No Arabic abstract
Quantum transport through single molecules is very sensitive to the strength of the molecule-electrode contact. When a molecular junction weakly coupled to external electrodes, charging effects do play an important role (Coulomb blockade regime). In this regime, the non-equilibrium Green function is usually substituted with master equation approaches, which prevents the density functional theory from describing Coulomb blockade in non-equilibrium case. Last year, we proposed an Ansatz to combine the non-equilibrium Green function technique with the equation of motion method. With help of it, Coulomb blockade was obtained by non-equilibrium Green function, and completely agrees with the master equation results [Phys. Rev. B textbf{76}, 045408 (2007)]. Here, by the Ansatz, we show a new way to introduce Coulomb blockade correction to DFT calculation in non-equilibrium case. And the characteristics of Coulomb blockade are obtained in the calculation of a $toy$ molecule correctly.
We consider a tunnel junction formed between a fixed electrode and an oscillating one. Accumulation of the charge on the junction capacitor induces a force on the nano-mechanical oscillator. The junction is voltage biased and connected in series with an impedance $Z(omega)$. We discuss how the picture of Coulomb blockade is modified by the presence of the oscillator. Quantum fluctuations of the mechanical oscillator modify the $I$-$V$ characteristics particularly in the strong Coulomb blockade limit. We show that the oscillator can be taken into account by a simple modification of the effective impedance of the circuit. We discuss in some details the case of a single inductance $Z(omega)=iLomega$ and of a constant resistance $Z(omega)=R$. With little modifications the theory applies also to incoherent transport in Josephson junctions in the tunneling limit.
We have numerically studied the behavior of one dimensional tunnel junction arrays when random background charges are included using the ``orthodox theory of single electron tunneling. Random background charge distributions are verified in both amplitude and density. The use of a uniform array as a transistor is discussed both with and without random background charges. An analytic expression for the gain near zero gate voltage in a uniform array with no background charges is derived. The gate modulation with background charges present is simulated.
We review the quantum interference effects in a system of interacting electrons confined to a quantum dot. The review starts with a description of an isolated quantum dot. We discuss the status of the Random Matrix theory (RMT) of the one-electron states in the dot, present the universal form of the interaction Hamiltonian compatible with the RMT, and derive the leading corrections to the universal interaction Hamiltonian. Next, we discuss a theoretical description of a dot connected to leads via point contacts. Having established the theoretical framework to describe such an open system, we discuss its transport and thermodynamic properties. We review the evolution of the transport properties with the increase of the contact conductances from small values to values $sim e^2/pihbar$. In the discussion of transport, the emphasis is put on mesoscopic fluctuations and the Kondo effect in the conductance.
We propose that recent transport experiments revealing the existence of an energy gap in graphene nanoribbons may be understood in terms of Coulomb blockade. Electron interactions play a decisive role at the quantum dots which form due to the presence of necks arising from the roughness of the graphene edge. With the average transmission as the only fitting parameter, our theory shows good agreement with the experimental data.
A tunable directional coupler based on Coulomb Blockade effect is presented. Two electron waveguides are coupled by a quantum dot to an injector waveguide. Electron confinement is obtained by surface Schottky gates on single GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction. Magneto-electrical measurements down to 350 mK are presented and large transconductance oscillations are reported on both outputs up to 4.2 K. Experimental results are interpreted in terms of Coulomb Blockade effect and the relevance of the present design strategy for the implementation of an electronic multiplexer is underlined.