Based upon the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism, we present a time-dependent Landauer approach to transport through a mesoscopic system under an ac bias voltage. The system is modeled as an elastic scatterer coupled to large electron reservoirs through perfect conducting wires (leads). The chemical potentials of the reservoirs are driven apart by the bias and, consequently, current flows through the leads from one reservoir to another. We examine the nonequilibrium statistical processes of electrons in the leads. The electronic waves are quantized on the basis of orthonormal wave packets moving along the leads, scattered by the scatterer, and coupled to the reservoirs. The time for an electron to traverse the leads between the source and the drain reservoirs plus the phase delay time caused by the scatterer is found to be the relevant time scale in the time-dependent transport. The frequency dependence of the admittance is fully investigated.
Computation of the Diffracted Field by an Elliptic Rigid or Elastic Scatterer: An Overview of the Numerical Limitations
