Current statistics for wave transmission through an open Sinai billiard: effects of net currents

Transport through quantum and microwave cavities is studied by analytic and numerical techniques. In particular, we consider the statistics for a finite net probability current (Poynting vector) flowing through an open ballistic Sinai billiard to which two opposite leads/wave guides are attached. We show that if the net probability current is small, the scattering wave function inside the billiard is well approximated by a Gaussian random complex field. In this case, the current statistics are universal and obey simple analytic forms. For larger net currents, these forms still apply over several orders of magnitudes. However, small characteristic deviations appear in the tail regions. Although the focus is on electron and microwave billiards, the analysis is relevant also to other classical wave cavities as, for example, open planar acoustic reverberation rooms, elastic membranes, and water surface waves in irregularly shaped vessels.