1,163 research outputs found
Transverse tunneling current through guanine traps in DNA
The current - voltage dependence of the transverse tunneling current through
the electron or hole traps in a DNA is investigated. The hopping of the charge
between the sites of the trap and the charge-phonon coupling results in a
staircase structure of the I-V curve. For typical parameters of the DNA
molecule the energy characteristics of a DNA trap can be extracted from the I-V
dependence, viz., for a small gate voltage the phonon frequency and for a large
gate voltage the hopping integral can be found from the positions of the steps
in the I-V curve. Formation of the polaronic state also results in the
redistribution of the tunneling current between the different sites of the
traps
Scaling analysis of Kondo screening cloud in a mesoscopic ring with an embedded quantum dot
The Kondo effect is theoretically studied in a quantum dot embedded in a
mesoscopic ring. The ring is connected to two external leads, which enables the
transport measurement. Using the "poor man's" scaling method, we obtain
analytical expressions of the Kondo temperature T_K as a function of the
Aharonov-Bohm phase \phi by the magnetic flux penetrating the ring. In this
Kondo problem, there are two characteristic lengths. One is the screening
length of the charge fluctuation, L_c=\hbar v_F/ |\epsilon_0|, where v_F is the
Fermi velocity and \epsilon_0 is the energy level in the quantum dot. The other
is the screening length of spin fluctuation, i.e., size of Kondo screening
cloud, L_K=\hbar v_F/ T_K. We obtain different expressions of T_K(\phi) for (i)
L_c \ll L_K \ll L, (ii) L_c \ll L \ll L_K, and (iii) L \ll L_c \ll L_K, where L
is the size of the ring. T_K is markedly modulated by \phi in cases (ii) and
(iii), whereas it hardly depends on \phi in case (i). We also derive
logarithmic corrections to the conductance at temperature T\gg T_K and an
analytical expression of the conductance at T\ll T_K, on the basis of the
scaling analysis.Comment: 21pages, 10 figure
The Influence of Interference on the Kondo Effect in a Quantum Dot
We study the Kondo effect in a model system of a quantum dot embedded in an
Aharanov-Bohm ring connected to two leads. By transforming to the scattering
basis of the direct inter-lead tunneling, we are able to describe precisely how
the Kondo screening of the dot spin occurs. We calculate the Kondo temperature
and zero-temperature conductance and find that both are influenced by the
Aharanov-Bohm ring as well as the electron density in the leads. We also
calculate the form of an additional potential scattering term that arises at
low energies due to the breaking of particle-hole symmetry. Many of our results
are supported by numerical analysis using the numerical renormalization group.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figure
Interplay of Kondo and superconducting correlations in the nonequilibrium Andreev transport through a quantum dot
Using the modified perturbation theory, we theoretically study the
nonequilibrium Andreev transport through a quantum dot coupled to normal and
superconducting leads (N-QD-S), which is strongly influenced by the Kondo and
superconducting correlations. From the numerical calculation, we find that the
renormalized couplings between the leads and the dot in the equilibrium states
characterize the peak formation in the nonequilibrium differential conductance.
In particular, in the Kondo regime, the enhancement of the Andreev transport
via a Kondo resonance occurs in the differential conductance at a finite bias
voltage, leading to an anomalous peak whose position is given by the
renormalized parameters. In addition to the peak, we show that the energy
levels of the Andreev bound states give rise to other peaks in the differential
conductance in the strongly correlated N-QD-S system. All these features of the
nonequilibrium transport are consistent with those in the recent experimental
results [R. S. Deacon {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 104}, 076805 (2010);
Phys. Rev. B {\bf 81}, 12308 (2010)]. We also find that the interplay of the
Kondo and superconducting correlations induces an intriguing pinning effect of
the Andreev resonances to the Fermi level and its counter position.Comment: 22 pages, 23 figure
Josephson Effect through an isotropic magnetic molecule
We investigate the Josephson effect through a molecular quantum dot magnet
connected to superconducting leads. The molecule contains a magnetic atom,
whose spin is assumed to be isotropic. It is coupled to the electron spin on
the dot via exchange coupling. Using the numerical renormalization group method
we calculate the Andreev levels and the supercurrent and examine intertwined
effect of the exchange coupling, Kondo correlation, and superconductivity on
the current. Exchange coupling typically suppresses the Kondo correlation so
that the system undergoes a phase transition from 0 to state as the
modulus of exchange coupling increases. Antiferromagnetic coupling is found to
drive exotic transitions: the reentrance to the state for a small
superconducting gap and the restoration of 0 state for large antiferromagnetic
exchange coupling. We suggest that the asymmetric dependence of supercurrent on
the exchange coupling could be used as to detect its sign in experiments
Phonon-mediated negative differential conductance in molecular quantum dots
Transport through a single molecular conductor is considered, showing
negative differential conductance behavior associated with phonon-mediated
electron tunneling processes. This theoretical work is motivated by a recent
experiment by Leroy et al. using a carbon nanotube contacted by an STM tip
[Nature {\bf 432}, 371 (2004)], where negative differential conductance of the
breathing mode phonon side peaks could be observed. A peculiarity of this
system is that the tunneling couplings which inject electrons and those which
collect them on the substrate are highly asymmetrical. A quantum dot model is
used, coupling a single electronic level to a local phonon, forming polaron
levels. A "half-shuttle" mechanism is also introduced. A quantum kinetic
formulation allows to derive rate equations. Assuming asymmetric tunneling
rates, and in the absence of the half-shuttle coupling, negative differential
conductance is obtained for a wide range of parameters. A detailed explanation
of this phenomenon is provided, showing that NDC is maximal for intermediate
electron-phonon coupling. In addition, in absence of a gate, the "floating"
level results in two distinct lengths for the current plateaus, related to the
capacitive couplings at the two junctions. It is shown that the "half-shuttle"
mechanism tends to reinforce the negative differential regions, but it cannot
trigger this behavior on its own
Magnetic field induced two-channel Kondo effect in multiple quantum dots
We study the possibility to observe the two channel Kondo physics in multiple
quantum dot heterostructures in the presence of magnetic field. We show that a
fine tuning of the coupling parameters of the system and an external magnetic
field may stabilize the two channel Kondo critical point. We make predictions
for behavior of the scaling of the differential conductance in the vicinity of
the quantum critical point, as a function of magnetic field, temperature and
source-drain potential.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Electronic spin precession and interferometry from spin-orbital entanglement in a double quantum dot
A double quantum dot inserted in parallel between two metallic leads allows
to entangle the electron spin with the orbital (dot index) degree of freedom.
An Aharonov-Bohm orbital phase can then be transferred to the spinor
wavefunction, providing a geometrical control of the spin precession around a
fixed magnetic field. A fully coherent behaviour is obtained in a mixed
orbital/spin Kondo regime. Evidence for the spin precession can be obtained,
either using spin-polarized metallic leads or by placing the double dot in one
branch of a metallic loop.Comment: Final versio
Conductance quantization in graphene nanoconstrictions with mesoscopically smooth but atomically stepped boundaries
We present the results of million atom electronic quantum transport
calculations for graphene nanoconstrictions with edges that are smooth apart
from atomic scale steps. We find conductances quantized in integer multiples of
2e2/h and a plateau at ~0.5*2e2/h as in recent experiments [Tombros et al.,
Nature Physics 7, 697 (2011)]. We demonstrate that, surprisingly, conductances
quantized in integer multiples of 2e2/h occur even for strongly non-adiabatic
electron backscattering at the stepped edges that lowers the conductance by one
or more conductance quanta below the adiabatic value. We also show that
conductance plateaus near 0.5*2e2/h can occur as a result of electron
backscattering at stepped edges even in the absence of electron-electron
interactions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Non-equilibrium Transport in the Anderson model of a biased Quantum Dot: Scattering Bethe Ansatz Phenomenology
We derive the transport properties of a quantum dot subject to a source-drain
bias voltage at zero temperature and magnetic field. Using the Scattering Bethe
Anstaz, a generalization of the traditional Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz to open
systems out of equilibrium, we derive exact results for the quantum dot
occupation out of equilibrium and, by introducing phenomenological spin- and
charge-fluctuation distribution functions in the computation of the current,
obtain the differential conductance for large U/\Gamma. The Hamiltonian to
describe the quantum dot system is the Anderson impurity Hamiltonian and the
current and dot occupation as a function of voltage are obtained numerically.
We also vary the gate voltage and study the transition from the mixed valence
to the Kondo regime in the presence of a non-equilibrium current. We conclude
with the difficulty we encounter in this model and possible way to solve them
without resorting to a phenomenological method.Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures, published versio
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