Transport inefficiency in branched-out mesoscopic networks: An analog of the Braess paradox

Abstract

We present evidence for a counter-intuitive behavior of semiconductor mesoscopic networks that is the analog of the Braess paradox encountered in classical networks. A numerical simulation of quantum transport in a two-branch mesoscopic network reveals that adding a third branch can paradoxically induce transport inefficiency that manifests itself in a sizable conductance drop of the network. A scanning-probe experiment using a biased tip to modulate the transmission of one branch in the network reveals the occurrence of this paradox by mapping the conductance variation as a function of the tip voltage and position.

2nd version with minor stylistic corrections. To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett.: Editorially approved for publication 6 January 2012