350 research outputs found
Thermopower of a Kondo-correlated quantum dot
The thermopower of a Kondo-correlated gate-defined quantum dot is studied
using a current heating technique. In the presence of spin correlations the
thermopower shows a clear deviation from the semiclassical Mott relation
between thermopower and conductivity. The strong thermopower signal indicates a
significant asymmetry in the spectral density of states of the Kondo resonance
with respect to the Fermi energies of the reservoirs. The observed behavior can
be explained within the framework of an Anderson-impurity model.
Keywords: Thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects, Coulomb blockade, single
electron tunneling, Kondo-effect
PACS Numbers: 72.20.Pa, 73.23.HkComment: 4 pages, 4 figures, revised version, changed figure
Sequential and co-tunneling behavior in the temperature-dependent thermopower of few-electron quantum dots
We have studied the temperature dependent thermopower of gate-defined,
lateral quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime using an electron heating
technique. The line shape of the thermopower oscillations depends strongly on
the contributing tunneling processes. Between 1.5 K and 40 mK a crossover from
a pure sawtooth- to an intermitted sawtooth-like line shape is observed. The
latter is attributed to the increasing dominance of cotunneling processes in
the Coulomb blockade regime at low temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Energy level shift of quantum systems via the electric Aharonov-Bohm effect
A novel version of the electric Aharonov-Bohm effect is proposed where the
quantum system which picks up the Aharonov-Bohm phase is confined to a Faraday
cage with a time varying, spatially uniform scalar potential. The electric and
magnetic fields in this region are effectively zero for the entire period of
the experiment. The observable consequence of this version of the electric
Aharonov-Bohmn effect is to shift the energy levels of the quantum system
rather than shift the fringes of the 2-slit interference pattern. We show a
strong mathematical connection between this version of the scalar electric AB
effect and the AC Stark effect.Comment: 14 pages revtex, 4 figures. Added references and changes made to
address referee comments. To be published in PR
Measuring Temperature Gradients over Nanometer Length Scales
When a quantum dot is subjected to a thermal gradient, the temperature of
electrons entering the dot can be determined from the dot's thermocurrent if
the conductance spectrum and background temperature are known. We demonstrate
this technique by measuring the temperature difference across a 15 nm quantum
dot embedded in a nanowire. This technique can be used when the dot's energy
states are separated by many kT and will enable future quantitative
investigations of electron-phonon interaction, nonlinear thermoelectric
effects, and the effciency of thermoelectric energy conversion in quantum dots.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Spin-dependent thermoelectric transport through double quantum dots
We study thermoelectric transport through double quantum dots system with
spin-dependent interdot coupling and ferromagnetic electrodes by means of the
non-equilibrium Green function in the linear response regime. It is found that
the thermoelectric coefficients are strongly dependent on the splitting of
interdot coupling, the relative magnetic configurations and the spin
polarization of leads. In particular, the thermoelectric efficiency can achieve
considerable value in parallel configuration when the effective interdot
coupling and tunnel coupling between QDs and the leads for spin-down electrons
are small. Moreover, the thermoelectric efficiency increases with the intradot
Coulomb interactions increasing and can reach very high value at an appropriate
temperature. In the presence of the magnetic field, the spin accumulation in
leads strongly suppresses the thermoelectric efficiency and a pure spin
thermopower can be obtained.Comment: 5 figure
Surface Transitions for Confined Associating Mixtures
Thin films of binary mixtures that interact through isotropic forces and
directionally specific "hydrogen bonding" are considered through Monte Carlo
simulations. We show, in good agreement with experiment, that the single phase
of these mixtures can be stabilized or destabilized on confinement. These
results resolve a long standing controversy, since previous theories suggest
that confinement only stabilizes the single phase of fluid mixtures.Comment: LaTeX document, documentstyle[aps,preprint]{revtex}, psfig.sty,
bibtex, 13 pages, 4 figure
Thermal rectification effect of an interacting quantum dot
We investigate nonlinear thermal transport properties of a single interacting
quantum dot with two energy levels tunnel-coupled to two electrodes using
nonequilibrium Green function method and Hartree-Fock decoupling approximation.
In the case of asymmetric tunnel-couplings to two electrodes, for example, when
the upper level of the quantum dot is open for transport, whereas the lower
level is blocked, our calculations predict a strong asymmetry for the heat
(energy) current, which shows that, the quantum dot system may act as a thermal
rectifier in this specific situation.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Enhanced sequential carrier capture into individual quantum dots and quantum posts controlled by surface acoustic waves
Individual self-assembled Quantum Dots and Quantum Posts are studied under
the influence of a surface acoustic wave. In optical experiments we observe an
acoustically induced switching of the occupancy of the nanostructures along
with an overall increase of the emission intensity. For Quantum Posts,
switching occurs continuously from predominantely charged excitons (dissimilar
number of electrons and holes) to neutral excitons (same number of electrons
and holes) and is independent on whether the surface acoustic wave amplitude is
increased or decreased. For quantum dots, switching is non-monotonic and shows
a pronounced hysteresis on the amplitude sweep direction. Moreover, emission of
positively charged and neutral excitons is observed at high surface acoustic
wave amplitudes. These findings are explained by carrier trapping and
localization in the thin and disordered two-dimensional wetting layer on top of
which Quantum Dots nucleate. This limitation can be overcome for Quantum Posts
where acoustically induced charge transport is highly efficient in a wide
lateral Matrix-Quantum Well.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Surface and capillary transitions in an associating binary mixture model
We investigate the phase diagram of a two-component associating fluid mixture
in the presence of selectively adsorbing substrates. The mixture is
characterized by a bulk phase diagram which displays peculiar features such as
closed loops of immiscibility. The presence of the substrates may interfere the
physical mechanism involved in the appearance of these phase diagrams, leading
to an enhanced tendency to phase separate below the lower critical solution
point. Three different cases are considered: a planar solid surface in contact
with a bulk fluid, while the other two represent two models of porous systems,
namely a slit and an array on infinitely long parallel cylinders. We confirm
that surface transitions, as well as capillary transitions for a large
area/volume ratio, are stabilized in the one-phase region. Applicability of our
results to experiments reported in the literature is discussed.Comment: 12 two-column pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical
Review E; corrected versio
Electrical and thermoelectrical transport in Dirac fermions through a quantum dot
We investigate the conductance and thermopower of massless Dirac fermions
through a quantum dot using a pseudogap Anderson model in the non-crossing
approximation. When the Fermi level is at the Dirac point, the conductance has
a cusp where the thermopower changes its sign. When the Fermi level is away
from the Dirac point, the Kondo temperature illustrates a quantum impurity
transition between an asymmetric strong coupling Kondo state and a localized
moment state. The conductance shows a peak near this transition and reaches the
unitary limit at low temperatures. The magnitude of the thermopower exceeds
, and the thermoelectric figure of merit exceeds unity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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