39 research outputs found
Non-Markovian theory for the waiting time distributions of single electron transfers
We derive a non-Markovian theory for waiting time distributions of
consecutive single electron transfer events. The presented microscopic Pauli
rate equation formalism couples the open electrodes to the many-body system,
allowing to take finite bias and temperature into consideration. Numerical
results reveal transient oscillations of distinct system frequencies due to
memory in the waiting time distributions. Memory effects can be approximated by
an expansion in non-Markovian corrections. This method is employed to calculate
memory landscapes displaying preservation of memory over multiple consecutive
electron transfers.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Interference effects in the counting statistics of electron transfers through a double quantum dot
We investigate the effect of quantum interferences and Coulomb interaction on
the counting statistics of electrons crossing a double quantum dot in a
parallel geometry using a generating function technique based on a quantum
master equation approach. The skewness and the average residence time of
electrons in the dots are shown to be the quantities most sensitive to
interferences and Coulomb coupling. The joint probabilities of consecutive
electron transfer processes show characteristic temporal oscillations due to
interference. The steady-state fluctuation theorem which predicts a universal
connection between the number of forward and backward transfer events is shown
to hold even in the presence of Coulomb coupling and interference.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure
Switching the current through molecular wires
The influence of Gaussian laser pulses on the transport through molecular
wires is investigated within a tight-binding model for spinless electrons
including correlation. Motivated by the phenomenon of coherent destruction of
tunneling for monochromatic laser fields, situations are studied in which the
maximum amplitude of the electric field fulfills the conditions for the
destructive quantum effect. It is shown that, as for monochromatic laser
pulses, the average current through the wire can be suppressed. For parameters
of the model, which do not show a net current without any optical field, a
Gaussian laser pulse can establish a temporary current. In addition, the effect
of electron correlation on the current is investigated.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Single-electron counting spectroscopy: simulation study of porphyrin in a molecular junction
Electron counting of a single porphyrin molecule between two electrodes shows
a crossover from sub- to super-Poissonian statistics as the bias voltage is
scanned. This is attributed to the simultaneous activation of states with
electron transfer rates spanning several orders of magnitude. Time-series
analysis of consecutive single electron transfer events reveals fast and slow
transport channels, which are not resolved by the average current alone.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Quantum Efficiency of Charge Qubit Measurements Using a Single Electron Transistor
The quantum efficiency, which characterizes the quality of information gain
against information loss, is an important figure of merit for any realistic
quantum detectors in the gradual process of collapsing the state being
measured. In this work we consider the problem of solid-state charge qubit
measurements with a single-electron-transistor (SET). We analyze two models:
one corresponds to a strong response SET, and the other is a tunable one in
response strength. We find that the response strength would essentially bound
the quantum efficiency, making the detector non-quantum-limited. Quantum
limited measurements, however, can be achieved in the limits of strong response
and asymmetric tunneling. The present study is also associated with appropriate
justifications for the measurement and backaction-dephasing rates, which were
usually evaluated in controversial methods.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Dynamics of quantum dissipation systems interacting with Fermion and Boson grand canonical bath ensembles: Hierarchical equations of motion approach
A hierarchical equations of motion formalism for a quantum dissipation system
in a grand canonical bath ensemble surrounding is constructed, on the basis of
the calculus-on-path-integral algorithm, together with the parametrization of
arbitrary non-Markovin bath that satisfies fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The
influence functionals for both the Fermion or Boson bath interaction are found
to be of the same path-integral expression as the canonical bath, assuming they
all satisfy the Gaussian statistics. However, the equation of motion formalism
are different, due to the fluctuation-dissipation theories that are distinct
and used explicitly. The implications of the present work to quantum transport
through molecular wires and electron transfer in complex molecular systems are
discussed.Comment: 12page
Transverse Spin-Orbit Force in the Spin Hall Effect in Ballistic Semiconductor Wires
We introduce the spin and momentum dependent {\em force operator} which is
defined by the Hamiltonian of a {\em clean} semiconductor quantum wire with
homogeneous Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling attached to two ideal (i.e., free
of spin and charge interactions) leads. Its expectation value in the
spin-polarized electronic wave packet injected through the leads explains why
the center of the packet gets deflected in the transverse direction. Moreover,
the corresponding {\em spin density} will be dragged along the transverse
direction to generate an out-of-plane spin accumulation of opposite signs on
the lateral edges of the wire, as expected in the phenomenology of the spin
Hall effect, when spin- and spin- polarized packets
(mimicking the injection of conventional unpolarized charge current) propagate
simultaneously through the wire. We also demonstrate that spin coherence of the
injected spin-polarized wave packet will gradually diminish (thereby
diminishing the ``force'') along the SO coupled wire due to the entanglement of
spin and orbital degrees of freedom of a single electron, even in the absence
of any impurity scattering.Comment: 5 pages, 4 color EPS figures; 2 new figures and expanded discussion
on the sign of spin Hall quantities. To appear in Phys. Rev. B 72 (2005
Coulomb blockade effects in driven electron transport
We study numerically the influence of strong Coulomb repulsion on the current
through molecular wires that are driven by external electromagnetic fields. The
molecule is described by a tight-binding model whose first and last site is
coupled to a respective lead. The leads are eliminated within a perturbation
theory yielding a master equation for the wire. The decomposition into a
Floquet basis enables an efficient treatment of the driving field. For the
electronic excitations in bridged molecular wires, we find that strong Coulomb
repulsion significantly sharpens resonance peaks which broaden again with
increasing temperature. By contrast, Coulomb blockade has only a small
influence on effects like non-adiabatic electron pumping and coherent current
suppression.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Added a plot for temperature dependence of
resonance peaks. Published versio