258 research outputs found
Measuring Temperature Gradients over Nanometer Length Scales
When a quantum dot is subjected to a thermal gradient, the temperature of
electrons entering the dot can be determined from the dot's thermocurrent if
the conductance spectrum and background temperature are known. We demonstrate
this technique by measuring the temperature difference across a 15 nm quantum
dot embedded in a nanowire. This technique can be used when the dot's energy
states are separated by many kT and will enable future quantitative
investigations of electron-phonon interaction, nonlinear thermoelectric
effects, and the effciency of thermoelectric energy conversion in quantum dots.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
From the Kondo Regime to the Mixed-Valence Regime in a Single-Electron Transistor
We demonstrate that the conductance through a single-electron transistor at
low temperature is in quantitative agreement with predictions of the
equilibrium Anderson model. When an unpaired electron is localized within the
transistor, the Kondo effect is observed. Tuning the unpaired electron's energy
toward the Fermi level in nearby leads produces a cross-over between the Kondo
and mixed-valence regimes of the Anderson model.Comment: 3 pages plus one 2 page postscript file of 5 figures. Submitted to
PR
Leading off-diagonal contribution to the spectral form factor of chaotic quantum systems
We semiclassically derive the leading off-diagonal correction to the spectral
form factor of quantum systems with a chaotic classical counterpart. To this
end we present a phase space generalization of a recent approach for uniformly
hyperbolic systems (M. Sieber and K. Richter, Phys. Scr. T90, 128 (2001); M.
Sieber, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 35, L613 (2002)). Our results coincide with
corresponding random matrix predictions. Furthermore, we study the transition
from the Gaussian orthogonal to the Gaussian unitary ensemble.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures; J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. (accepted for publication
Conductance and density of states as the Kramers-Kronig dispersion relation
By applying the Kramers-Kronig dispersion relation to the transmission
amplitude a direct connection of the conductance with the density of states is
given in quantum scattering systems connected to two one-channel leads.
Using this method we show that in the Fano resonance the peak position of the
density of states is generally different from the position of the corresponding
conductance peak, whereas in the Breit-Wigner resonance those peak positions
coincide.
The lineshapes of the density of states are well described by a Lorentz type
in the both resonances.
These results are verified by another approach using a specific form of the
scattering matrix to describe scattering resonances.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Modeling Cell Gradient Sensing and Migration in Competing Chemoattractant Fields
Directed cell migration mediates physiological and pathological processes. In particular, immune cell trafficking in tissues is crucial for inducing immune responses and is coordinated by multiple environmental cues such as chemoattractant gradients. Although the chemotaxis mechanism has been extensively studied, how cells integrate multiple chemotactic signals for effective trafficking and positioning in tissues is not clearly defined. Results from previous neutrophil chemotaxis experiments and modeling studies suggested that ligand-induced homologous receptor desensitization may provide an important mechanism for cell migration in competing chemoattractant gradients. However, the previous mathematical model is oversimplified to cell gradient sensing in one-dimensional (1-D) environment. To better understand the receptor desensitization mechanism for chemotactic navigation, we further developed the model to test the role of homologous receptor desensitization in regulating both cell gradient sensing and migration in different configurations of chemoattractant fields in two-dimension (2-D). Our results show that cells expressing normal desensitizable receptors preferentially orient and migrate toward the distant gradient in the presence of a second local competing gradient, which are consistent with the experimentally observed preferential migration of cells toward the distant attractant source and confirm the requirement of receptor desensitization for such migratory behaviors. Furthermore, our results are in qualitative agreement with the experimentally observed cell migration patterns in different configurations of competing chemoattractant fields
Correlation and symmetry effects in transport through an artificial molecule
Spectral weights and current-voltage characteristics of an artificial
diatomic molecule are calculated, considering cases where the dots connected in
series are in general different. The spectral weights allow us to understand
the effects of correlations, their connection with selection rules for
transport, and the role of excited states in the experimental conductance
spectra of these coupled double dot systems (DDS). An extended Hubbard
Hamiltonian with varying interdot tunneling strength is used as a model,
incorporating quantum confinement in the DDS, interdot tunneling as well as
intra- and interdot Coulomb interactions. We find that interdot tunneling
values determine to a great extent the resulting eigenstates and corresponding
spectral weights. Details of the state correlations strongly suppress most of
the possible conduction channels, giving rise to effective selection rules for
conductance through the molecule. Most states are found to make insignificant
contributions to the total current for finite biases. We find also that the
symmetry of the structure is reflected in the I-V characteristics, and is in
qualitative agreement with experiment.Comment: 25 figure files - REVTEX - submitted to PR
Detection of Coulomb Charging around an Antidot in the Quantum Hall Regime
We have detected oscillations of the charge around a potential hill (antidot)
in a two-dimensional electron gas as a function of a large magnetic field B.
The field confines electrons around the antidot in closed orbits, the areas of
which are quantised through the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Increasing B reduces each
state's area, pushing electrons closer to the centre, until enough charge
builds up for an electron to tunnel out. This is a new form of the Coulomb
blockade seen in electrostatically confined dots. Addition and excitation
spectra in DC bias confirm the Coulomb blockade of tunnelling.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figure
Observation of Quantum Fluctuations of Charge on a Quantum Dot
We have incorporated an aluminum single electron transistor directly into the
defining gate structure of a semiconductor quantum dot, permitting precise
measurement of the charge in the dot. Voltage biasing a gate draws charge from
a reservoir into the dot through a single point contact. The charge in the dot
increases continuously for large point contact conductance and in a step-like
manner in units of single electrons with the contact nearly closed. We measure
the corresponding capacitance lineshapes for the full range of point contact
conductances. The lineshapes are described well by perturbation theory and not
by theories in which the dot charging energy is altered by the barrier
conductance.Comment: Revtex, 5 pages, 3 figures, few minor corrections to the reference
Effective charge-spin models for quantum dots
It is shown that at low densities, quantum dots with few electrons may be
mapped onto effective charge-spin models for the low-energy eigenstates. This
is justified by defining a lattice model based on a many-electron pocket-state
basis in which electrons are localised near their classical ground-state
positions. The equivalence to a single-band Hubbard model is then established
leading to a charge-spin () model which for most geometries reduces to a
spin (Heisenberg) model. The method is refined to include processes which
involve cyclic rotations of a ``ring'' of neighboring electrons. This is
achieved by introducing intermediate lattice points and the importance of ring
processes relative to pair-exchange processes is investigated using high-order
degenerate perturbation theory and the WKB approximation. The energy spectra
are computed from the effective models for specific cases and compared with
exact results and other approximation methods.Comment: RevTex, 24 pages, 7 figures submitted as compressed and PostScript
file
Singularities of bi-Hamiltonian systems
We study the relationship between singularities of bi-Hamiltonian systems and
algebraic properties of compatible Poisson brackets. As the main tool, we
introduce the notion of linearization of a Poisson pencil. From the algebraic
viewpoint, a linearized Poisson pencil can be understood as a Lie algebra with
a fixed 2-cocycle. In terms of such linearizations, we give a criterion for
non-degeneracy of singular points of bi-Hamiltonian systems and describe their
types
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