Kwant: a software package for quantum transport

Kwant is a Python package for numerical quantum transport calculations. It aims to be a user-friendly, universal, and high-performance toolbox for the simulation of physical systems of any dimensionality and geometry that can be described by a tight-binding model. Kwant has been designed such that t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Christoph W Groth, Michael Wimmer, Anton R Akhmerov, Xavier Waintal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2014-01-01
Series:New Journal of Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/6/063065
Description
Summary:Kwant is a Python package for numerical quantum transport calculations. It aims to be a user-friendly, universal, and high-performance toolbox for the simulation of physical systems of any dimensionality and geometry that can be described by a tight-binding model. Kwant has been designed such that the natural concepts of the theory of quantum transport (lattices, symmetries, electrodes, orbital/spin/electron-hole degrees of freedom) are exposed in a simple and transparent way. Defining a new simulation setup is very similar to describing the corresponding mathematical model. Kwant offers direct support for calculations of transport properties (conductance, noise, scattering matrix), dispersion relations, modes, wave functions, various Greenʼs functions, and out-of-equilibrium local quantities. Other computations involving tight-binding Hamiltonians can be implemented easily thanks to its extensible and modular nature. Kwant is free software available at http://kwant-project.org/ .
ISSN:1367-2630