AC shot noise through a quantum dot in the Kondo regime

The photon-assisted shot noise through a quantum dot in the Kondo regime is investigated by applying time-dependent canonical transformation and non-crossing approximation technique. A basic formula for the photon-assisted shot noise is obtained. The rich dependence of the shot noise on the external ac field and temperature is displayed. At low temperature and low frequencies, the differential shot noise exhibits staircase behavior. When the temperature increases, the steps are rounded. At elevated frequencies, the photon-assisted tunneling becomes more obvious. We have also found that the Fano factor is enhanced as the ac frequency is enhanced.     

Spin-dependent shot noise in diluted-magnetic-semiconductor/ semiconductor heterostructures

We investigated the shot noise properties in the diluted-magnetic-semiconductor/semiconductor heterostructures, where the sp-d exchange interaction gives rise to a giant spin splitting when an external magnetic field is applied along the growth direction of the heterostructures. It is found that the noise becomes strongly spin-dependent and can be greatly modulated not only by the external magnetic and electric fields, but also by the structural configuration and geometric parameters. Both the spin-up and spin-down components of the noise spectral density can be greatly suppressed by the magnetic field. The Fano factor is notably sensitive to the transmission probabilities, which varies greatly with the spin-polarization, the external magnetic field, and the structural configuration.     

Photon-assisted shot noise due to the charging effect in a quantum dot device

We have investigated the spectral density of shot noise for an ultra-small quantum dot(QD) system in the Coulomb blockade regime when irradiated with microwave fields (MWFs) by employing a nonequilibrium Green’s function technique. The shot noise is sensitive to Coulomb interaction, and the photon-assisted Coulomb blockade behaviour strongly modifies the mesoscopic transport. We have calculated the first and second derivatives of shot noise in the strong and weak coupling regimes to compare the theoretical results with existing experimental results. In the strong coupling regime, the first and second derivatives of shot noise display Fano type peak-valley structures around the charging channel 2E _c due to Coulomb interaction. When the magnitudes of the MWFs are sufficiently large, the system displays channel blockade due to photon irradiation. The photon-assisted and Coulomb blockade steps in the noise — as well as the resonant behaviour in the differential noise — are smeared by increasing temperature. The Coulomb interaction suppresses the shot noise, but the ac fields can either suppress the shot noise(balanced case) or enhance the shot noise(unbalanced case). The suppression of shot noise caused by ac fields in the balanced case is greater than that caused by Coulomb interaction in our system. Super-Poissonian shot noise may be induced due to the compound effects of strong Coulomb interaction and photon absorption-emission processes.     

Laser-assisted spin-polarized transport in graphene tunnel junctions

The Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function method is utilized to theoretically study spin-polarized transport through a graphene spin valve irradiated by a monochromatic laser field. It is found that the bias dependence of the differential conductance exhibits successive peaks corresponding to the resonant tunneling through the photon-assisted sidebands. The multi-photon processes originate from the combined effects of the radiation field and the graphene tunneling properties, and are shown to be substantially suppressed in a graphene spin valve which results in a decrease of the differential conductance for a high bias voltage. We also discuss the appearance of a dynamical gap around zero bias due to the radiation field. The gap width can be tuned by changing the radiation electric field strength and the frequency. This leads to a shift of the resonant peaks in the differential conductance. We also demonstrate numerically the dependences of the radiation and spin valve effects on the parameters of the external fields and those of the electrodes. We find that the combined effects of the radiation field, the graphene and the spin valve properties bring about an oscillatory behavior in the tunnel magnetoresistance, and this oscillatory amplitude can be changed by scanning the radiation field strength and/or the frequency.     

Shot noise in a quantum dot coupled to non-magnetic leads: effects of Coulomb interaction

We study electron transport through a quantum dot, connected to non-magnetic leads, in a magnetic field. A super-Poissonian electron noise due to the effects of both interacting localized states and dynamic channel blockade is found when the Coulomb blockade is partially lifted. This is sharp contrast to the sub-Poissonian shot noise found in the previous studies for a large bias voltage, where the Coulomb blockade is completely lifted. Moreover, we show that the super-Poissonian shot noise can be suppressed by applying an electron spin resonance (ESR) driving field. For a sufficiently strong ESR driving field strength, the super-Poissonian shot noise will change to be sub-Poissonian.     

Quantum partition noise of photon-created electron-hole pairs

We show experimentally that even when no bias voltage is applied to a quantum conductor, the electronic quantum partition noise can be investigated with GHz radio frequency excitation. Using a quantum point contact configuration as the ballistic conductor we are able to make an accurate determination of the partition noise Fano factor resulting from the photon-assisted shot noise. Applying both voltage bias and rf irradiation we are able to make a definitive quantitative test of the scattering theory of photon-assisted shot noise.     

Scattering theory of electron transport in single layer graphene with a time-periodic potential

We applied the scattering approach to studying the transport properties of charge carriers through single layer graphene in the presence of a time-periodic potential. Using the method, expressions for the second-quantized current operator, conductivity and shot noise are obtained. The results obtained in this study demonstrate that the applied external field provides sidebands for charge carriers to tunnel through the graphene, and these sidebands changed the transport properties of the system. The results obtained in this study might be of interest to basic understanding of photon-assisted tunneling (PAT) and designers of electron devices based on graphene.     

Suppression of shot noise in quantum point contacts in the "0.7 regime"

Experimental investigations of current shot noise in quantum point contacts show a reduction of the noise near the 0.7 anomaly. It is demonstrated that such a reduction naturally arises in a model proposed recently to explain the characteristics of the 0.7 anomaly in quantum point contacts in terms of a quasibound state, due to the emergence of two conducting channels. We calculate the shot noise as a function of temperature, applied voltage, and magnetic field, and demonstrate an excellent agreement with experiments. It is predicted that, with decreasing temperature, voltage, and magnetic field, the dip in the shot noise is suppressed due to the Kondo effect.     

Shot noise of the spin inelastic tunneling through a quantum dot with single molecule-magnet

We have studied the quantum fluctuations of inelastic spin-electron scattering in quantum dot with an embedded biaxial single molecule-magnet and particularly investigated the zero-frequency shot noise and Fano factor in different magnetic fields. It is found that the shot noise and Fano factor exhibit a stepwise behaviour as bias increases in the presence of interaction between the electron and molecule-magnet for a weak magnetic field. As magnetic field becomes strong, a dip is displayed in the shot-noise-bias curve due to the suppression of inelastic shot noise caused by the quantum tunneling of magnetisation. Because of the spontaneous inelastic tunneling at zero bias, a small shot noise occurs, which results in the case of Fano factor F >> 1. Moreover, our results show that the sweeping speed can also influence the shot noise and Fano factor obviously.     

Shot noise in magnetic field modulated graphene superlattice

We investigate the shot noise properties in a monolayer graphene superlattice modulated by N parallel ferromagnets deposited on a dielectric layer. It is found that for the antiparallel magnetization configuration or when magnetic field is zero the new Dirac-like point appears in graphene superlattice. The transport is almost forbidden at this new Dirac-like point, and the Fano factor reaches its maximum value 1/3. In the parallel magnetization configuration as the number of magnetic barriers increases, the shot noise increases. In this case, the transmission can be blocked by the magnetic–electric barrier and the Fano factor approaches 1, which is dramatically distinguishable from that in antiparallel alignment. The results may be helpful to control the electron transport in graphene-based electronic devices.     

Shot noise in a double-quantum-dot Aharonov-Bohm interferometer under the perturbation of ac fields

We have investigated the shot noise spectral density in the parallel double-quantum-dot (DQD) interferometer threaded with an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) flux under the perturbation of ac fields. The derivations are based on the nonequilibrium Green’s function (NGF) technique in the Coulomb blockade regime. The AB flux and the perturbation of ac fields together provide a photon-assisted AB interferometer for controlling the shot noise efficiently. The signature of the shot noise reflects the intrinsic microstructure of the DQD system, which plays important roles for the enhancement and suppression of shot noise. The versatile resonant structures of shot noise, Fano factor have been revealed to exhibit the sub-Poissonian and super-Poissonian types of shot noise by adjusting the gate voltages sequentially.     

Dynamic spin-polarized shot noise in a quantum dot coupled to ferromagnetic terminals under the perturbation of ac fields

We have investigated the shot noise in the mesoscopic system composed of a quantum dot (QD) coupled to ferromagnetic terminals under the perturbation of ac fields. The shot noise has been derived using the nonequilibrium Green's function (NGF) technique to describe the spin polarization effect along with photon absorption and emission processes in the Coulomb blockade regime. We have examined the influence of spin polarization on the shot noise under the perturbation of ac fields in the nonadiabatic regime. The Coulomb blockade effect results in the modification of shot noise compared with the noninteracting case. The spin orientation contributes a spin valve effect for controlling electron tunnelling through this QD, and different resonant forms appear around the Coulomb blockade channel. The photon-assisted spin-splitting and spin-polarization effect contributes a photon-assisted spin valve to adjust the electron tunnelling current and shot noise. The spin-polarization effect varies the value of the Fano factor. However, it does not change the noise type from sub-Poissonian to super-Poissonian.     

Spin-flip shot noise in a quantum dot coupled to carbon nanotube terminals responded by a rotating magnetic field

We have investigated the spectral density of shot noise of the system with a quantum dot (QD) coupled to two single-wall carbon nanotube terminals, where a rotating magnetic field is applied to the QD. The carbon nanotube (CN) terminals act as quantum wires which open quantum channels for electrons to transport through. The shot noise and differential shot noise exhibit novel behaviors originated from the quantum nature of CNs. The shot noise is sensitively dependent on the rotating magnetic field, and the differential shot noise exhibits asymmetric behavior versus source-drain bias and gate voltage. The Fano factor of the system exhibits the deviation of shot noise from the Schottky formula. The super-Poissonian and sub-Poissonian shot noise can be achieved in different regime of source-drain bias.     

Observation of nonconservation characteristics of radio frequency noise mechanism of 40-nm n-MOSFET

Bias non-conservation characteristics of radio-frequency noise mechanism of 40-nm n-MOSFET are observed by modeling and measuring its drain current noise. A compact model for the drain current noise of 40-nm MOSFET is proposed through the noise analysis. This model fully describes three kinds of main physical sources that determine the noise mechanism of 40-nm MOSFET, i.e., intrinsic drain current noise, thermal noise induced by the gate parasitic resistance, and coupling thermal noise induced by substrate parasitic effect. The accuracy of the proposed model is verified by noise measurements, and the intrinsic drain current noise is proved to be the suppressed shot noise, and with the decrease of the gate voltage, the suppressed degree gradually decreases until it vanishes. The most important findings of the bias non-conservative nature of noise mechanism of 40-nm n-MOSFET are as follows.(i) In the strong inversion region, the suppressed shot noise is weakly affected by the thermal noise of gate parasitic resistance. Therefore, one can empirically model the channel excess noise as being like the suppressed shot noise.(ii) In the middle inversion region, it is almost full of shot noise.(iii) In the weak inversion region, the thermal noise is strongly frequency-dependent, which is almost controlled by the capacitive coupling of substrate parasitic resistance. Measurement results over a wide temperature range demonstrate that the thermal noise of 40-nm n-MOSFET exists in a region from the weak to strong inversion, contrary to the predictions of suppressed shot noise model only suitable for the strong inversion and middle inversion region. These new findings of the noise mechanism of 40-nm n-MOSFET are very beneficial for its applications in ultra low-voltage and low-power RF, such as novel device electronic structure optimization, integrated circuit design and process technology evaluation.     

Coupling strength effect on shot noise in boron devices

The shot noise properties in boron devices are investigated with a tight-binding model and the non-equilibrium Green’s function.It is found that the shot noise and Fano factors can be tuned by changing the structures,the size,and the coupling strength.The shot noise is suppressed momentarily as we switch on the bias voltage,and the electron correlation is significant.The Fano factors are more sensitive to the ribbon width than to the ribbon length in the full coupling context.In the weak-coupling context,the Fano factors are almost invariant with the increase of length and width over a wide bias range.     

Time-dependent electron transport through an Aharonov–Bohm ring embedded with two quantum dots

The time-dependent electron transport through an Aharonov–Bohm ring embedded with two quantum dots in the presence of external microwave (MW) fields are investigated theoretically by using the nonequilibrium Green's function method. Whether the MW field can induce or suppress the Fano resonance depends on the part to which the field is applied. When the MW field is applied only to the two quantum dots, the photon-assisted Fano peaks appear at the sidebands of the original Fano peak. The existence of the original Fano peak or the photon-assisted ones can be controlled by the field strength. When the MW field is applied only to one lead, the original Fano peak is suppressed by the MW field, and the negative current caused by the electron–photon pump effects is found.     

A geometric approach to confining a Dirac neutral particle in analogous way to a quantum dot

Based on the transfer-matrix method, the spin transport properties through a graphene-based multi-barrier nanostructure with an exchange field and Rashba spin orbit coupling (SOC), have been investigated. It is found that if Rashba SOC equals to the exchange field, the multi-barrier nanostructure is an efficient way to achieve spin rotators and spin filters. In addition, it is also found that the shot noise of a spin state can be enhanced by electrostatic potential, and plateaus of the Fano factor is formed.     

Shot noise and multiple Andreev reflections in d-wave superconductors

We present a theoretical analysis of the shot noise in d-wave/d-wave contacts with arbitrary transparency, including the contribution of multiple Andreev reflections. The multiple charge quanta transferred in these processes are revealed as a huge enhancement of the noise-current ratio at low voltages, which survives for all crystal misorientations. We also show how different ingredients such as nonmagnetic impurities or a magnetic field produce very characteristic hallmarks in the shot noise, which can be used as a further test of the d-wave scenario in superconducting cuprates.     

Experimental realization of strong effective magnetic fields in optical superlattice potentials

We present the experimental generation of large effective magnetic fields for ultracold atoms using photon-assisted tunneling in an optical superlattice. The underlying method does not rely on the internal structure of the atoms and, therefore, constitutes a general approach to realize widely tunable artificial gauge fields without the drawbacks of near-resonant optical potentials. When hopping in the lattice, the accumulated phase shift by an atom is equivalent to the Aharonov–Bohm phase of a charged particle exposed to a staggered magnetic field of large magnitude, on the order of one flux quantum per plaquette. We study the ground state of this system and observe that the frustration induced by the magnetic field can lead to a degenerate ground state for non-interacting particles. We provide a local measurement of the phase acquired by single particles due to photon-assisted tunneling. Furthermore, the quantum cyclotron orbit of single atoms in the lattice exposed to the effective magnetic field is directly revealed.     

利用共振无源腔分析和抑制飞秒脉冲激光噪声的理论和实验研究

理论分析了共振无源腔对飞秒脉冲激光的强度和相位噪声的转化模型,分析表明,通过测量无源腔透射场或者反射场相对于输入场强度噪声的变化,可以间接得到输入场飞秒脉冲激光的相位噪声.在此基础上设计了精细度约为1500、自由光谱区为75 MHz的八镜环形共振无源腔,并测量了钛宝石锁模激光经过该共振无源腔后透射场和反射场强度噪声的变化.实验观察到,飞秒脉冲激光经过无源腔透射后,强度噪声特性得到较好改善,在探测频率2 MHz附近达到散粒噪声极限.同时,结合共振无源腔对激光强度和相位噪声的转化模型,间接给出了钛宝石锁模激光的相位噪声及无源腔对相位噪声的有效抑制作用.