7,520 research outputs found
Strong Tunneling in Double-Island Structures
We study the electron transport through a system of two low-capacitance metal
islands connected in series between two electrodes. The work is motivated in
part by experiments on semiconducting double-dots, which show intriguing
effects arising from coherent tunneling of electrons and mixing of the
single-electron states across tunneling barriers. In this article, we show how
coherent tunneling affects metallic systems and leads to a mixing of the
macroscopic charge states across the barriers. We apply a recently formulated
RG approach to examine the linear response of the system with high tunnel
conductances (up to 8e^2/h). In addition we calculate the (second order)
cotunneling contributions to the non-linear conductance. Our main results are
that the peaks in the linear and nonlinear conductance as a function of the
gate voltage are reduced and broadened in an asymmetric way, as well as shifted
in their positions. In the limit where the two islands are coupled weakly to
the electrodes, we compare to theoretical results obtained by Golden and
Halperin and Matveev et al. In the opposite case when the two islands are
coupled more strongly to the leads than to each other, the peaks are found to
shift, in qualitative agreement with the recent prediction of Andrei et al. for
a similar double-dot system which exhibits a phase transition.Comment: 12 page
Co-tunneling current and shot noise in quantum dots
We derive general expressions for the current and shot noise, taking into
account non-Markovian memory effects. In generalization of previous approaches
our theory is valid for arbitrary Coulomb interaction and coupling strength and
is applicable to quantum dots and more complex systems like molecules. A
diagrammatic expansion up to second-order in the coupling strength, taking into
account co-tunneling processes, allows for a study of transport in a regime
relevant to many experiments. As an example, we consider a single-level quantum
dot, focusing on the Coulomb-blockade regime. We find super-Poissonian shot
noise due to spin-flip co-tunneling processes at an energy scale different from
the one expected from first-order calculations, with a sensitive dependence on
the coupling strength.Comment: 4 pages, three figures, submitted to PR
Cotunneling at resonance for the single-electron transistor
We study electron transport through a small metallic island in the
perturbative regime. Using a recently developed diagrammatic technique, we
calculate the occupation of the island as well as the conductance through the
transistor in forth order in the tunneling matrix elements, a process referred
to as cotunneling. Our formulation does not require the introduction of a
cut-off. At resonance we find significant modifications of previous theories
and good agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex, 5 eps-figure
Frequency-Dependent Current Noise through Quantum-Dot Spin Valves
We study frequency-dependent current noise through a single-level quantum dot
connected to ferromagnetic leads with non-collinear magnetization. We propose
to use the frequency-dependent Fano factor as a tool to detect single-spin
dynamics in the quantum dot. Spin precession due to an external magnetic and/or
a many-body exchange field affects the Fano factor of the system in two ways.
First, the tendency towards spin-selective bunching of the transmitted
electrons is suppressed, which gives rise to a reduction of the low-frequency
noise. Second, the noise spectrum displays a resonance at the Larmor frequency,
whose lineshape depends on the relative angle of the leads' magnetizations.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figure
Conductance of the single-electron transistor: A comparison of experimental data with Monte Carlo calculations
We report on experimental results for the conductance of metallic
single-electron transistors as a function of temperature, gate voltage and
dimensionless conductance. In contrast to previous experiments our transistor
layout allows for a direct measurement of the parallel conductance and no ad
hoc assumptions on the symmetry of the transistors are necessary. Thus we can
make a comparison between our data and theoretical predictions without any
adjustable parameter. Even for rather weakly conducting transistors significant
deviations from the perturbative results are noted. On the other hand, path
integral Monte Carlo calculations show remarkable agreement with experiments
for the whole range of temperatures and conductances.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, revtex4, corrected typos, submitted to PR
Kondo effect in quantum dots coupled to ferromagnetic leads
We study the Kondo effect in a quantum dot which is coupled to ferromagnetic
leads and analyse its properties as a function of the spin polarization of the
leads. Based on a scaling approach we predict that for parallel alignment of
the magnetizations in the leads the strong-coupling limit of the Kondo effect
is reached at a finite value of the magnetic field. Using an equation-of-motion
technique we study nonlinear transport through the dot. For parallel alignment
the zero-bias anomaly may be split even in the absence of an external magnetic
field. For antiparallel spin alignment and symmetric coupling, the peak is
split only in the presence of a magnetic field, but shows a characteristic
asymmetry in amplitude and position.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
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