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Phys. Rev. B 71 155120 (2005).

An embedding potential definition of channel functions

J. E. Inglesfield

School of Physics and Astronomy,Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 3YB, United Kingdom

S Crampin

Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom

H. Ishida

College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University, Sakura-josui, Tokyo 156-8550, Japan

Abstract
We show that the imaginary part of the embedding potential, a generalised logarithmic derivative, defined over the interface between an electrical lead and some conductor, has orthogonal eigenfunctions which define scattering channels into and out of the lead. In the case of an infinitely extended interface we establish the relationship between these eigenfunctions and the Bloch states evaluated over the interface. Using the new channel functions, a well-known result for the total transmission through the conductor system is simply derived.