Electron Correlations in a Quantum Dot with Bychkov-Rashba Coupling

We report on a theoretical approach developed to investigate the influence of Bychkov-Rashba interaction on a few interacting electrons confined in a quantum dot. We note that the spin-orbit coupling profoundly influences the energy spectrum of interacting electrons in a quantum dot. Inter-electron interaction causes level crossings in the ground state and a jump in magnetization. As the coupling strength is increased, that jump is shifted to lower magnetic fields. Low-field magnetization will therefore provide a direct probe of the spin-orbit coupling strength in a quantum dot

Interacting Dark Resonances: Interference Effects Induced by Coherently Altered Quantum Superpositions

We predict the possibility of sharp, high-contrast resonances in the optical response of a broad class of systems, wherein interference effects are generated by coherent perturbation or interaction of dark states. The properties of these resonances can be manipulated to design a desired atomic response.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX, submitted to PRL; changed three numbers in Fig. 3 (caption

Orthogonality catastrophe in a one-dimensional system of correlated electrons

We present a detailed numerical study of the orthogonality catastrophe exponent for a one-dimensional lattice model of spinless fermions with nearest neighbor interaction using the density matrix remormalization group algorithm. Keeping up to 1200 states per block we achieve a very great accuracy for the overlap which is needed to extract the orthogonality exponent reliably. We discuss the behavior of the exponent for three different kinds of a localized impurity. For comparison we also discuss the non-interacting case. In the weak impurity limit our results for the overlap confirm scaling behavior expected from perturbation theory and renormalization group calculations. In particular we find that a weak backward scattering component of the orthogonality exponent scales to zero for attractive interaction. In the strong impurity limit and for repulsive interaction we demonstrate that the orthogonality exponent cannot be extracted from the overlap for systems with up to 100 sites, due to finite size effects. This is in contradiction to an earlier interpretation given by Qin et al. based on numerical data for much smaller system sizes. Neverthless we find indirect evidence that the backward scattering contribution to the exponent scales to 1/16 based on predictions of boundary conformal field theory.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, 8 eps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Mesoscopic fluctuations of the ground state spin of a small metal particle

We study the statistical distribution of the ground state spin for an ensemble of small metallic grains, using a random-matrix toy model. Using the Hartree Fock approximation, we find that already for interaction strengths well below the Stoner criterion there is an appreciable probability that the ground state has a finite, nonzero spin. Possible relations to experiments are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX; 1 figure included with eps

Transport Properties of Multiple Quantum Dots Arranged in Parallel: Results from the Bethe Ansatz

In this paper we analyze transport through a double dot system connected to two external leads. Imagining each dot possessing a single active level, we model the system through a generalization of the Anderson model. We argue that this model is exactly solvable when certain constraints are placed upon the dot Coulomb charging energy, the dot-lead hybridization, and the value of the applied gate voltage. Using this exact solvability, we access the zero temperature linear response conductance both in and out of the presence of a Zeeman field. We are also able to study the finite temperature linear response conductance. We focus on universal behaviour and identify three primary features in the transport of the dots: i) a so-called RKKY Kondo effect; ii) a standard Kondo effect; and iii) interference phenomena leading to sharp variations in the conductance including conductance zeros. We are able to use the exact solvability of the dot model to characterize these phenomena quantitatively. While here we primarily consider a double dot system, the approach adopted applies equally well to N-dot systems.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures; references added in v

Interference effects in interacting quantum dots

In this paper we study the interplay between interference effects in quantum dots (manifested through the appearance of Fano resonances in the conductance), and interactions taken into account in the self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation. In the non-interacting case we find that interference may lead to the observation of more than one conductance peak per dot level as a function of an applied gate voltage. This may explain recent experimental findings, which were thought to be caused by interaction effects. For the interacting case we find a wide variety of different interesting phenomena. These include both monotonous and non-monotonous filling of the dot levels as a function of an applied gate voltage, which may occur continuously or even discontinuously. In many cases a combination of the different effects can occur in the same sample. The behavior of the population influences, in turn, the conductance lineshape, causing broadening and asymmetry of narrow peaks, and determining whether there will be a zero transmission point. We elucidate the essential role of the interference between the dot levels in determining these outcomes. The effects of finite temperatures on the results are also examined.Comment: 11 pages, 9 fugures, REVTeX

Impurity in a Luttinger liquid away from half-filling: a numerical study

Conformal field theory gives quite detailed predictions for the low energy spectrum and scaling exponents of a massless Luttinger liquid at generic filling in the presence of an impurity. While these predictions were verified for half-filled systems, there was till now no analysis away from this particular filling. Here, we fill in this gap by numerically investigating a quarter-filled system using the density matrix renormalization group technique. Our results confirm conformal field theory predictions, and suggest that they are indeed valid for arbitrary fillings.Comment: 9 pages (include figures), one reference added in this new versio

A stationary source of non-classical or entangled atoms

A scheme for generating continuous beams of atoms in non-classical or entangled quantum states is proposed and analyzed. For this the recently suggested transfer technique of quantum states from light fields to collective atomic excitation by Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage [M.Fleischhauer and M.D. Lukin, Phys.Rev.Lett. 84, 5094 (2000)] is employed and extended to matter waves

Transport theory of carbon nanotube Y junctions

We describe a generalization of Landauer-B\"uttiker theory for networks of interacting metallic carbon nanotubes. We start with symmetric starlike junctions and then extend our approach to asymmetric systems. While the symmetric case is solved in closed form, the asymmetric situation is treated by a mix of perturbative and non-perturbative methods. For N>2 repulsively interacting nanotubes, the only stable fixed point of the symmetric system corresponds to an isolated node. Detailed results for both symmetric and asymmetric systems are shown for N=3, corresponding to carbon nanotube Y junctions.Comment: submitted to New Journal of Physics, Focus Issue on Carbon Nanotubes, 15 pages, 3 figure

Experimental Evidence for Resonant-Tunneling in a Luttinger-Liquid

We have measured the low temperature conductance of a one-dimensional island embedded in a single mode quantum wire. The quantum wire is fabricated using the cleaved edge overgrowth technique and the tunneling is through a single state of the island. Our results show that while the resonance line shape fits the derivative of the Fermi function the intrinsic line width decreases in a power law fashion as the temperature is reduced. This behavior agrees quantitatively with Furusaki's model for resonant tunneling in a Luttinger-liquid.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, corrected typo