Kwant: a software package for quantum transport

• Published in: New journal of physics Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 63065 - 39
• Main Authors: Groth, Christoph W, Wimmer, Michael, Akhmerov, Anton R, Waintal, Xavier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.06.2014; Institute of Physics: Open Access Journals
• Subjects: 72.15.Eb; 72.20.-i; 73.23.-b; Binding; Computer simulation; Dispersions; Electrodes; Electron spin; Hamiltonian functions; Holes (electron deficiencies); Lattices (mathematics); Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Matrix methods; Modular; numerical simulation; Orbitals; Physics; Quantum transport; Resistance; Software; tight-binding model; Transport; Transport properties; Wave dispersion; Wave functions
• ISSN: 1367-2630; 1367-2630
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/16/6/063065

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/.