A spin pump turnstile: parametric pumping of a spin-polarized current through a nearly-closed quantum dot

We investigate parametric pumping of a spin-polarized current through a nearly-closed quantum dot in a perpendicular magnetic field. Pumping is achieved by tuning the tunnel couplings to the left and right lead - thereby operating the quantum dot as a turnstile - and changing either the magnetic field or a gate-voltage. We analyze the quantum dynamics of a pumping cycle and the limiting time scales for operating the quantum dot turnstile as a pure spin pump. The proposed device can be used as a fully controllable double-sided and bipolar spin filter and to inject spins "on demand".Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, one reference correcte

Structure of human transthyretin complexed with bromophenols: a new mode of binding

The binding of two organohalogen substances, pentabromophenol (PBP) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP), to human transthyretin (TTR), a thyroid hormone transport protein, has been studied by in vitro competitive binding assays and by X-ray crystallography. Both compounds bind to TTR with high affinity, in competition with the natural ligand thyroxine (

Rectification of displacement currents in an adiabatic electron pump

Rectification of ac displacement currents generated by periodic variation of two independent gate voltages of a quantum dot can lead to a dc voltage linear in the frequency. The presence of this rectified displacement current could account for the magnetic field symmetry observed in a recent measurement on an adiabatic quantum electron pump by Switkes et al. [Science 283, 1905 (1999)].Comment: 2 pages, RevTeX; 1 figur

Finite size effects and localization properties of disordered quantum wires with chiral symmetry

Finite size effects in the localization properties of disordered quantum wires are analyzed through conductance calculations. Disorder is induced by introducing vacancies at random positions in the wire and thus preserving the chiral symmetry. For quasi one-dimensional geometries and low concentration of vacancies, an exponential decay of the mean conductance with the wire length is obtained even at the center of the energy band. For wide wires, finite size effects cause the conductance to decay following a non-pure exponential law. We propose an analytical formula for the mean conductance that reproduces accurately the numerical data for both geometries. However, when the concentration of vacancies increases above a critical value, a transition towards the suppression of the conductance occurs. This is a signature of the presence of ultra-localized states trapped in finite regions of the sample.Comment: 5 figures, revtex

Crossover from weak localization to weak antilocalization in a disordered microbridge

We calculate the weak localization correction in the double crossover to broken time-reversal and spin-rotational symmetry for a disordered microbridge or a short disordered wire using a scattering-matrix approach. Whereas the correction has universal limiting values in the three basic symmetry classes, the functional form of the magnetoconductance is affected by eventual non-homogeneities in the microbridge.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX; 2 figure

Nonequilibrium theory of Coulomb blockade in open quantum dots

We develop a non-equilibrium theory to describe weak Coulomb blockade effects in open quantum dots. Working within the bosonized description of electrons in the point contacts, we expose deficiencies in earlier applications of this method, and address them using a 1/N expansion in the inverse number of channels. At leading order this yields the self-consistent potential for the charging interaction. Coulomb blockade effects arise as quantum corrections to transport at the next order. Our approach unifies the phase functional and bosonization approaches to the problem, as well as providing a simple picture for the conductance corrections in terms of renormalization of the dot's elastic scattering matrix, which is obtained also by elementary perturbation theory. For the case of ideal contacts, a symmetry argument immediately allows us to conclude that interactions give no signature in the averaged conductance. Non-equilibrium applications to the pumped current in a quantum pump are worked out in detail.Comment: Published versio

Endstates in multichannel spinless p-wave superconducting wires

Multimode spinless p-wave superconducting wires with a width W much smaller than the superconducting coherence length \xi are known to have multiple low-energy subgap states localized near the wire's ends. Here we compare the typical energies of such endstates for various terminations of the wire: A superconducting wire coupled to a normal-metal stub, a weakly disordered superconductor wire and a wire with smooth confinement. Depending on the termination, we find that the energies of the subgap states can be higher or lower than for the case of a rectangular wire with hard-wall boundaries.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Andreev reflection from non-centrosymmetric superconductors and Majorana bound state generation in half-metallic ferromagnets

We study Andreev reflection at an interface between a half metal and a superconductor with spin-orbit interaction. While the absence of minority carriers in the half metal makes singlet Andreev reflection impossible, the spin-orbit interaction gives rise to triplet Andreev reflection, i.e., the reflection of a majority electron into a majority hole or vice versa. As an application of our calculation, we consider a thin half metal film or wire laterally attached to a superconducting contact. If the half metal is disorder free, an excitation gap is opened that is proportional to the spin-orbit interaction strength in the superconductor. For electrons with energy below this gap a lateral half-metal--superconductor contact becomes a perfect triplet Andreev reflector. We show that the system supports localized Majorana end states in this limit.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure