Spin textures of strongly correlated spin Hall quantum dots

We study the spin ordering of a quantum dot defined via magnetic barriers in an interacting quantum spin Hall edge. The spin‐resolved density–density correlation functions are computed. We show that strong electron interactions induce a ground state with a highly correlated spin pattern. The crossover from the liquid‐type correlations at weak interactions to the ground state spin texture found at strong interactions parallels the formation of a one‐dimensional Wigner molecule in an ordinary strongly interacting quantum dot.

     

Staggered flux phase in a model of strongly correlated electrons

We present numerical evidence for the existence of a staggered flux (SF) phase in the half-filled two-leg t-U-V-J ladder, with true long-range order in the countercirculating currents. The density-matrix renormalization-group finite-size scaling approach, generalized to describe complex-valued Hamil-tonians and wave functions, is employed. The SF phase exhibits robust currents at intermediate values of the interaction strength.     

Transport properties of quantum dots

Linear and nonlinear transport through a quantum dot that is weakly coupled to ideal quantum leads is investigated in the parameter regime where charging and geometrical quantization effects coexist. The exact eigenstates and spins of a finite number of correlated electrons confined within the dot are combined with a rate equation. The current is calculated in the regime of sequential tunneling. The analytic solution for an Anderson impurity is given. The phenomenological charging model is compared with the quantum mechanical model for interacting electrons. The current-voltage characteristics show Coulomb blockade. The excited states lead to additional fine-structure in the current voltage characteristics. Asymmetry in the coupling between the quantum dot and the leads causes asymmetry in the conductance peaks which is reversed with the bias voltage. The spin selection rules can cause a ‘spin blockade’ which decreases the current when certain excited states become involved in the transport. In two-dimensional dots, peaks in the linear conductance can be suppressed at low temperatures, when the total spins of the corresponding ground states differ by more than 1/2. In a magnetic field, an electron number parity effect due to the different spins of the many-electron ground states is predicted in addition to the vanishing of the spin blockade effect. All of the predicted features are consistent with recent experiments.     

Collective quantum tunneling of strongly correlated electrons in commensurate mesoscopic rings

We present a new effect that is possible for strongly correlated electrons in commensurate mesoscopic rings: the collective tunneling of electrons between classically equivalent configurations, corresponding to ordered states possessing charge and spin density waves (CDW, SDW) and charge separation (CS). Within an extended Hubbard model at half filling studied by exact numerical diagonalization, we demonstrate that the ground state phase diagram comprises, besides conventional critical lines separating states characterized by different orderings (e.g. CDW, SDW, CS), critical lines separating phases with the same ordering (e.g. CDW-CDW) but with different symmetries. While the former also exist in infinite systems, the latter are specific for mesoscopic systems and directly related to a collective tunnel effect. We emphasize that, in order to construct correctly a phase diagram for mesoscopic rings, the examination of CDW, SDW and CS correlation functions alone is not sufficient, and one should also consider the symmetry of the wave function that cannot be broken. We present examples demonstrating that the jumps in relevant physical properties at the conventional and new critical lines are of comparable magnitude. These transitions could be studied experimentally e.g. by optical absorption in mesoscopic systems. Possible candidates are cyclic molecules and ring-like nanostructures of quantum dots. Received 27 November 2000     

Kondo resonance assisted thermoelectric transport through strongly correlated quantum dots

We theoretically studied the thermoelectric transport properties of a strongly correlated quantum dot system in the presence of the Kondo effect based on accurate numerical evaluations using the hierarchical equations of motion approach. The thermocurrent versus gate voltage shows a distinct sawtooth line-shape at high temperatures. In particular, the current changes from positive(hole charge) to negative(particle charge) in the electron number N = 1 region due to the Coulomb blockade effect. However,at low temperatures, where the Kondo effect occurs, the thermocurrent's charge polarity reverses, along with a significantly enhanced magnitude. As anticipated, the current sign can be analyzed by the occupation difference between particle and hole.Moreover, the characteristic turnover temperature can be further defined at which the influences of the Coulomb blockade and Kondo resonance are in an effective balance. Remarkably, the identified characteristic turnover temperature, as a function of the Coulomb interaction and dot-lead coupling, possessed a much higher value than the Kondo temperature. When a magnetic field is applied, a spin-polarized thermocurrent can be obtained, which could be tested in future experiments.     

Hidden symmetry and correlated states of electrons and holes in quantum dots

We describe hidden symmetry and its application to the construction of exact correlated states of electrons and holes in quantum dots. The hidden symmetry is related to degenerate single particle energy shells and symmetric interactions. Both can be engineered in a quantum dot. We focus on hidden symmetry involving spin singlet pairing of electrons and spin singlet pairing of holes. Detailed calculations for a third shell are presented to illustrate the mechanism of pairing.     

Point-contact transport properties of strongly correlated electrons on liquid helium

We present transport measurements of a nondegenerate two-dimensional electron system on the surface of liquid helium at a point constriction. The constriction is formed in a microchannel by a split gate beneath the helium surface. The electrostatic energy of the electron system, which depends in part on the electron density, determines the split-gate voltage threshold of current flow through the constriction. Steplike increases in conductance are observed as the confinement strength is reduced. As the Coulomb interaction between electrons is strong, we attribute this effect to the increase in the number of electrons that can pass simultaneously through the constriction. Close to the threshold, single-electron transport is observed.     

Probing collective modes of correlated states of few electrons in semiconductor quantum dots

Low-lying collective excitations above highly correlated ground states of few interacting electrons confined in GaAs semiconductor quantum dots are probed by resonant inelastic light scattering. We highlight that separate studies of the changes in the spin and charge degrees of freedom offer unique access to the fundamental interactions. The case of quantum dots with four electrons is found to be determined by a competition between triplet and singlet ground states that is uncovered in the rich light scattering spectra of spin excitations. These light scattering results are described within a configuration-interaction framework that captures the role of electron correlation with quantitative accuracy. Recent light scattering results that reveal the impact of anisotropic confining potentials in laterally coupled quantum dots are also reviewed. In these studies, inelastic light scattering methods emerge as powerful probes of collective phenomena and spin configurations in quantum dots with few electrons.     

Interacting electrons in quantum dots

The ground states of N-electron parabolic quantum dots in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field are investigated. Rigorous lower bounds to the ground-state energies are obtained. It is shown that our lower bounds agree well with the results of exact diagonalization. Analytic results for the lower bounds to the ground-state energies of the quantum dots in a strong magnetic field (known as electron molecule) agree very well with numerically calculated lower bounds.     

Towards hybrid circuit quantum electrodynamics with quantum dots

Cavity quantum electrodynamics allows one to study the interaction between light and matter at the most elementary level. The methods developed in this field have taught us how to probe and manipulate individual quantum systems like atoms and superconducting quantum bits with an exquisite accuracy. There is now a strong effort to extend further these methods to other quantum systems, and in particular hybrid quantum dot circuits. This could turn out to be instrumental for a noninvasive study of quantum dot circuits and a realization of scalable spin quantum bit architectures. It could also provide an interesting platform for quantum simulation of simple fermion–boson condensed matter systems. In this short review, we discuss the experimental state of the art for hybrid circuit quantum electrodynamics with quantum dots, and we present a simple theoretical modeling of experiments.     

Antiferromagnetism of strongly correlated electrons in narrow bands

We consider an antiferromagnetic solution of an effective narrow band hamiltonian within the moment-conserving decoupling for single-particle Green functions. In the limit of a half-filled band, corresponding to the Mott insulator, our results reduce analytically to the mean field approximation for the Heisenberg antiferromagnet, and in particular the band-width of quasiparticles states vanishes.     

Anisotropic singlet superconductivity for systems with strongly correlated electrons

The periodic Anderson model extended by pairing interactions amongf- and conduction electrons is investigated in the context of the singlet-like superconductivity. We evaluate the transition temperatureT _c and the ratios of superconducting order parameters atT _c as functions of an effective parameter which describes the correlation off-electrons. The relative stability of thes- andd -superconductivity depends on the values of the Fermi wave vector and on the magnitude of . Due to the absence of on-site pairing forf-electrons, the increase of Coulomb correlations makes thes-like superconductivity more favourable than thed -superconductivity. This behaviour is accompanied by crossover effects: with the increase of Coulomb correlations amongf-electrons the superconductivity is taken over by conduction electrons.Supported by PAN, CPBP 01.12