Semiclassical theory for transmission through open billiards: Convergence towards quantum transport

We present a semiclassical theory for transmission through open quantum billiards which converges towards quantum transport. The transmission amplitude can be expressed as a sum over all classical paths and pseudopaths which consist of classical path segments joined by ``kinks,'' i.e., diffractive scattering at lead mouths. For a rectangular billiard we show numerically that the sum over all such paths with a given number of kinks K converges to the quantum transmission amplitude as →K∞. Unitarity of the semiclassical theory is restored as K approaches infinity. Moreover, we find excellent agreement with the quantum path-length power spectrum up to very long path length.