Measurement of Quantum Noise in a Carbon Nanotube Quantum Dot in the Kondo Regime

The current emission noise of a carbon nanotube quantum dot in the Kondo regime is measured at frequencies ν of the order or higher than the frequency associated with the Kondo effect kBTK/h, with TK the Kondo temperature. The carbon nanotube is coupled via an on-chip resonant circuit to a quantum noise detector, a superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction. We find for hν≈kBTK a Kondo effect related singularity at a voltage bias eV≈hν, and a strong reduction of this singularity for hν≈3kBTK, in good agreement with theory. Our experiment constitutes a new original tool for the investigation of the nonequilibrium dynamics of many-body phenomena in nanoscale devices

Fano effect of a strongly interacting quantum dot in contact with superconductor

The physics of a system consisting of an Aharonov Bohm (AB) interferometer containing a single level interacting quantum dot (QD) on one of its arms, and attached to normal (N) and superconducting (S) leads is studied and elucidated. Here the focus is directed mainly on N-AB-S junctions but the theory is capable of studying S-AB-S junctions as well. The interesting physics comes into play under the conditions that both the Kondo effect in the QD and the the Fano effect are equally important.It is found the conductance of the junction is suppressed as the Fano effect becomes more dominant.Comment: 4 pages, Talk to be given at the NATO Conference MQO, Bled, Slovenia 7-10 September 200

Superconductivity in carbon nanotube ropes

We investigate the conditions in which superconductivity may develop in ropes of carbon nanotubes. It is shown that the interaction among a large number of metallic nanotubes favors the appearance of a metallic phase in the ropes, intermediate between respective phases with spin-density-wave and superconducting correlations. These arise in samples with about 100 metallic nanotubes or more, where the long-range Coulomb interaction is very effectively reduced and it may be overcome by the attractive interaction from the exchange of optical phonons within each nanotube. We estimate that the probability for the tunneling of Cooper pairs between neighboring nanotubes is much higher than that for single electrons in a disordered rope. The effect of pair hopping is therefore what establishes the intertube coherence, and the tunneling amplitude of the Cooper pairs dictates the scale of the transition to the superconducting state.Comment: 12 page

Hamiltonian approach to the ac Josephson effect in superconducting-normal hybrid systems

The ac Josephson effect in hybrid systems of a normal mesoscopic conductor coupled to two superconducting (S) leads is investigated theoretically. A general formula of the ac components of time-dependent current is derived which is valid for arbitrary interactions in the normal region. We apply this formula to analyze a S-normal-S system where the normal region is a noninteracting single level quantum dot. We report the physical behavior of time-averaged nonequilibrium distribution of electrons in the quantum dot, the formation of Andreev bound states, and ac components of the time-dependent current. The distribution is found to exhibit a population inversion; and all Andreev bound states between the superconducting gap $\Delta$ carry the same amount of current and in the same flow direction. The ac components of time-dependent current show strong oscillatory behavior in marked contrast to the subharmonic gap structure of the average current.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, LaTe

Rate-equation calculations of the current flow through two-site molecular device and DNA-based junction

Here we present the calculations of incoherent current flowing through the two-site molecular device as well as the DNA-based junction within the rate-equation approach. Few interesting phenomena are discussed in detail. Structural asymmetry of two-site molecule results in rectification effect, which can be neutralized by asymmetric voltage drop at the molecule-metal contacts due to coupling asymmetry. The results received for poly(dG)-poly(dC) DNA molecule reveal the coupling- and temperature-independent saturation effect of the current at high voltages, where for short chains we establish the inverse square distance dependence. Besides, we document the shift of the conductance peak in the direction to higher voltages due to the temperature decrease.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Acoustic phonon exchange, attractive interactions, and the Wentzel-Bardeen singularity in single-wall nanotubes

We derive the effective low-energy theory for interacting electrons in metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes taking into account acoustic phonon exchange within a continuum elastic description. In many cases, the nanotube can be described as a standard Luttinger liquid with possibly attractive interactions. We predict surprisingly strong attractive interactions for thin nanotubes. Once the tube radius reaches a critical value $R_0 \approx 3.6\pm 1.4$ \AA, the Wentzel-Bardeen singularity is approached, accompanied by strong superconducting fluctuations. The surprisingly large $R_0$ indicates that this singularity could be reached experimentally. We also discuss the conditions for a Peierls transition due to acoustic phonons.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, final version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Alteration of superconductivity and radial breathing modes in suspended ropes of carbon nanotubes by organic polymer coatings

We have altered the superconductivity of a suspended rope of single walled carbon nanotubes, by coating it with organic polymers. Upon coating, the normal state resistance of the rope changes by less than 20%. But superconductivity, which on the bare rope shows up as a substantial resistance decrease below 300 mK, is gradually suppressed. We correlate this to the suppression of radial breathing modes, measured with raman spectroscopy on suspended single and double-walled carbon nanotubes. This points to the breathing phonon modes as being responsible for superconductivity in ropes of single walled carbon nanotubes