811 research outputs found
Finite bias Cooper pair splitting
In a device with a superconductor coupled to two parallel quantum dots (QDs)
the electrical tunability of the QD levels can be used to exploit non-classical
current correlations due to the splitting of Cooper pairs. We experimentally
investigate the effect of a finite potential difference across one quantum dot
on the conductance through the other completely grounded QD in a Cooper pair
splitter fabricated on an InAs nanowire. We demonstrate that the electrical
transport through the device can be tuned by electrical means to be dominated
either by Cooper pair splitting (CPS), or by elastic co-tunneling (EC). The
basic experimental findings can be understood by considering the energy
dependent density of states in a QD. The reported experiments add
bias-dependent spectroscopy to the investigative tools necessary to develop
CPS-based sources of entangled electrons in solid-state devices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Wet etch methods for InAs nanowire patterning and self-aligned electrical contacts
Advanced synthesis of semiconductor nanowires (NWs) enables their application
in diverse fields, notably in chemical and electrical sensing, photovoltaics,
or quantum electronic devices. In particular, Indium Arsenide (InAs) NWs are an
ideal platform for quantum devices, e.g. they may host topological Majorana
states. While the synthesis has been continously perfected, only few techniques
were developed to tailor individual NWs after growth. Here we present three wet
chemical etch methods for the post-growth morphological engineering of InAs NWs
on the sub-100 nm scale. The first two methods allow the formation of
self-aligned electrical contacts to etched NWs, while the third method results
in conical shaped NW profiles ideal for creating smooth electrical potential
gradients and shallow barriers. Low temperature experiments show that NWs with
etched segments have stable transport characteristics and can serve as building
blocks of quantum electronic devices. As an example we report the formation of
a single electrically stable quantum dot between two etched NW segments.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Conductance of Pd-H nanojunctions
Results of an experimental study of palladium nanojunctions in hydrogen
environment are presented. Two new hydrogen-related atomic configurations are
found, which have a conductances of ~0.5 and ~1 quantum unit (2e^2/h). Phonon
spectrum measurements demonstrate that these configurations are situated
between electrodes containing dissolved hydrogen. The crucial differences
compared to the previously studied Pt-H_2 junctions, and the possible
microscopic realizations of the new configurations in palladium-hydrogen
atomic-sized contacts are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Roper excitation in reactions
We calculate differential cross sections and the spin transfer coefficient
in the reaction for proton
bombarding energies from 1 to 10 GeV and invariant masses spanning
the region of the N(1440) Roper resonance. Two processes --
excitation in the -particle and Roper excitation in the proton -- are
included in an effective reaction model which was shown previously to reproduce
existing inclusive spectra. The present calculations demonstrate that these two
contributions can be clearly distinguished via , even under kinematic
conditions where cross sections alone exhibit no clear peak structure due to
the excitation of the Roper.Comment: 12 pages, 11 ps figures, Late
Local electrical tuning of the nonlocal signals in a Cooper pair splitter
A Cooper pair splitter consists of a central superconducting contact, S, from
which electrons are injected into two parallel, spatially separated quantum
dots (QDs). This geometry and electron interactions can lead to correlated
electrical currents due to the spatial separation of spin-singlet Cooper pairs
from S. We present experiments on such a device with a series of bottom gates,
which allows for spatially resolved tuning of the tunnel couplings between the
QDs and the electrical contacts and between the QDs. Our main findings are
gate-induced transitions between positive conductance correlation in the QDs
due to Cooper pair splitting and negative correlations due to QD dynamics.
Using a semi-classical rate equation model we show that the experimental
findings are consistent with in-situ electrical tuning of the local and
nonlocal quantum transport processes. In particular, we illustrate how the
competition between Cooper pair splitting and local processes can be optimized
in such hybrid nanostructures.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 2 table
Atomic size oscillations in conductance histograms for gold nanowires and the influence of work hardening
Nanowires of different nature have been shown to self-assemble as a function
of stress at the contact between two macroscopic metallic leads. Here we
demonstrate for gold wires that the balance between various metastable nanowire
configurations is influenced by the microstructure of the starting materials
and we discover a new set of periodic structures, which we interpret as due to
the atomic discreteness of the contact size for the three principal crystal
orientations.Comment: This version corrects an error in attributing the three observed
periods, and includes a comparison with recent model calculation
Magnetic field tuning and quantum interference in a Cooper pair splitter
Cooper pair splitting (CPS) is a process in which the electrons of naturally
occurring spin-singlet pairs in a superconductor are spatially separated using
two quantum dots. Here we investigate the evolution of the conductance
correlations in an InAs CPS device in the presence of an external magnetic
field. In our experiments the gate dependence of the signal that depends on
both quantum dots continuously evolves from a slightly asymmetric Lorentzian to
a strongly asymmetric Fano-type resonance with increasing field. These
experiments can be understood in a simple three - site model, which shows that
the nonlocal CPS leads to symmetric line shapes, while the local transport
processes can exhibit an asymmetric shape due to quantum interference. These
findings demonstrate that the electrons from a Cooper pair splitter can
propagate coherently after their emission from the superconductor and how a
magnetic field can be used to optimize the performance of a CPS device. In
addition, the model calculations suggest that the estimate of the CPS
efficiency in the experiments is a lower bound for the actual efficiency.Comment: 5 pages + 4 pages supplementary informatio
Kondo effect and spin-active scattering in ferromagnet-superconductor junctions
We study the interplay of superconducting and ferromagnetic correlations on
charge transport in different geometries with a focus on both a quantum point
contact as well as a quantum dot in the even and the odd state with and without
spin-active scattering at the interface. In order to obtain a complete picture
of the charge transport we calculate the full counting statistics in all cases
and compare the results with experimental data. We show that spin-active
scattering is an essential ingredient in the description of quantum point
contacts. This holds also for quantum dots in an even charge state whereas it
is strongly suppressed in a typical Kondo situation. We explain this feature by
the strong asymmetry of the hybridisations with the quantum dot and show how
Kondo peak splitting in a magnetic field can be used for spin filtering. For
the quantum dot in the even state spin-active scattering allows for an
explanation of the experimentally observed mini-gap feature.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, accepted by PR
Electron transport across a quantum wire in the presence of electron leakage to a substrate
We investigate electron transport through a mono-atomic wire which is tunnel
coupled to two electrodes and also to the underlying substrate. The setup is
modeled by a tight-binding Hamiltonian and can be realized with a scanning
tunnel microscope (STM). The transmission of the wire is obtained from the
corresponding Green's function. If the wire is scanned by the contacting STM
tip, the conductance as a function of the tip position exhibits oscillations
which may change significantly upon increasing the number of wire atoms. Our
numerical studies reveal that the conductance depends strongly on whether or
not the substrate electrons are localized. As a further ubiquitous feature, we
observe the formation of charge oscillations.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
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