Theory of resonant tunneling through quantum dots in the presence of electron-phonon interaction

Structures where the electrons of a two-dimensional electron gas are confined to disconnected regions can be fabricated by the use of appropriate gate geometries. The transport between these electrostatically defined quantum dots takes place by tunneling. Using the tunneling Hamiltonian approach we present a theoretical model of the system including electron-phonon interaction. The relevant coupling constants are determined from realistic wave functions for the expected confinement potentials. The phonon part of the Hamiltonian is diagonalized using a canonical transformation. Starting from the determination of the transmission matrix for the interacting system we calculate the current-voltage characteristics for different temperatures and phonon coupling strengths.