Coherent electron transport in bent cylindrical surfaces

The coherent dynamics of carriers bound to bent cylindrical surfaces is modeled by numerically solving the open-boundary Schrödinger equation recast in surface curvilinear coordinates. The effect of the surface topology on the transmission properties is addressed for bent cylinders and smooth junctions of cylinders with different radii. It is shown that, where the curvature changes sharply, quantum interference phenomena are induced, leading to an oscillatory behavior of the transmission coefficient as a function of the geometrical parameters. The spectra of bound states are also computed. The analysis has been carried out using the geometrical and physical parameters of carbon nanotubes, whose topology can be modeled, in many significant cases, using the presented approach.