Spin-dependent transport through a chiral molecule in the presence of spin-orbit interaction and non-unitary effects

Recent experiments have demonstrated the efficacy of chiral helically shaped molecules in polarizing the scattered electron spin, an effect termed as chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS). Here we solve a simple tight-binding model for electron transport through a single helical molecule, with spin-orbit interactions on the bonds along the helix. Quantum interference is introduced via additional electron hopping between neighboring sites in the direction of the helix axis. When the helix is connected to two one-dimensional single-mode leads, time-reversal symmetry prevents spin polarization of the outgoing electrons. One possible way to retrieve such a polarization is to allow leakage of electrons from the helix to the environment, via additional outgoing leads. Technically, the leakage generates complex site self-energies, which break unitarity. As a result, the electron waves in the helix become evanescent, with different decay lengths for different spin polarizations, yielding a net spin polarization of the outgoing electrons, which increases with the length of the helix (as observed experimentally). A maximal polarization can be measured at a finite angle away from the helix axis.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Fluctuation Theorem in a Quantum-Dot Aharonov-Bohm Interferometer

In the present study, we investigate the full counting statistics in a two-terminal Aharonov-Bohm interferometer embedded with an interacting quantum dot. We introduce a novel saddle-point solution for a cumulant-generating function, which satisfies the fluctuation theorem and accounts for the interaction in the mean-field level approximation. Nonlinear transport coefficients satisfy universal relations imposed by microscopic reversibility, though the scattering matrix itself is not reversible. The skewness can be finite even in equilibrium, owing to the interaction and is proportional to the asymmetric component of nonlinear conductance.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Full Counting Statistics for a Single-Electron Transistor, Non-equilibrium Effects at Intermediate Conductance

We evaluate the current distribution for a single-electron transistor with intermediate strength tunnel conductance. Using the Schwinger-Keldysh approach and the drone (Majorana) fermion representation we account for the renormalization of system parameters. Nonequilibrium effects induce a lifetime broadening of the charge-state levels, which suppress large current fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Full counting statistics of information content

We review connections between the cumulant generating function of full counting statistics of particle number and the R\'enyi entanglement entropy. We calculate these quantities based on the fermionic and bosonic path-integral defined on multiple Keldysh contours. We relate the R\'enyi entropy with the information generating function, from which the probability distribution function of self-information is obtained in the nonequilibrium steady state. By exploiting the distribution, we analyze the information content carried by a single bosonic particle through a narrow-band quantum communication channel. The ratio of the self-information content to the number of bosons fluctuates. For a small boson occupation number, the average and the fluctuation of the ratio are enhanced.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Statistics of voltage fluctuations in resistively shunted Josephson junctions

The intrinsic nonlinearity of Josephson junctions converts Gaussian current noise in the input into non-Gaussian voltage noise in the output. For a resistively shunted Josephson junction with white input noise we determine numerically exactly the properties of the few lowest cumulants of the voltage fluctuations, and we derive analytical expressions for these cumulants in several important limits. The statistics of the voltage fluctuations is found to be Gaussian at bias currents well above the Josephson critical current, but Poissonian at currents below the critical value. In the transition region close to the critical current the higher-order cumulants oscillate and the voltage noise is strongly non-Gaussian. For coloured input noise we determine the third cumulant of the voltage.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Symmetry in Full Counting Statistics, Fluctuation Theorem, and Relations among Nonlinear Transport Coefficients in the Presence of a Magnetic Field

We study full counting statistics of coherent electron transport through multi-terminal interacting quantum-dots under a finite magnetic field. Microscopic reversibility leads to the symmetry of the cumulant generating function, which generalizes the fluctuation theorem in the context of quantum transport. Using this symmetry, we derive the Onsager-Casimir relation in the linear transport regime and universal relations among nonlinear transport coefficients.Comment: 4.1pages, 1 figur