Transport through two-level quantum dots weakly coupled to ferromagnetic leads

Spin-dependent transport through a two-level quantum dot in the sequential tunneling regime is analyzed theoretically by means of a real-time diagrammatic technique. It is shown that the current, tunnel magnetoresistance, and shot noise (Fano factor) strongly depend on the transport regime, providing a detailed information on the electronic structure of quantum dots and their coupling to external leads. When the dot is asymmetrically coupled to the leads, a negative differential conductance may occur in certain bias regions, which is associated with a super-Poissonian shot noise. In the case of a quantum dot coupled to one half-metallic and one nonmagnetic lead, one finds characteristic Pauli spin blockade effects. Transport may be also suppressed when the dot levels are coupled to the leads with different coupling strengths. The influence of an external magnetic field on transport properties is also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Interplay of the Kondo Effect and Spin-Polarized Transport in Magnetic Molecules, Adatoms and Quantum Dots

We study the interplay of the Kondo effect and spin-polarized tunneling in a class of systems exhibiting uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, such as magnetic molecules, magnetic adatoms, or quantum dots coupled to a single localized magnetic moment. Using the numerical renormalization group method we calculate the spectral functions and linear conductance in the Kondo regime. We show that the exchange coupling between conducting electrons and localized magnetic core generally leads to suppression of the Kondo effect. We also predict a nontrivial dependence of the tunnel magnetoresistance on the strength of exchange coupling and on the anisotropy constant.Comment: 4 pages with 4 EPS figures (version as accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

Phase diagram and excitations of a Shiba molecule

We analyze the phase diagram associated with a pair of magnetic impurities trapped in a superconducting host. The natural interplay between Kondo screening, superconductivity and exchange interactions leads to a rich array of competing phases, whose transitions are characterized by discontinuous changes of the total spin. Our analysis is based on a combination of numerical renormalization group techniques as well as semi-classical analytics. In addition to the expected screened and unscreened phases, we observe a new molecular doublet phase where the impurity spins are only partially screened by a single extended quasiparticle. Direct signatures of the various Shiba molecule states can be observed via RF spectroscopy.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Effects of different geometries on the conductance, shot noise and tunnel magnetoresistance of double quantum dots

The spin-polarized transport through a coherent strongly coupled double quantum dot (DQD) system is analyzed theoretically in the sequential and cotunneling regimes. Using the real-time diagrammatic technique, we analyze the current, differential conductance, shot noise and tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) as a function of both the bias and gate voltages for double quantum dots coupled in series, in parallel as well as for T-shaped systems. For DQDs coupled in series, we find a strong dependence of the TMR on the number of electrons occupying the double dot, and super-Poissonian shot noise in the Coulomb blockade regime. In addition, for asymmetric DQDs, we analyze transport in the Pauli spin blockade regime and explain the existence of the leakage current in terms of cotunneling and spin-flip cotunneling-assisted sequential tunneling. For DQDs coupled in parallel, we show that the transport characteristics in the weak coupling regime are qualitatively similar to those of DQDs coupled in series. On the other hand, in the case of T-shaped quantum dots we predict a large super-Poissonian shot noise and TMR enhanced above the Julliere value due to increased occupation of the decoupled quantum dot. We also discuss the possibility of determining the geometry of the double dot from transport characteristics. Furthermore, where possible, we compare our results with existing experimental data on nonmagnetic systems and find qualitative agreement.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Spin-polarized transport through weakly coupled double quantum dots in the Coulomb-blockade regime

We analyze cotunneling transport through two quantum dots in series weakly coupled to external ferromagnetic leads. In the Coulomb blockade regime the electric current flows due to third-order tunneling, while the second-order single-barrier processes have indirect impact on the current by changing the occupation probabilities of the double dot system. We predict a zero-bias maximum in the differential conductance, whose magnitude is conditioned by the value of the inter-dot Coulomb interaction. This maximum is present in both magnetic configurations of the system and results from asymmetry in cotunneling through different virtual states. Furthermore, we show that tunnel magnetoresistance exhibits a distinctively different behavior depending on temperature, being rather independent of the value of inter-dot correlation. Moreover, we find negative TMR in some range of the bias voltage.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

The Compact Structure of Radio-Loud Broad Absorption Line Quasars

We present the results of EVN+MERLIN VLBI polarization observations of 8 Broad Absorption Line (BAL) quasars at 1.6 GHz, including 4 LoBALs and 4 HiBALs with either steep or flat spectra on VLA scales. Only one steep-spectrum source, J1122+3124, shows two-sided structure on the scale of 2 kpc. The other four steep-spectrum sources and three flat-spectrum sources display either an unresolved image or a core-jet structure on scales of less than three hundred parsecs. In all cases the marginally resolved core is the dominant radio component. Linear polarization in the cores has been detected in the range of a few to 10 percent. Polarization, together with high brightness temperatures (from 2*10^9-5*10^10 K), suggest a synchrotron origin for the radio emission. There is no apparent difference in the radio orphologies or polarization between low-ionization and high-ionization BAL QSOs nor between flat- and steep-spectrum sources. We discuss the orientation of BAL QSOs with both flat and steep spectra, and consider a possible evolutionary scenario for BAL QSOs. In this scenario, BAL QSOs are probably the young population of radio sources, which are Compact Steep Spectrum or GHz peaked radio source analog at the low end of radio power.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in MNRA

Underscreened Kondo effect in S=1 magnetic quantum dots: Exchange, anisotropy and temperature effects

We present a theoretical analysis of the effects of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy and contact-induced exchange field on the underscreened Kondo effect in S=1 magnetic quantum dots coupled to ferromagnetic leads. First, by using the second-order perturbation theory we show that the coupling to spin-polarized electrode results in an effective exchange field $B_{\rm eff}$ and an effective magnetic anisotropy $D_{\rm eff}$. Second, we confirm these findings by using the numerical renormalization group method, which is employed to study the dependence of the quantum dot spectral functions, as well as quantum dot spin, on various parameters of the system. We show that the underscreened Kondo effect is generally suppressed due to the presence of effective exchange field and can be restored by tuning the anisotropy constant, when $|D_{\rm eff}| = |B_{\rm eff}|$. The Kondo effect can also be restored by sweeping an external magnetic field, and the restoration occurs twice in a single sweep. From the distance between the restored Kondo resonances one can extract the information about both the exchange field and the effective anisotropy. Finally, we calculate the temperature dependence of linear conductance for the parameters where the Kondo effect is restored and show that the restored Kondo resonances display a universal scaling of $S=1/2$ Kondo effect.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures (version as accepted for publication in Physical Review B