Discontinuous conductance of bichromatically ac-gated quantum wires

We study the electron transport through a quantum wire under the influence of external time-dependent gate voltages. The wire is modelled by a tight-binding Hamiltonian for which we obtain the current from the corresponding transmission. The numerical evaluation of the dc current reveals that for bichromatic driving, the conductance depends sensitively on the commensurability of the driving frequencies. The current even possesses a discontinuous frequency dependence. Moreover, we find that the conductance as a function of the wire length oscillates with a period that depends on the ratio between the driving frequencies.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Photon-assisted electron transport through a three-terminal quantum dot system with nonresonant tunneling channels

We have studied the electron transport through a quantum dot coupled to three leads in the presence of external microwave fields supplied to different parts of the considered mesoscopic system. Additionally, we introduced a possible nonresonant tunneling channels between leads. The quantum dot charge and currents were determined in terms of the appropriate evolution operator matrix elements and under the wide band limit the analytical formulas for time-averaged currents and differential conductance were obtained. We have also examined the response of the considered system on the rectangular-pulse modulation imposed on different quantum dot-leads barriers as well as the time-dependence of currents flowing in response to suddenly removed (or included) connection of a quantum dot with one of the leads.Comment: 34 pages, 12 figure

M-atom conductance oscillations of a metallic quantum wire

The electron transport through a monoatomic metallic wire connected to leads is investigated using the tight-binding Hamiltonian and Green's function technique. Analytical formulas for the transmittance are derived and M-atom oscillations of the conductance versus the length of the wire are found. Maxima of the transmittance function versus the energy, for the wire consisted of N atoms, determine the (N+1) period of the conductance. The periods of conductance oscillations are discussed and the local and average quantum wire charges are presented. The average charge of the wire is linked with the period of the conductance oscillations and it tends to the constant value as the length of the wire increases. For M-atom periodicity there are possible (M-1) average occupations of the wire states.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. J.Phys.: Condens. matter (2005) accepte

Influence of microwave fields on the electron transport through a quantum dot in the presence of a direct tunneling between leads

We consider the time-dependent electron transport through a quantum dot coupled to two leads in the presence of the additional over-dot (bridge) tunneling channel. By using the evolution operator method together with the wide-band limit approximation we derived the analytical formulaes for the quantum dot charge and current flowing in the system. The influence of the external microwave field on the time-average quantum dot charge, the current and the derivatives of the average current with respect to the gate and source-drain voltages has been investigated for a wide range of parameters.Comment: 28 Pages, 11 Postscript figure

Double non-equivalent chain structure on vicinal Si(557)-Au surface

We study electronic and topographic properties of the vicinal Si(557)-Au surface using scanning tunneling microscopy and reflection of high energy electron diffraction technique. STM data reveal double wire structures along terraces. Moreover behavior of the voltage dependent STM tip - surface distance is different in different chains. While the one chain shows oscillations of the distance which are sensitive to the sign of the voltage bias, the oscillations in the other chain remain unchanged with respect to the positive/negative biases. This suggests that one wire has metallic character while the other one - semiconducting. The experimental results are supplemented by theoretical calculations within tight binding model suggesting that the observed chains are made of different materials, one is gold and the other one is silicon chain.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Electron transport through a strongly correlated monoatomic chain

We study transport properties of a strongly correlated monoatomic chain coupled to metallic leads. Our system is described by tight binding Hubbard-like model in the limit of strong on-site electron-electron interactions in the wire. The equation of motion technique in the slave boson representation has been applied to obtain analytical and numerical results. Calculated linear conductance of the system shows oscillatory behavior as a function of the wire length. We have also found similar oscillations of the electron charge in the system. Moreover our results show spontaneous spin polarization in the wire. Finally, we compare our results with those for non-interacting chain and discuss their modifications due to the Coulomb interactions in the system.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Electron transport across a quantum wire in the presence of electron leakage to a substrate

We investigate electron transport through a mono-atomic wire which is tunnel coupled to two electrodes and also to the underlying substrate. The setup is modeled by a tight-binding Hamiltonian and can be realized with a scanning tunnel microscope (STM). The transmission of the wire is obtained from the corresponding Green's function. If the wire is scanned by the contacting STM tip, the conductance as a function of the tip position exhibits oscillations which may change significantly upon increasing the number of wire atoms. Our numerical studies reveal that the conductance depends strongly on whether or not the substrate electrons are localized. As a further ubiquitous feature, we observe the formation of charge oscillations.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Dynamically Broken Symmetry in Periodically Gated Quantum Dots: Charge Accumulation and DC-current

Time-dependent electron transport through a quantum dot and double quantum dot systems in the presence of polychromatic external periodic quantum dot energy-level modulations is studied within the time evolution operator method for a tight-binding Hamiltonian. Analytical relations for the dc-current flowing through the system and the charge accumulated on a quantum dot are obtained for the zero-temperature limit. It is shown that, in the presence of periodic perturbations, the sideband peaks of the transmission are related to the combination of frequencies of the applied modulations. For a double quantum dot system under the influence of polychromatic perturbations, the quantum pump effect is studied in the absence of a source (drain) and static bias voltages. In the presence of a spatial symmetry, the charge is pumped through the system due to a broken generalized parity symmetry.Дослiджено залежний вiд часу транспорт електронiв через квантову точку i систему двох квантових точок при зовнiшнiй полiхромнiй перiодичнiй модуляцiї рiвнiв енергiї в межах методу оператора часової еволюцiї з гамiльтонiаном сильного зв’язку. Одержано аналiтичнi формули для постiйного струму через систему та для заряду, який накопичено на квантовiй точцi у границi нульової температури. Показано, що в присутностi перiодичних збурень боковi максимуми передачi залежать вiд спiввiдношення зовнiшнiх модуляцiй. Вивчено ефект квантової накачки за вiдсутностi джерела (стока) i статичних напружень змiщення. У випадку просторової симетрiї заряд накачується через систему внаслiдок порушення симетрiї узагальненої парностi

Electrical conductance at initial stage in epitaxial growth of Pb on modified Si(111) surface

The electrical conductance and RHEED intensities as a function of the coverage have been measured during Pb depositions at 105 K on Si(111)-(6x6)Au with up to 4.2 ML of annealed Pb. The experiments show the strong influence of used substrates on the behavior of the conductance during the epitaxy of Pb atoms, especially for very initial stage of growth. Oscillations of the conductance during the layer-by-layer growth are correlated with RHEED intensity oscillations. The analysis of the conductance behavior is made according to the theory described by Trivedi and Aschcroft (Phys.Rev.B 38,12298 (1988)).Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Surf. Sci. - accepte