimensional systems including both the static and dynamic disorders on site energies. The predicted diffusion coefficients with respect to temperature successfully bridge from band-like to hopping-type transport. As demonstrated in paper I (Moix et al 2013 New J. Phys. 15 085010), the static disorder tends to localize the carrier, whereas the dynamic disorder induces carrier dynamics. For the weak dynamic disorder, the diffusion coefficients are temperature-independent (band-like property) at low temperatures, which is consistent with the prediction from the Redfield equation, and a linear dependence of the coefficient on temperature (hopping-type property) only appears at high temperatures. In the intermediate regime of dynamic disorder, the transition from band-like to hopping-type transport can be easily observed at relatively low temperatures as the static disorder increases. When the dynamic disorder becomes strong, the carrier motion can follow the hopping-type mechanism even without static disorder. Furthermore, it is found that the memory time of dynamic disorder is an important factor in controlling the transition from the band-like to hopping-type motions.