1,614 research outputs found
Tunneling into Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes: Coulomb Blockade and Fano Resonance
Tunneling spectroscopy measurements of single tunnel junctions formed between
multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and a normal metal are reported. Intrinsic
Coulomb interactions in the MWNTs give rise to a strong zero-bias suppression
of a tunneling density of states (TDOS) that can be fitted numerically to the
environmental quantum-fluctuation (EQF) theory. An asymmetric conductance
anomaly near zero bias is found at low temperatures and interpreted as Fano
resonance in the strong tunneling regime.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Low noise buffer amplifiers and buffered phase comparators for precise time and frequency measurement and distribution
Extremely low noise, high performance, wideband buffer amplifiers and buffered phase comparators were developed. These buffer amplifiers are designed to distribute reference frequencies from 30 KHz to 45 MHz from a hydrogen maser without degrading the hydrogen maser's performance. The buffered phase comparators are designed to intercompare the phase of state of the art hydrogen masers without adding any significant measurement system noise. These devices have a 27 femtosecond phase stability floor and are stable to better than one picosecond for long periods of time. Their temperature coefficient is less than one picosecond per degree C, and they have shown virtually no voltage coefficients
Weak Coulomb blockade effect in quantum dots
We develop the general non-equilibrium theory of transport through a quantum
dot, including Coulomb Blockade effects via a 1/N expansion, where N is the
number of scattering channels. At lowest order we recover the Landauer formula
for the current plus a self-consistent equation for the dot potential. We
obtain the leading corrections and compare with earlier approaches. Finally, we
show that to leading and next leading order in 1/N there is no interaction
correction to the weak localization, in contrast to previous theories, but
consistent with experiments by Huibers et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1917
(1998)], where N=4.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Published versio
Phase-charge duality in Josephson junction circuits: Role of inertia and effect of microwave irradiation
We investigate the physics of coherent quantum phase slips in two distinct
circuits containing small Josephson junctions: (i) a single junction embedded
in an inductive environment and (ii) a long chain of junctions. Starting from
the standard Josephson Hamiltonian, the single junction circuit can be analyzed
using quasi-classical methods; we formulate the conditions under which the
resulting quasi-charge dynamics is exactly dual to the usual phase dynamics
associated with Josephson tunneling. For the chain we use the fact that its
collective behavior can be characterized by one variable: the number of
quantum phase slips present on it. We conclude that the dynamics of the
conjugate quasi-charge is again exactly dual to the standard phase dynamics of
a single Josephson junction. In both cases we elucidate the role of the
inductance, essential to obtain exact duality. These conclusions have profound
consequences for the behavior of single junctions and chains under microwave
irradiation. Since both systems are governed by a model exactly dual to the
standard resistively and capacitively shunted junction model, we expect the
appearance of current-Shapiro steps. We numerically calculate the corresponding
current-voltage characteristics in a wide range of parameters. Our results are
of interest in view of a metrological current standard
Cone opsins and response of female chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra ) to differently coloured raincoats
Alpine species are often exposed to intense levels of human recreational activities. Exactly how human disturbances influence the behaviour of these species is still open to much debate. For example, little is known regarding how the colourful clothing often worn by tourists influences the behaviour of animals. Tourists wearing colourful clothing may be more conspicuous to local wildlife and thus cause more disturbances. We therefore investigated this question in female chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) in the Swiss Alps. We firstly investigated, via a morphological and an immunohistochemical approach, whether chamois are likely to have colour vision and would therefore be more likely to respond to different coloured clothing. We detected evidence of two cone types—short-wavelength-sensitive cones (S-cones, JH 455) and middle-wavelength-sensitive cones (M-cones, JH492) in the chamois retina—suggesting that chamois have dichromatic vision, similar to other ungulates. Secondly, via behavioural assays where a person wearing one of three coloured coats commonly worn by tourists (red, yellow and blue) approached a female chamois, we show that neither the alert and flight initiation distance nor the site of refuge were influenced by the raincoat colour. In addition, behavioural responses of the chamois were neither influenced by animal group size nor the presence of kids nor the time of the experiment. The results suggest that, although chamois possess colour vision, they do not react more strongly towards conspicuous colours worn by hikers. We discuss our results in light of what is already known about chamois biology and suggest implications for future studie
Thermal fluctuation field for current-induced domain wall motion
Current-induced domain wall motion in magnetic nanowires is affected by
thermal fluctuation. In order to account for this effect, the
Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation includes a thermal fluctuation field and
literature often utilizes the fluctuation-dissipation theorem to characterize
statistical properties of the thermal fluctuation field. However, the theorem
is not applicable to the system under finite current since it is not in
equilibrium. To examine the effect of finite current on the thermal
fluctuation, we adopt the influence functional formalism developed by Feynman
and Vernon, which is known to be a useful tool to analyze effects of
dissipation and thermal fluctuation. For this purpose, we construct a quantum
mechanical effective Hamiltonian describing current-induced domain wall motion
by generalizing the Caldeira-Leggett description of quantum dissipation. We
find that even for the current-induced domain wall motion, the statistical
properties of the thermal noise is still described by the
fluctuation-dissipation theorem if the current density is sufficiently lower
than the intrinsic critical current density and thus the domain wall tilting
angle is sufficiently lower than pi/4. The relation between our result and a
recent result, which also addresses the thermal fluctuation, is discussed. We
also find interesting physical meanings of the Gilbert damping alpha and the
nonadiabaticy parameter beta; while alpha characterizes the coupling strength
between the magnetization dynamics (the domain wall motion in this paper) and
the thermal reservoir (or environment), beta characterizes the coupling
strength between the spin current and the thermal reservoir.Comment: 16 page, no figur
Using a quantum dot as a high-frequency shot noise detector
We present the experimental realization of a Quantum Dot (QD) operating as a
high-frequency noise detector. Current fluctuations produced in a nearby
Quantum Point Contact (QPC) ionize the QD and induce transport through excited
states. The resulting transient current through the QD represents our detector
signal. We investigate its dependence on the QPC transmission and voltage bias.
We observe and explain a quantum threshold feature and a saturation in the
detector signal. This experimental and theoretical study is relevant in
understanding the backaction of a QPC used as a charge detector.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Specific heat anomalies of open quantum systems
The evaluation of the specific heat of an open, damped quantum system is a
subtle issue. One possible route is based on the thermodynamic partition
function which is the ratio of the partition functions of system plus bath and
of the bath alone. For the free damped particle it has been shown, however,
that the ensuing specific heat may become negative for appropriately chosen
environments. Being an open system this quantity then naturally must be
interpreted as the change of the specific heat obtained as the difference
between the specific heat of the heat bath coupled to the system degrees of
freedom and the specific heat of the bath alone. While this difference may
become negative, the involved specific heats themselves are always positive;
thus, the known thermodynamic stability criteria are perfectly guaranteed. For
a damped quantum harmonic oscillator, instead of negative values, under
appropriate conditions one can observe a dip in the difference of specific
heats as a function of temperature. Stylized minimal models containing a single
oscillator heat bath are employed to elucidate the occurrence of the anomalous
temperature dependence of the corresponding specific heat values. Moreover, we
comment on the consequences for the interpretation of the density of states
based on the thermal partitionfunction.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, new title and some modifications of the main tex
Normal metal - superconductor tunnel junction as a Brownian refrigerator
Thermal noise generated by a hot resistor (resistance ) can, under proper
conditions, catalyze heat removal from a cold normal metal (N) in contact with
a superconductor (S) via a tunnel barrier. Such a NIS junction acts as
Maxwell's demon, rectifying the heat flow. Upon reversal of the temperature
gradient between the resistor and the junction the heat fluxes are reversed:
this presents a regime which is not accessible in an ordinary voltage-biased
NIS structure. We obtain analytical results for the cooling performance in an
idealized high impedance environment, and perform numerical calculations for
general . We conclude by assessing the experimental feasibility of the
proposed effect
Correlated sequential tunneling through a double barrier for interacting one-dimensional electrons
The problem of resonant tunneling through a quantum dot weakly coupled to
spinless Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids has been studied. We compute the linear
conductance due to sequential tunneling processes upon employing a master
equation approach. Besides the previously used lowest-order golden rule rates
describing uncorrelated sequential tunneling (UST) processes, we systematically
include higher-order correlated sequential tunneling (CST) diagrams within the
standard Weisskopf-Wigner approximation. We provide estimates for the parameter
regions where CST effects can be important. Focusing mainly on the temperature
dependence of the peak conductance, we discuss the relation of these findings
to previous theoretical and experimental results.Comment: replaced with the published versio
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