Pseudospin-resolved transport spectroscopy of the Kondo effect in a double quantum dot

Numerical renormalization group study of the Loschmidt echo in Kondo systems

We study the dynamical properties of the one-channel and two-channel spin-1/2 Kondo models after quenching in Hamiltonian variables. Eigen spectrum of the initial and final Hamiltonians is calculated by using the numerical renormalization group method implemented within the matrix product states formalism. We consider multiple quench protocols in the considered Kondo systems, also in the presence of external magnetic field of different intensities. The main emphasis is put on the analysis of the behavior of the Loschmidt echo L(t), which measures the ability of the system's revival to its initial state after a quench. We show that the decay of the Loschmidt echo strongly depends on the type of quench and the ground state of the system. For the one-channel Kondo model, we show that L(t) decays as, [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the Kondo temperature, while for the two-channel Kondo model, we demonstrate that the decay is slower and given by [Formula: see text]. In addition, we also determine the dynamical behavior of the impurity's magnetization, which sheds light on identification of the relevant time scales in the system's dynamics.

Two-stage three-channel Kondo physics for an FePc molecule on the Au(1 1 1) surface

We study an impurity Anderson model to describe an iron phthalocyanine (FePc) molecule on Au(1 1 1), motivated by previous results of scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and theoretical studies. The model hybridizes a spin doublet consisting in one hole at the [Formula: see text] orbital of iron and two degenerate doublets corresponding to one hole either in the 3d _xz or in the 3d _yz orbital (called π orbitals) with two degenerate Hund-rule triplets with one hole in the 3d _z orbital and another one in a π orbital. We solve the model using a slave-boson mean-field approximation (SBMFA). For reasonable parameters we can describe very well the observed STS spectrum between sample bias  -60 mV to 20 mV. For these parameters the Kondo effect takes place in two stages, with different energy scales [Formula: see text] corresponding to the Kondo temperatures related with the hopping of the z ² and π orbitals respectively. There is a strong interference between the different channels and the Kondo temperatures, particularly the lowest one is strongly reduced compared with the value in the absence of the competing channel.

Detecting Kondo Entanglement by Electron Conductance

Quantum entanglement between an impurity spin and electrons nearby is a key property of the single-channel Kondo effects. We show that the entanglement can be detected by measuring electron conductance through a double quantum dot in an orbital Kondo regime. We derive a relation between the entanglement and the conductance, when the SU(2) spin symmetry of the regime is weakly broken. The relation reflects the universal form of many-body states near the Kondo fixed point. Using it, the spatial distribution of the entanglement-hence, the Kondo cloud-can be detected, with breaking of the symmetry spatially nonuniformly by electrical means.

Cotunneling Drag Effect in Coulomb-Coupled Quantum Dots

In Coulomb drag, a current flowing in one conductor can induce a voltage across an adjacent conductor via the Coulomb interaction. The mechanisms yielding drag effects are not always understood, even though drag effects are sufficiently general to be seen in many low-dimensional systems. In this Letter, we observe Coulomb drag in a Coulomb-coupled double quantum dot and, through both experimental and theoretical arguments, identify cotunneling as essential to obtaining a correct qualitative understanding of the drag behavior.

Correlated Coulomb Drag in Capacitively Coupled Quantum-Dot Structures

We study theoretically Coulomb drag in capacitively coupled quantum dots (CQDs)-a bias-driven dot coupled to an unbiased dot where transport is due to Coulomb mediated energy transfer drag. To this end, we introduce a master-equation approach that accounts for higher-order tunneling (cotunneling) processes as well as energy-dependent lead couplings, and identify a mesoscopic Coulomb drag mechanism driven by nonlocal multielectron cotunneling processes. Our theory establishes the conditions for a nonzero drag as well as the direction of the drag current in terms of microscopic system parameters. Interestingly, the direction of the drag current is not determined by the drive current, but by an interplay between the energy-dependent lead couplings. Studying the drag mechanism in a graphene-based CQD heterostructure, we show that the predictions of our theory are consistent with recent experiments on Coulomb drag in CQD systems.

Restoring the SU(4) Kondo regime in a double quantum dot system

We calculate the spectral density and occupations of a system of two capacitively coupled quantum dots, each one connected to its own pair of conducting leads, in a regime of parameters in which the total couplings to the leads for each dot Γ(i) are different. The system has been used recently to perform pseudospin spectroscopy by controlling independently the voltages of the four leads. For an odd number of electrons in the system, equal coupling to the leads Γ1 = Γ2, equal dot levels E1 = E2 and sufficiently large interdot repulsion U12 the system lies in the SU(4) symmetric point of spin and pseudospin degeneracy in the Kondo regime. In the more realistic case Γ1 ≠ Γ2, pseudospin degeneracy is broken and the symmetry is reduced to SU(2). Nevertheless, we find that the essential features of the SU(4) symmetric case are recovered by appropriately tuning the level difference δ = E2 - E1. After this tuning, the system behaves as an SU(4) Kondo one at low energies. Our results are relevant for experiments which look for signatures of SU(4) symmetry in the Kondo regime of similar systems.

Kondo-like electronic transport and ferromagnetic cluster-glass behavior in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 nanostructures

We have studied the electronic transport and magnetic properties of a nanocrystalline La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ system. We observed low temperature Kondo effect with magnetic cluster behavior.

Anisotropic charge Kondo effect in a triple quantum dot

We predict that an anisotropic charge Kondo effect appears in a triple quantum dot, when the system has twofold degenerate ground states of (1,1,0) and (0,0,1) charge configurations. Using bosonization and refermionization methods, we find that at low temperature the system has the two different phases of massive charge fluctuations between the two charge configurations and vanishing fluctuations, which are equivalent with the Kondo-screened and ferromagnetic phases of the anisotropic Kondo model, respectively. The phase transition is identifiable by electron conductance measurement, offering the possibility of experimentally exploring the anisotropic Kondo model. Our charge Kondo effect has a similar origin to that in a negative-U Anderson impurity.

Orbital Kondo effect in a parallel double quantum dot

We construct a theoretical model to study the orbital Kondo effect in a parallel double quantum dot (DQD). Recently, pseudospin-resolved transport spectroscopy of the orbital Kondo effect in a DQD has been experimentally reported. The experiment revealed that when interdot tunneling is ignored, two and one Kondo peaks exist in the conductance-bias curve for pseudospin-non-resolved and pseudospin-resolved cases, respectively. Our theoretical studies reproduce this experimental result. We also investigate the case of all lead voltages being non-equal (the complete pseudospin-resolved case) and found that there are at most four Kondo peaks in the curve of the conductance versus the pseudospin splitting energy. When interdot tunneling is introduced, some new Kondo peaks and dips can emerge. Furthermore, the pseudospin transport and the pseudospin flipping current are also studied in the DQD system. Since the pseudospin transport is much easier to control and measure than the real spin transport, it can be used to study the physical phenomenon related to the spin transport.

On the zero-bias anomaly and Kondo physics in quantum point contacts near pinch-off

We investigate the linear and non-linear conductance of quantum point contacts (QPCs), in the region near pinch-off where Kondo physics has previously been connected to the appearance of the 0.7 feature. In studies of seven different QPCs, fabricated in the same high-mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction, the linear conductance is widely found to show the presence of the 0.7 feature. The differential conductance, on the other hand, does not generally exhibit the zero-bias anomaly (ZBA) that has been proposed to indicate the Kondo effect. Indeed, even in the small subset of QPCs found to exhibit such an anomaly, the linear conductance does not always follow the universal temperature-dependent scaling behavior expected for the Kondo effect. Taken collectively, our observations demonstrate that, unlike the 0.7 feature, the ZBA is not a generic feature of low-temperature QPC conduction. We furthermore conclude that the mere observation of the ZBA alone is insufficient evidence for concluding that Kondo physics is active. While we do not rule out the possibility that the Kondo effect may occur in QPCs, our results appear to indicate that its observation requires a very strict set of conditions to be satisfied. This should be contrasted with the case of the 0.7 feature, which has been apparent since the earliest experimental investigations of QPC transport.

Inducing spin correlations and entanglement in a double quantum dot through nonequilibrium transport

For a double quantum dot system in a parallel geometry, we demonstrate that by combining the effects of a flux and driving an electrical current through the structure, the spin correlations between electrons localized in the dots can be controlled at will. In particular, a current can induce spin correlations even if the spins are uncorrelated in the initial equilibrium state. Therefore, we are able to engineer an entangled state in this double-dot structure. We take many-body correlations fully into account by simulating the real-time dynamics using the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method. Using a canonical transformation, we provide an intuitive explanation for our results, related to Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida physics driven by the bias.

Spectroscopic determination of phonon lifetimes in rhenium-doped MoS2 nanoparticles

We investigated the infrared vibrational properties of pristine and Re-substituted MoS2 nanoparticles and analyzed the extracted phonon lifetimes in terms of multiple scattering events. Our measurements reveal both size- and doping-dependent changes that we attribute to grain boundary scattering and charge and mass effects, respectively. By contrast, Born charge is affected only by size. These findings illustrate the utility of reaching beyond traditional bulk semiconductors and quantum dots to explore how doping and confinement impact carrier-phonon interactions in low-dimensional semiconducting nanomaterials.

Observation of a Burstein-Moss shift in rhenium-doped MoS2 nanoparticles

We investigated the optical properties of rhenium-doped MoS2 nanoparticles and compared our findings with the pristine and bulk analogues. Our measurements reveal that confinement softens the exciton positions and reduces spin-orbit coupling, whereas doping has the opposite effect. We model the carrier-induced exciton blue shift in terms of the Burstein-Moss effect. These findings are important for understanding doping and finite length scale effects in low-dimensional nanoscale materials.