Transport through a triple quantum dot system: Formation of resonance band and its application as a spin filter

A three-quantum-dot spin filter based on nonequilibrium Green?s function technique is proposed with external magnetic flux, Rashba spin orbit interaction, and intradot coulomb interaction taken into consideration. Numerical results indicate a spin filter can be made efficient by adjusting external magnetic flux and Rashba spin orbit interaction. Moreover, the formation of a resonance band is discussed through calculation. It is observed that the possibility of transition from one peak to other three peaks in the conductance spectrum increases with increasing interdot coupling strength.     

Photon-assisted electronic and spin transport through two T-shaped three-quantum-dot molecules embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

We investigate the time-modulated electronic and spin transport properties through two T-shaped three-quantum-dot molecules embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm(A-B) interferometer. By using the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green's function technique, the photon-assisted spin-dependent average current is analyzed. The T-shaped three-quantum-dot molecule A-B interferometer exhibits excellent controllability in the average current resonance spectra by adjusting the interdot coupling strength, Rashba spin-orbit coupling strength, magnetic flux, and amplitude of the time-dependent external field.Efficient spin filtering and multiple electron-photon pump functions are exploited in the multi-quantum-dot molecule A-B interferometer by a time-modulated external field.     

Tunneling conductance oscillations in spin–orbit coupled metal–insulator–superconductor junctions

The tunneling conductance for a device consisting of a metal–insulator–superconductor (MIS) junction is studied in presence of Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC) via an extended Blonder–Tinkham–Klapwijk formalism. We find that the tunneling conductance as a function of an effective barrier potential that defines the insulating layer and lies intermediate to the metallic and superconducting electrodes, displays an oscillatory behavior. The tunneling conductance shows high sensitivity to the RSOC for certain ranges of this potential, while it is insensitive to the RSOC for others. Additionally, when the period of oscillations is an odd multiple of a certain value of the effective potential, the conductance spectrum as a function of the biasing energy demonstrates a contrasting trend with RSOC, compared to when it is not an odd multiple. The explanations for the observation can be found in terms of a competition between the normal and Andreev reflections. Similar oscillatory behavior of the conductance spectrum is also seen for other superconducting pairing symmetries, thereby emphasizing that the insulating layer plays a decisive role in the conductance oscillations of a MIS junction. For a tunable Rashba coupling, the current flowing through the junction can be controlled with precision.     

Perfect spin filtering and conditions for Fano antiresonance and Dicke resonance in a parallel coupled triple quantum-dot array

Electronic transport through a parallel coupled triple quantum dot (tQD) array has been studied by means of nonequilibrium Green’s function formalism. By producing an energy difference between the site energy in the upper QDs and down ones, we find that the linear conductance spectrum of this tQD array displays Fano antiresonance and Dicke resonance effects. As the energy difference increases or the tQD chain length increases to a not very large value, the antiresonance valley in the conductance changes to a well-defined insulating band with very steep edges. Meanwhile, the relations of the Fano antiresonance and the well-defined insulating band are explored, and the conditions for the Fano antiresonance and the Dicke resonance are presented. By introducing a Zeeman splitting due to an external magnetic field, the spin-splitting conductance spectrum shows some highly to 100% spin-polarized windows (SPWs). If a gate voltage runs in these SPWs, we can achieve an entirely spin-polarized current, indicating that such a tQD array can be used as a perfect spin filter and a quantum-signal generator. Moreover, the intradot Coulomb repulsion on the electronic transport is also investigated. The results show that the intradot Coulomb repulsion does not affect the device applications for this system mentioned above.     

N/I/d波超导体c轴隧道结的微分电导

以方势垒描述绝缘层,对N/I/d波超导体c轴隧道结的微分电导进行了研究.结果表明:在N/I/d波超导体c轴隧道结的隧道谱中存在V型结构、能隙外的凹陷和小的零偏压电导峰.这一结果能很好的解释相关的实验现象.     

Single-particle spectrum in the electron-doped cuprates

We study the evolution of the single-particle spectrum with electron doping in a scheme which adds multiple exchange of transverse spin excitations to the mean-field antiferromagnetic insulator. Away from half-filling small Fermi surface pockets appear first around the X points, and simultaneously new spectral weight grows in the insulating gap. With further doping the in-gap states develop the character of a renormalized quasiparticle band near the chemical potential. The essential features in momentum-energy space agree well with recent studies using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on electron-doped cuprates. We interpret the origins and the nature of the in-gap states using a simple variational wave function.     

Coexistence of anomalous field effect and mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in granular aluminium

We perform electrical field effect measurements at 4 K on insulating granular aluminium thin films. When the samples size is reduced below ≃100 μm, reproducible and stable conductance fluctuations are seen as a function of the gate voltage. Our results suggest that these fluctuations reflect the incomplete self-averaging of largely distributed microscopic resistances. We also study the anomalous field effect (conductance dip) already known to exist in large samples and its slow relaxation in the presence of the conductance fluctuations. Within our measurements accuracy, the two phenomena appear to be independent of each other, like two additive contributions to the conductance. We discuss the possible physical meaning of this independence and in particular whether or not this observation is in favor of an electron glass interpretation of slow conductance anomaly relaxations.     

Observation of microwave-induced zero-conductance state in Corbino rings of a two-dimensional electron system

Using Corbino samples we have observed oscillatory dc conductance in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system when it is subjected to crossed microwave and magnetic fields. At the strongest of the oscillation minima the conductance is found to be vanishingly small, indicating a macroscopic insulating state associated with this minimum. With increasing voltage bias, a crossover from Ohmic to electron-heating regime is observed.     

One dimensional transport and gating of InAs/GaSb structures

Semimetallic InAs/GaSb structures are known to contain simultaneously both two dimensional electrons in the InAs and two dimensional holes in the GaSb layers. Following successful anodisation of undoped GaSb, we describe transport measurements performed on a wide area gated sample and also a single quantum point contact. In the large area gated sample, the electron density increases and the hole density decreases when a positive gate voltage is applied. Under negative bias, an additional layer of holes is created at the interface between the insulating and GaSb capping layers, which is confirmed by self-consistent modelling of the band profile under external bias. The conductance of the point contact is found to exhibit quantised values.PACS: 72.20My, 23.80Ey, 73.40Qv     

A model for engineering the electrical conductance at nanoscale

With the emergence of nanoelectronics faster and denser circuits are being produced, this largely because the aggressive scaling to the nanometer range of the insulating film used as dielectric. Moreover, enhancements of the electrical conductivity of nanofiller based composites can be achieved by the incorporation of conductive nanofillers into polymer matrix. In such systems electron wave-function penetration into the dielectric is important as it leads to undesired or desired leakage currents by tunneling respectively. Therefore, a proper design of the electrical conductance in such structures becomes important in order to control accurately their performance. In this research, a model for engineering the electrical conductance of resistors at nanoscale is presented. The conductance at infinitesimal bias of nanoresistors is modeled within the framework of Landauer's tunneling which results in an exponential integral function for the total electrical conductance. Model takes the effects of azimuthal and inclination angles between nanocontacts into account, as well as the effect of the thickness of the dielectric layer. The model also unveils a U-shaped behavior of the electrical conductance as a function of the azimuthal angle between nanocontacts. As a result, a minimal electrical conductance is predicted when the azimuthal angle reaches 90°.     

正多边形量子环自旋输运的严格解

研究了存在Rashba自旋轨道相互作用的正多边形量子环的自旋输运特性．采用量子网络的典型方法和Landauer-Büttiker电导公式,严格求解了电子通过正多边形量子环的散射问题,并得到了电导的解析表达式．通过数值计算和解析分析,进一步研究了量子环电导随电子波矢和自旋轨道相互作用强度变化的复杂形式,包括源于自旋轨道耦合相互作用的电导零点系列．特别地,还研究了正多边形环的边数趋近于无穷的极限情形,与直接采用圆环模型获得的结果完全一致． 关键词： Rashba自旋-轨道相互作用 量子网络 量子输运     

The effect of band Jahn-Teller distortion on the magnetoresistivity of manganites: a model study

We present a model study of magnetoresistance through the interplay of magnetisation, structural distortion and external magnetic field for the manganite systems. The manganite system is described by the Hamiltonian which consists of the s-d type double exchange interaction, Heisenberg spin-spin interaction among the core electrons, and the static and dynamic band Jahn-Teller (JT) interaction in the e(g) band. The relaxation time of the e(g) electron is found from the imaginary part of the Green's function using the total Hamiltonian consisting of the interactions due to the electron and phonon. The calculated resistivity exhibits a peak in the pure JT distorted insulating phase separating the low temperature metallic ferromagnetic phase and the high temperature paramagnetic phase. The resistivity is suppressed with the increase of the external magnetic field. The e(g) electron band splitting and its effect on magnetoresistivity is reported here.     

Electrical conductance from the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling

Electrical conductance, including its normalized version, is discussed quantitatively in the context of the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling by considering ballistic electron transport through a generic insulating layer. This discussion is applicable to several nanostructures as, for example, nanowires as well as to specific problems in electron optics.     

Generation of Fabry–Pérot oscillations and Dirac state in two-dimensional topological insulators by gate voltage

We investigate electron transport through Hg Te ribbons embedded by strip-shape gate voltage through using a nonequilibrium Green function technique. The numerical calculations show that as the gate voltage is increased, an edgerelated state in the valence band structure of the system shifts upwards, then hangs inside the band gap and merges into the conduction band finally. It is interesting that as the gate voltage is increased continuously, another edge-related state in the valence band also shifts upwards in the small-k region and contacts the previous one to form a Dirac cone in the band structure. Meanwhile in this process, the conductance spectrum displays as multiple resonance peaks characterized by some strong antiresonance valleys in the band gap, then behaves as Fabry–P′erot oscillations and finally develops into a nearly perfect quantum plateau with a value of 2e~2/h. These results give a physical picture to understand the formation process of the Dirac state driven by the gate voltage and provide a route to achieving particular quantum oscillations of the electronic transport in nanodevices.     

石墨烯铁磁-绝缘层-超导结的输运

本文运用平均场模型的Dirac-Bogoliubov-de-Gennes方程和Bolonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk理论研究石墨烯铁磁-绝缘层-超导结的输运性质.研究表明:考虑有限宽度的绝缘层,隧穿电导-电压曲线呈现无衰减的振荡行为;同时隧穿电导随铁磁层中的交换能呈现非单调变化.对上述现象从石墨烯中类Dirac准粒子色散关系密切相关的电子散射过程予以解释.     

Imaging electron wave functions inside open quantum rings

Combining scanning gate microscopy (SGM) experiments and simulations, we demonstrate low temperature imaging of the electron probability density |Psi|(2)(x,y) in embedded mesoscopic quantum rings. The tip-induced conductance modulations share the same temperature dependence as the Aharonov-Bohm effect, indicating that they originate from electron wave function interferences. Simulations of both |Psi|(2)(x,y) and SGM conductance maps reproduce the main experimental observations and link fringes in SGM images to |Psi|(2)(x,y).     

Coherent quantum transport in two-dimensional electron gas/superconductor double junctions with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Based on the extended Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) approach, we have investigated the coherent quantum transport in two-dimensional electron gas/superconductor (2DEG/SC) double tunneling junctions in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC). It is found that all the reflection coefficients in BTK theory as well as conductance spectra oscillate with the external voltage and energy. The oscillation feature of conductance can be tuned largely by the RSOC for low insulating barriers, while for high insulating barriers it is almost independent of the RSOC. These phenomena are essentially different from those found in ferromagnet/superconductor double tunneling junctions.     

The influence of coupling between chains on the conductivity of atomic carbon chains

This work presents a theoretical investigation on the electronic properties of double atomic carbon chains bridging graphene electrodes with density functional theory in combination with non-equilibrium Green's function. The influence of strain on the conductance of atomic carbon chains is significant. However, the coupling effect between adjacent chains dominates the intrinsic transport of double atomic carbon chains. For the coupled double atomic chains, the electron conductance of even-numbered atomic chains is significantly enhanced, while the electron conductance of odd-numbered atomic chains decreases to a certain degree, and the dependence of the conductance of double atomic chains on electrode configuration is stronger than the corresponding single atomic chain. More intriguingly, the coupled double atomic chains exhibit excellent spin-filtering properties with antiparallel spins on two electrodes. The current spin polarization stems from the coupling-induced changes of electron density and band offset reaches 100%. The coupled double atomic carbon chains have great potential application in spintronic devices and carbon-based field-effect transistors.     

Continuum of many-particle states near the metal-insulator transition in the Hubbard model

The strong coupling diagram technique is used for investigating states near the metal-insulator transition in the half-filled two-dimensional repulsive Hubbard model. The nonlocal third-order term is included in the irreducible part along with local terms of lower orders. Derived equations for the electron Green’s function are solved by iteration for moderate Hubbard repulsions and temperatures. Starting iteration from Green’s functions of the Hubbard-I approximation with various distances of poles from the real frequency axis continua of different metallic and insulating solutions are obtained. The insulating solutions vary in the width of the Mott gap, while the metallic solutions differ in the shape of the spectral function in the vicinity of the Fermi level. Besides, different scenarios of the metal-insulator transition – with a sudden onset of a band of mobile states near the Fermi level and with gradual closure of the Mott gap – are observed with a change in temperature. In spite of these dissimilarities, all solutions have a common curve separating metallic and insulating states in the phase diagram. Near this curve metallic and insulating solutions coexist. For moderate Hubbard repulsions metallic solutions are not Fermi liquids.     

任意正多边形量子环自旋输运的普遍解

在有关偶数正多边形量子环对称连接特殊情形的自旋输运特性的研究基础上,进一步探讨了任意正多边形量子环的自旋输运性质.不仅解析地求解了相关电子散射问题,而且得到了 Landauer-Buttiker 电导的普遍公式,并讨论了它的圆环极限和 Aharonov-Casher 相位问题.结合数值计算,研究了正多边形量子环的Landauer-Buttiker 电导随多边形边数、引线连接方式、自旋轨道耦合强度以及电子波矢的周期变化特性和零点分布规律. 关键词： Rashba 自旋-轨道耦合 Aharonov-Casher 相位 量子网络 量子输运