172 research outputs found
Magnetic-field symmetries of mesoscopic nonlinear conductance
We examine contributions to the dc-current of mesoscopic samples which are
non-linear in applied voltage. In the presence of a magnetic field, the current
can be decomposed into components which are odd (antisymmetric) and even
(symmetric) under flux reversal. For a two-terminal chaotic cavity, these
components turn out to be very sensitive to the strength of the Coulomb
interaction and the asymmetry of the contact conductances. For both two- and
multi-terminal quantum dots we discuss correlations of current non-linearity in
voltage measured at different magnetic fields and temperatures.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Effect of inelastic scattering on parametric pumping
Pumping of charge in phase-coherent mesoscopic systems due to the
out-of-phase modulation of two parameters has recently found considerable
interest. We investigate the effect of inelastic processes on the adiabatically
pumped current through a two terminal mesoscopic sample. We find that the loss
of coherence does not suppress the pumped charge but rather an additional
physical mechanism for an incoherent pump effect comes into play. In a fully
phase incoherent system the pump effect is similar to a rectification effect
Optimal quantum pump in the presence of a superconducting lead
We investigate the parametric pumping of a hybrid structure consisting of a
normal quantum dot, a normal lead and a superconducting lead. Using the time
dependent scattering matrix theory, we have derived a general expression for
the pumped electric current and heat current. We have also derived the
relationship among the instantaneous pumped heat current, electric current, and
shot noise. This gives a lower bound for the pumped heat current in the hybrid
system similar to that of the normal case obtained by Avron et al
Magnetic exchange interaction induced by a Josephson current
We show that a Josephson current flowing through a
ferromagnet-normal-metal-ferromagnet trilayer connected to two superconducting
electrodes induces an equilibrium exchange interaction between the magnetic
moments of the ferromagnetic layers. The sign and magnitude of the interaction
can be controlled by the phase difference between the order parameters of the
two superconductors. We present a general framework to calculate the Josephson
current induced magnetic exchange interaction in terms of the scattering
matrices of the different layers. The effect should be observable as the
periodic switching of the relative orientation of the magnetic moments of the
ferromagnetic layers in the ac Josephson effect.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Conductance Peak Height Correlations for a Coulomb-Blockaded Quantum Dot in a Weak Magnetic Field
We consider statistical correlations between the heights of conductance peaks
corresponding to two different levels in a Coulomb-blockaded quantum dot.
Correlations exist for two peaks at the same magnetic field if the field does
not fully break time-reversal symmetry as well as for peaks at different values
of a magnetic field that fully breaks time-reversal symmetry. Our results are
also relevant to Coulomb-blockade conductance peak height statistics in the
presence of weak spin-orbit coupling in a chaotic quantum dot.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX 4, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Scattering Theory of Dynamic Electrical Transport
We have developed a scattering matrix approach to coherent transport through
an adiabatically driven conductor based on photon-assisted processes. To
describe the energy exchange with the pumping fields we expand the Floquet
scattering matrix up to linear order in driving frequency.Comment: Proceedings QMath9, September 12th-16th, 2004, Giens, Franc
Quantum pumping: Coherent Rings versus Open Conductors
We examine adiabatic quantum pumping generated by an oscillating scatterer
embedded in a one-dimensional ballistic ring and compare it with pumping caused
by the same scatterer connected to external reservoirs. The pumped current for
an open conductor, paradoxically, is non-zero even in the limit of vanishing
transmission. In contrast, for the ring geometry the pumped current vanishes in
the limit of vanishing transmission. We explain this paradoxical result and
demonstrate that the physics underlying adiabatic pumping is the same in open
and in closed systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Shot noise of spin polarized electrons
The shot noise of spin polarized electrons is shown to be generically
dependent upon spin-flip processes. Such a situation represents perhaps the
simplest instance where the two-particle character of current fluctuations out
of equilibrium is explicit, leading to trinomial statistics of charge transfer
in a single channel model. We calculate the effect of spin-orbit coupling,
magnetic impurities, and precession in an external magnetic field on the noise
in the experimentally relevant cases of diffusive wires and lateral
semiconductor dots, finding dramatic enhancements of the Fano factor. The
possibility of using the shot noise to measure the spin-relaxation time in an
open mesoscopic system is raised.Comment: Published version. Minor clarifications and correction
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
Quantization of adiabatic pumped charge in the presence of superconducting lead
We investigate the parametric electron pumping of a double barrier structure
in the presence of a superconducting lead. The parametric pumping is
facilitated by cyclic variation of the barrier heights and of the
barriers. In the weak coupling regime, there exists a resonance line in the
parameter space so that the energy of the quasi-bound state is in
line with the incoming Fermi energy. Levinson et al found recently that the
pumped charge for each pumping cycle is quantized with for normal
structure when the pumping contour encircles the resonance line. In the
presence of a superconducting lead, we find that the pumped charge is quantized
with the value
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