Abstract
A Floquet scattering approach to parametric electron pumps is presented and compared with Brouwer's adiabatic scattering approach [Phys. Rev. B 58, R10 135 (1998)] for a simple scattering model with two harmonically oscillating delta-function barriers. For small strength of oscillating potentials these two approaches give exactly equivalent results while for large strength, these clearly deviate from each other. The validity of the adiabatic theory is also discussed by using the Wigner delay time obtained from the Floquet scattering matrix.
