Influence of the spatially inhomogeneous electric field on the thermodynamic property of the particle confined in a quantum well. (1st October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Xue; Wang, De-Hua; He, Xue; Fa, Mei-Chen; Chu, Bin-Hua; Zhang, Jie; Zhang, Shu-Fang
• Is Part Of: Physica scripta. Volume 97:Number 10(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-10-01
• Subjects: quantum confinement -- thermodynamic property -- inhomogeneous field; Physics -- Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1088/1402-4896/ac90f9
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-8949

Abstract

Abstract: The effect of the spatially inhomogeneous electric field on the quantum thermodynamic property of the particle confined in a quantum well has been investigated theoretically. The Schrodinger equation was solved for the particle subjected to a spatial confinement by an inhomogeneous electric field and energy eigen-values were obtained. Using the energy eigen-values, we have calculated the average energy, free energy, entropy, and heat capacity of this system. As an important parameter in the inhomogeneous electric field, the inhomogeneity gradient of the field plays an important role. Compared with the spatially homogenous electric field, some novel quantum effect appears. The energy eigen-value for the particle corresponding to each bound state increases as the inhomogeneity gradient increases, resulting in the increase of the average energy, free energy, and heat capacity; however, the entropy, which measures the disorder of the particle confined in the inhomogeneous field, gradually decreases with the increase of the inhomogeneity gradient. In addition, the confinement effect of the quantum well on the thermodynamic properties of this system has also investigated in great detail. The results show that the larger size of the quantum well is, the stronger the influence of inhomogeneous field becomes, which makes the thermodynamic properties of the particle in the spatially inhomogeneous field quite different from those in the homogeneous field. Our work may provide some references for the future research on the thermodynamic property of the confined atom and molecule in the inhomogeneous field and has some practical applications in statistical physics, chemical physics, and condensed physics, etc.