Transmission phase shift of a quantum dot with kondo correlations

We study the effects of Kondo correlations on the transmission phase shift of a quantum dot in an Aharonov-Bohm ring. We predict in detail how the development of a Kondo resonance should affect the dependence of the phase shift on transport voltage, gate voltage, and temperature. This system should allow the first direct observation of the well-known scattering phase shift of pi/2 expected (but not directly measurable in bulk systems) at zero temperature for an electron scattering off a spin- 1 / 2 impurity that is screened into a singlet.     

Ring interferometer on the basis of 2D electron gas in a double quantum well

Magnetotransport properties of submicron rings fabricated on the basis of 2D electron gas in a GaAs double quantum well are studied. It is shown that, in such interferometers, the Aharonov-Bohm effect is caused by coherent processes in two weakly coupled rings, which have different widths of electron channels. In these interferometers, a phase inversion of h/e oscillations is observed under the action of the parallel component of a tilted magnetic field. This phenomenon is qualitatively explained by a redistribution of charge carriers in the two rings.     

Spin filtering effects in a one dimensional artificial lattice with ring geometry subject to Rashba coupling

Quantum interference effects in rings provide suitable means for controlling spin at mesoscopic scales. Here we apply such a control mechanism to the spin dependent transport in a one-dimensional Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring patterned in two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) symmetrically coupled to two leads. We investigate the ballistic conductance in the presence of an artificial crystal, which is made up of 5 quantum dots. The study is essentially based on the natural spinorbit interactions, due to the quantum well potential that confines electrons in the 2DEG. We focus on single-channel transport and solve for the spin polarization of the current. As an important consequence of the presence of spin splitting, we find the occurrence of spin dependent current oscillations. The presence of lattice can be useful to improve the spin filtering capability of the QR. In fact modulating both the geometry of the dots and the strength of the tunnel barriers between them it is now possible to obtain well defined spin-dependent resonances allowing polarized transport. The presence of isolated conductance peak is useful in order to improve the efficiency of the spin filtering also at non zero temperatures.     

Fano and Kondo resonance in electronic current through nanodevices

Electronic transport through a quantum dot strongly coupled to electrodes is studied within a model with two conduction channels. It is shown that multiple scattering and interference of transmitted waves through both channels lead to Fano resonance associated with Kondo resonance. Interference effects are also pronouncedly seen in transport through the Aharonov-Bohm ring with the Kondo dot, where the current characteristics continuously evolve with the magnetic flux.     

Unexpected behavior in a two-path electron interferometer

We report the observation of an unpredictable behavior of a simple, two-path, electron interferometer. Utilizing an electronic analog of the well-known optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer, with current carrying edge channels in the quantum Hall effect regime, we measured high contrast Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations. Surprisingly, the amplitude of the oscillations varied with energy in a lobe fashion, namely, with distinct maxima and zeros (namely, no AB oscillations) in between. Moreover, the phase of the AB oscillations was constant throughout each lobe period but slipped abruptly by pi at each zero. The periodicity of the lobes defines a new energy scale, which may be a general characteristic of quantum coherence of interfering electrons.     

Correlated quantum transport of density wave electrons

Recently observed Aharonov-Bohm quantum interference of the period h/2e in charge density wave rings strongly suggests that correlated density wave electron transport is a cooperative quantum phenomenon. The picture discussed here posits that quantum solitons nucleate and transport current above a Coulomb blockade threshold field. We propose a field-dependent tunneling matrix element and use the Schr?dinger equation, viewed as an emergent classical equation as in Feynman's treatment of Josephson tunneling, to compute the evolving macrostate amplitudes, finding excellent quantitative agreement with voltage oscillations and current-voltage characteristics in NbSe(3). A proposed phase diagram shows the conditions favoring soliton nucleation versus classical depinning.     

Tunnel magnetotransport in heterostructures with quantum rings

A tunnel current through a heterostructure whose barrier contains quantum rings is calculated. The plane of the rings is parallel to the barrier interface. In a magnetic field perpendicular to this plane, a tunnel current at a fixed bias experiences Aharonov-Bohm oscillations under the variation of magnetic flux through a ring; however, these oscillations are not strictly periodic.     

Novel interference effects and a new quantum phase in mesoscopic systems

Mesoscopic systems have provided an opportunity to study quantum effects beyond the atomic realm. In these systems quantum coherence prevails over the entire sample. We discuss several novel effects related to persistent currents in open systems which do not have analogues in closed systems. Some phenomena arising simultaneously due to two non-classical effects namely, Aharonov-Bohm effect and quantum tunneling are presented. Simple analysis of sharp phase jumps observed in double-slit Aharonov-Bohm experiments is given. Some consequences of parity violation are elaborated. Finally, we briefly describe the dephasing of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in Aharonov-Bohm ring geometry due to spin-flip scattering in one of the arms. Several experimental manifestations of these phenomena and their applications are given.     

Weak localization in mesoscopic hole transport: berry phases and classical correlations

We consider phase-coherent transport through ballistic and diffusive two-dimensional hole systems based on the Kohn-Luttinger Hamiltonian. We show that intrinsic heavy-hole-light-hole coupling gives rise to clear-cut signatures of an associated Berry phase in the weak localization which renders the magnetoconductance profile distinctly different from electron transport. Nonuniversal classical correlations determine the strength of these Berry phase effects and the effective symmetry class, leading even to antilocalization-type features for circular quantum dots and Aharonov-Bohm rings in the absence of additional spin-orbit interaction. Our semiclassical predictions are confirmed by numerical calculations.     

Optical detection of the Aharonov-Bohm effect on a charged particle in a nanoscale quantum ring

We study spectroscopically the current produced by a charged particle moving in a nanosize semiconductor quantum ring subject to a perpendicular magnetic field. Several Aharonov-Bohm oscillations are observed in the emission of a charged exciton confined in a single ring structure. The magnetic field period of the oscillations correlates well with the size of the rings.     

Aharanov-Bohm interference and fractional statistics in a quantum Hall interferometer

We compute the temperature, voltage, and magnetic field dependences of the conductance oscillations of a model interferometer designed to measure the fractional statistics of the quasiparticles in the fractional quantum Hall effect. The geometry is the same as that used in recent experiments. With appropriate assumptions concerning the relative areas of the inner and outer rings of the interferometer, we find the theoretical results, including the existence of super periodic Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, to be in remarkably good agreement with experiment. We then make additional experimental predictions with no adjustable parameters which, if verified, would confirm the proposed interpretation of the experiment as a measurement of fractional statistics.     

Electron Transport Through Double-Dot Aharonov-Bohm Interferometer in the Kondo Regime

By applying the slave boson technique, we have studied the electron transport through double-dot Aharonov-Bohm interferometer in the Kondo regime. For the system with symmetric quantum dots, the linear conductance is shown to be enhanced by Kondo effect, but it is suppressed in the deep dot level regime in the presence of nonzero magnetic flux. The Aharonov-Bohm oscillations of the conductance are also investigated.     

Multiparticle interference, Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement, and full counting statistics

We investigate the quantum transport in a generalized N-particle Hanbury Brown-Twiss setup enclosing magnetic flux, and demonstrate that the Nth-order cumulant of current cross correlations exhibits Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, while there is no such oscillation in all the lower-order cumulants. The multiparticle interference results from the orbital Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement of N indistinguishable particles. For sufficiently strong Aharonov-Bohm oscillations the generalized Bell inequalities may be violated, proving the N-particle quantum nonlocality.     

Double point contact in quantum Hall line junctions

We show that multiple point contacts on a barrier separating two laterally coupled quantum Hall fluids induce Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations in the tunneling conductance. These quantum coherence effects provide new evidence for the Luttinger liquid behavior of the edge states of quantum Hall fluids. For a two point contact, we identify coherent and incoherent regimes determined by the relative magnitude of their separation and the temperature. We analyze both regimes in the strong and weak tunneling amplitude limits as well as their temperature dependence. We find that the tunneling conductance should exhibit AB oscillations in the coherent regime, both at strong and weak tunneling amplitudes with the same period but with different functional form.     

Tunable quantum dot resonator embedded in a quantum wire

Combined quantum wire and quantum dot system is theoretically predicted to show unique conductance properties associated with Coulomb interactions. We use a split gate technique to fabricate a quantum wire containing a quantum dot with two tunable potential barriers in a two-dimensional electron gas. We observe the effects of the quantum dot cavity on the electron transport through the quantum wire, such as Coulomb oscillations near the pinch-off voltage and periodic conductance oscillations on the first conductance plateau.     

Two-particle Aharonov-Bohm effect and entanglement in the electronic Hanbury Brown-Twiss setup

We analyze a Hanbury Brown-Twiss geometry in which particles are injected from two independent sources into a mesoscopic conductor in the quantum Hall regime. All partial waves end in different reservoirs without generating any single-particle interference; in particular, there is no single-particle Aharonov-Bohm effect. However, exchange effects lead to two-particle Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the zero-frequency current cross correlations. We demonstrate that this is related to two-particle orbital entanglement, detected via violation of a Bell inequality. The transport is along edge states and only adiabatic quantum point contacts and normal reservoirs are employed.     

Coherent quantum transport in normal-metal/d-wave superconductor/normal-metal double tunnel junctions

Taking into account the effects of quantum interference and interface scattering, combining the electron current with hole current contribution to tunnel current,we study the coherent quantum transport in normal-metal/d-wave superconductor/normal-metal (NM/d-wave SC/NM) double tunnel junctions by using extended Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) approach. It is shown that all quasiparticle transport coefficients and conductance spectrum exhibit oscillating behavior with the energy, in which periodic vanishing of Andreev reflection (AR) above superconducting gap is found.In tunnel limit for the interface scattering strength taken very large, there are a series of bound states of quasiparticles formed in SC.     

Dimensional crossover in quantum networks: from macroscopic to mesoscopic physics

We report on magnetoconductance measurements of metallic networks of various sizes ranging from 10 to 10(6) plaquettes, with an anisotropic aspect ratio. Both Altshuler-Aronov-Spivak h/2e periodic oscillations and Aharonov-Bohm h/e periodic oscillations are observed for all networks. For large samples, the amplitude of both oscillations results from the incoherent superposition of contributions of phase coherent regions. When the transverse size becomes smaller than the phase coherent length Lphi, one enters a new regime which is phase coherent (mesoscopic) along one direction and macroscopic along the other, leading to a new size dependence of the quantum oscillations.     

On the solution of a “2D Coulomb + Aharonov-Bohm” problem: oscillator strengths in the discrete spectrum and scattering

In this paper we present an exact analytic solution of the Schrödinger equation both inthe discrete and continuous spectra for the combination of a 2D Coulomb potential and theAharonov-Bohm flux. We analyze the influence of the Aharonov-Bohm flux on the energyspectrum of such a system and show that its presence leads to the broadening of theelectron density in the bound states with the given value of the principal quantum number.We have shown that the scattering phase shift, which determines theS-matrix, can be represented as a sum of the Aharonov-Bohm scatteringphase, first obtained by Henneberger, and a “modified” 2D Coulomb phase. We have noticed,that the Aharonov-Bohm scattering phase has a full analogy with the “quantum defect” forsuch a system. We have shown also, that the presence of the Aharonov-Bohm flux affects theradiation spectrum of the electron in this case, and this fact is demonstrated bycalculations of the corresponding oscillator strengths. The explicit analytic expressionfor the scattering cross section on such a system is found in the frame of the eikonalapproach. Obtained formula contains the two exact limiting cases, namely, the “pure” 2DCoulomb scattering as well as the “pure” Aharonov-Bohm effect. The mutual influence of a2D Coulomb potential and the Aharonov-Bohm flux is also discussed.