Singlet-triplet transition in a single-electron transistor at zero magnetic field

We report sharp peaks in the differential conductance of a single-electron transistor (SET) at low temperature, for gate voltages at which charge fluctuations are suppressed. For odd numbers of electrons we observe the expected Kondo peak at zero bias. For even numbers of electrons we generally observe Kondo-like features corresponding to excited states. For the latter, the excitation energy often decreases with gate voltage until a new zero-bias Kondo peak results. We ascribe this behavior to a singlet-triplet transition in zero magnetic field driven by the change of shape of the potential that confines the electrons in the SET.Comment: 4 p., 4 fig., 5 new ref. Rewrote 1st paragr. on p. 4. Revised author list. More detailed fit results on page 3. A plotting error in the horizontal axis of Fig. 1b and 3 was corrected, and so were the numbers in the text read from those fig. Fig. 4 was modified with a better temperature calibration (changes are a few percent). The inset of this fig. was removed as it is unnecessary here. Added remarks in the conclusion. Typos are correcte

Off-Diagonal Long-Range Order, Restricted Gauge Transformations, and Aharonov-Bohm Effect in Conductors

The Hamiltonian describing a conductor surrounding an external magnetic field contains a nonvanishing vector potential in the volume accessible to the electrons and nuclei of which the conductor is made. That vector potential cannot be removed by a gauge transformation. Nevertheless, a macroscopic normal conductor can experience no Aharonov-Bohm effect. That is proved by assuming only that a normal conductor lacks off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO). Then by restricting the Hilbert space to density matrices which lack ODLRO, it is possible to introduce a restricted gauge transformation that removes the interaction of the conductor with the vector potential.Comment: Editing errors are corrected. One was slightly misleadin

Cotunneling drag effect in Coulomb-coupled quantum dots

In Coulomb drag, a current flowing in one conductor can induce a voltage across an adjacent conductor via the Coulomb interaction. The mechanisms yielding drag effects are not always understood, even though drag effects are sufficiently general to be seen in many low-dimensional systems. In this Letter, we observe Coulomb drag in a Coulomb-coupled double quantum dot (CC-DQD) and, through both experimental and theoretical arguments, identify cotunneling as essential to obtaining a correct qualitative understanding of the drag behavior.Comment: Main text: 5 pages, 5 figures; SM: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl