Dynamical localization of coupled chains in the magnetic and electric fields

Dynamics and energy spectrum of Bloch electron on coupled chains under the action of both a uniform magnetic and an electric field are investigated. T he results show that in the general case the energy spectrum of the system is that of two interspaced Wannier-Stark ladders. For the general coupling between chains, explicit solutions for the energy spectrum are obtained, fr om which the coherent evolution of the band electron is found to be tuned p eriodically by the ratio of the flux passing through a unit cell to the flu x quantum. We also find that the localization effect depends on the couplin g strength between chains, the ratio of the hopping matrix element between the nearest-neighbor sites and the static field magnitude. (C) 2001 Publish ed by Elsevier Science B.V.