36 research outputs found
Conductance of a Quantum Point Contact in the presence of a Scanning Probe Microscope Tip
Using the recursive Green's function technique, we study the coherent
electron conductance of a quantum point contact in the presence of a scanning
probe microscope tip. Images of the coherent fringe inside a quantum point
contact for different widths are obtained. It is found that the conductance of
a specific channel is reduced while other channels are not affected as long as
the tip is located at the positions correspending to that channel. Moreover,
the coherent fringe is smoothed out by increasing the temperature or the
voltage across the device. Our results are consistent with the experiments
reported by Topinka et al.[Science 289, 2323 (2000)].Comment: 5 page
Adiabatic quantum pump in the presence of external ac voltages
We investigate a quantum pump which in addition to its dynamic pump
parameters is subject to oscillating external potentials applied to the
contacts of the sample. Of interest is the rectification of the ac currents
flowing through the mesoscopic scatterer and their interplay with the quantum
pump effect. We calculate the adiabatic dc current arising under the
simultaneous action of both the quantum pump effect and classical
rectification. In addition to two known terms we find a third novel
contribution which arises from the interference of the ac currents generated by
the external potentials and the ac currents generated by the pump. The
interference contribution renormalizes both the quantum pump effect and the ac
rectification effect. Analysis of this interference effect requires a
calculation of the Floquet scattering matrix beyond the adiabatic approximation
based on the frozen scattering matrix alone. The results permit us to find the
instantaneous current. In addition to the current generated by the oscillating
potentials, and the ac current due to the variation of the charge of the frozen
scatterer, there is a third contribution which represents the ac currents
generated by an oscillating scatterer. We argue that the resulting pump effect
can be viewed as a quantum rectification of the instantaneous ac currents
generated by the oscillating scatterer. These instantaneous currents are an
intrinsic property of a nonstationary scattering process.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Mesoscopic effects in tunneling between parallel quantum wires
We consider a phase-coherent system of two parallel quantum wires that are
coupled via a tunneling barrier of finite length. The usual perturbative
treatment of tunneling fails in this case, even in the diffusive limit, once
the length L of the coupling region exceeds a characteristic length scale L_t
set by tunneling. Exact solution of the scattering problem posed by the
extended tunneling barrier allows us to compute tunneling conductances as a
function of applied voltage and magnetic field. We take into account charging
effects in the quantum wires due to applied voltages and find that these are
important for 1D-to-1D tunneling transport.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, improved Figs., added Refs. and appendix, to
appear in Phys. Rev.
Scaling analysis of electron transport through metal-semiconducting carbon nanotube interfaces: Evolution from the molecular limit to the bulk limit
We present a scaling analysis of electronic and transport properties of
metal-semiconducting carbon nanotube interfaces as a function of the nanotube
length within the coherent transport regime, which takes fully into account
atomic-scale electronic structure and three-dimensional electrostatics of the
metal-nanotube interface using a real-space Green's function based
self-consistent tight-binding theory. As the first example, we examine devices
formed by attaching finite-size single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) to both
high- and low- work function metallic electrodes through the dangling bonds at
the end. We analyze the nature of Schottky barrier formation at the
metal-nanotube interface by examining the electrostatics, the band lineup and
the conductance of the metal-SWNT molecule-metal junction as a function of the
SWNT molecule length and metal-SWNT coupling strength. We show that the
confined cylindrical geometry and the atomistic nature of electronic processes
across the metal-SWNT interface leads to a different physical picture of band
alignment from that of the planar metal-semiconductor interface. We analyze the
temperature and length dependence of the conductance of the SWNT junctions,
which shows a transition from tunneling- to thermal activation-dominated
transport with increasing nanotube length. The temperature dependence of the
conductance is much weaker than that of the planar metal-semiconductor
interface due to the finite number of conduction channels within the SWNT
junctions. We find that the current-voltage characteristics of the metal-SWNT
molecule-metal junctions are sensitive to models of the potential response to
the applied source/drain bias voltages.Comment: Minor revision to appear in Phys. Rev. B. Color figures available in
the online PRB version or upon request to: [email protected]
Electron transport in a two-terminal Aharonov-Bohm ring with impurities
Electron transport in a two-terminal Aharonov-Bohm ring with a few
short-range scatterers is investigated. An analytical expression for the
conductance as a function of the electron Fermi energy and magnetic flux is
obtained using the zero-range potential theory. The dependence of the
conductance on positions of scatterers is studied. We have found that the
conductance exhibits asymmetric Fano resonances at certain energies. The
dependence of the Fano resonances on magnetic field and positions of impurities
is investigated. It is found that collapse of the Fano resonances occurs and
discrete energy levels in the continuous spectrum appear at certain conditions.
An explicit form for the wave function corresponding to the discrete level is
obtained.Comment: 25 pages (one-column), 8 figure
Theory of Current and Shot Noise Spectroscopy in Single-Molecular Quantum Dots with Phonon Mode
Using the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green function technique, we study the
current and shot noise spectroscopy of a single molecular quantum dot coupled
to a local phonon mode. It is found that in the presence of electron-phonon
coupling, in addition to the resonant peak associated with the single level of
the dot, satellite peaks with the separation set by the frequency of phonon
mode appear in the differential conductance. In the ``single level'' resonant
tunneling region, the differential shot noise power exhibit two split peaks.
However, only single peaks show up in the ``phonon assisted''
resonant-tunneling region. An experimental setup to test these predictions is
also proposed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 eps figures embedde
Self-similarity and novel sample-length-dependence of conductance in quasiperiodic lateral magnetic superlattices
We study the transport of electrons in a Fibonacci magnetic superlattice
produced on a two-dimensional electron gas modulated by parallel magnetic field
stripes arranged in a Fibonacci sequence. Both the transmission coefficient and
conductance exhibit self-similarity and the six-circle property. The presence
of extended states yields a finite conductivity at infinite length, that may be
detected as an abrupt change in the conductance as the Fermi energy is varied,
much as a metal-insulator transition. This is a unique feature of transport in
this new kind of structure, arising from its inherent two-dimensional nature.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, revtex, important revisions made. to be published
in Phys. Rev.
Measuring geometric phases of scattering states in nanoscale electronic devices
We show how a new quantum property, a geometric phase, associated with
scattering states can be exhibited in nanoscale electronic devices. We propose
an experiment to use interference to directly measure the effect of the new
geometric phase. The setup involves a double path interferometer, adapted from
that used to measure the phase evolution of electrons as they traverse a
quantum dot (QD). Gate voltages on the QD could be varied cyclically and
adiabatically, in a manner similar to that used to observe quantum adiabatic
charge pumping. The interference due to the geometric phase results in
oscillations in the current collected in the drain when a small bias across the
device is applied. We illustrate the effect with examples of geometric phases
resulting from both Abelian and non-Abelian gauge potentials.Comment: Six pages two figure
Universal Correlations of Coulomb Blockade Conductance Peaks and the Rotation Scaling in Quantum Dots
We show that the parametric correlations of the conductance peak amplitudes
of a chaotic or weakly disordered quantum dot in the Coulomb blockade regime
become universal upon an appropriate scaling of the parameter. We compute the
universal forms of this correlator for both cases of conserved and broken time
reversal symmetry. For a symmetric dot the correlator is independent of the
details in each lead such as the number of channels and their correlation. We
derive a new scaling, which we call the rotation scaling, that can be computed
directly from the dot's eigenfunction rotation rate or alternatively from the
conductance peak heights, and therefore does not require knowledge of the
spectrum of the dot. The relation of the rotation scaling to the level velocity
scaling is discussed. The exact analytic form of the conductance peak
correlator is derived at short distances. We also calculate the universal
distributions of the average level width velocity for various values of the
scaled parameter. The universality is illustrated in an Anderson model of a
disordered dot.Comment: 35 pages, RevTex, 6 Postscript figure
Non Linear Current Response of a Many-Level Tunneling System: Higher Harmonics Generation
The fully nonlinear response of a many-level tunneling system to a strong
alternating field of high frequency is studied in terms of the
Schwinger-Keldysh nonequilibrium Green functions. The nonlinear time dependent
tunneling current is calculated exactly and its resonance structure is
elucidated. In particular, it is shown that under certain reasonable conditions
on the physical parameters, the Fourier component is sharply peaked at
, where is the spacing between
two levels. This frequency multiplication results from the highly nonlinear
process of photon absorption (or emission) by the tunneling system. It is
also conjectured that this effect (which so far is studied mainly in the
context of nonlinear optics) might be experimentally feasible.Comment: 28 pages, LaTex, 7 figures are available upon request from
[email protected], submitted to Phys.Rev.