Thermopower in the Coulomb blockade regime for Laughlin quantum dots

Using the conformal field theory partition function of a Coulomb-blockaded quantum dot, constructed by two quantum point contacts in a Laughlin quantum Hall bar, we derive the finite-temperature thermodynamic expression for the thermopower in the linear-response regime. The low-temperature results for the thermopower are compared to those for the conductance and their capability to reveal the structure of the single-electron spectrum in the quantum dot is analyzed.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of the 10-th International Workshop "Lie Theory and Its Applications in Physics", 17-23 June 2013, Varna, Bulgari

Adiabatic pumping in the mixed-valence and Kondo regimes

We investigate adiabatic pumping through a quantum dot with a single level in the mixed-valence and Kondo regimes using the slave-boson mean field approximation. The pumped current is driven by a gauge potential due to time-dependent tunneling barriers as well as by the modulation of the Friedel phase. The sign of the former contribution depends on the strength of the Coulomb interaction. Under finite magnetic fields, the separation of the spin and charge currents peculiar to the Kondo effect occurs.Comment: RevTeX, 4+pages, 4 figures, textual improvemen

SU(4) and SU(2) Kondo Effects in Carbon Nanotube Quantum Dots

We study the SU(4) Kondo effect in carbon nanotube quantum dots, where doubly degenerate orbitals form 4-electron ``shells''. The SU(4) Kondo behavior is investigated for one, two and three electrons in the topmost shell. While the Kondo state of two electrons is quenched by magnetic field, in case of an odd number of electrons two types of SU(2) Kondo effect may survive. Namely, the spin SU(2) state is realized in the magnetic field parallel to the nanotube (inducing primarily orbital splitting). Application of the perpendicular field (inducing Zeeman splitting) results in the orbital SU(2) Kondo effect.Comment: 5 pages. Some material was previously posted in cond-mat/0608573, v

Electronic properties of quantum dots formed by magnetic double barriers in quantum wires

The transport through a quantum wire exposed to two magnetic spikes in series is modeled. We demonstrate that quantum dots can be formed this way which couple to the leads via magnetic barriers. Conceptually, all quantum dot states are accessible by transport experiments. The simulations show Breit-Wigner resonances in the closed regime, while Fano resonances appear as soon as one open transmission channel is present. The system allows to tune the dot's confinement potential from sub-parabolic to superparabolic by experimentally accessible parameters.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Planar nanocontacts with atomically controlled separation

We have developed a technology to reproducibly make gaps with distance control on the single atom scale. The gold contacts are flat on the nanometre scale and are fabricated on an oxidized aluminium film that serves as a gate. We show that these contacts are clean and can be stabilized via chemical functionalization. Deposition of conjugated molecules leads to an increase in the gap conductance of several orders of magnitude. Stable current-voltage characteristics at room temperature are slightly nonlinear. At low temperature, they are highly nonlinear and show a clear gate effect.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Transport through a double quantum dot in the sequential- and co- tunneling regimes

We study transport through a double quantum dot, both in the sequential tunneling and cotunneling regimes. Using a master equation approach, we find that, in the sequential tunneling regime, the differential conductance $G$ as a function of the bias voltage $\Delta\mu$ has a number of satellite peaks with respect to the main peak of the Coulomb blockade diamond. The position of these peaks is related to the interdot tunnel splitting and the singlet-triplet splitting. We find satellite peaks with both {\em positive} and {\em negative} values of differential conductance for realistic parameter regimes. Relating our theory to a microscopic (Hund-Mulliken) model for the double dot, we find a temperature regime for which the Hubbard ratio (=tunnel coupling over on-site Coulomb repulsion) can be extracted from $G(\Delta\mu)$ in the cotunneling regime. In addition, we consider a combined effect of cotunneling and sequential tunneling, which leads to new peaks (dips) in $G(\Delta\mu)$ inside the Coulomb blockade diamond below some temperature scales, which we specify.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Adiabatic charge pumping in almost open dots

We consider adiabatic charge transport through an almost open quantum dot. We show that the charge transmitted in one cycle is quantized in the limit of vanishing temperature and one-electron mean level spacing in the dot. The explicit analytic expression for the pumped charge at finite temperature is obtained for spinless electrons. The pumped charge is produced by both non-dissipative and dissipative currents. The latter are responsible for the corrections to charge quantization which are expressed through the conductance of the system.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Coherent probing of excited quantum dot states in an interferometer

Measurements of elastic and inelastic cotunneling currents are presented on a two-terminal Aharonov--Bohm interferometer with a Coulomb blockaded quantum dot embedded in each arm. Coherent current contributions, even in magnetic field, are found in the nonlinear regime of inelastic cotunneling at finite bias voltage. The phase of the Aharonov--Bohm oscillations in the current exhibits phase jumps of $\pi$ at the onsets of inelastic processes. We suggest that additional coherent elastic processes occur via the excited state. Our measurement technique allows the detection of such processes on a background of other inelastic current contributions and contains information about the excited state occupation probability and the inelastic relaxation rates