No Arabic abstract
We consider the effect of electron-electron interactions on a voltage biased quantum point contact in the tunneling regime used as a detector of a nearby qubit. We model the leads of the quantum point contact as Luttinger liquids, incorporate the effects of finite temperature and analyze the detection-induced decoherence rate and the detector efficiency, $Q$. We find that interactions generically reduce the induced decoherence along with the detectors efficiency, and strongly affect the relative strength of the decoherence induced by tunneling and that induced by interactions with the local density. With increasing interaction strength, the regime of quantum-limited detection ($Q=1$) is shifted to increasingly lower temperatures or higher bias voltages respectively. For small to moderate interaction strengths, $Q$ is a monotonously decreasing function of temperature as in the non-interacting case. Surprisingly, for sufficiently strong interactions we identify an intermediate temperature regime where the efficiency of the detector increases with rising temperature.
Berry phase effect plays a central role in many mesoscale condensed matter and quantum chemical systems that are naturally under the environmental influence of dissipation. We propose and microscopically derive a prototypical quantum coherent tunneling model around a monopole or conical potential intersection in order to address the intriguing but overlooked interplay between dissipation and topologically nontrivial Berry phase effect. We adopt the instanton approach with both symmetry analysis and accurate numerical solutions that consistently incorporate nonperturbative dissipation and Berry phase. It reveals a novel dissipative quantum interference phenomenon with Berry phase effect. The phase diagram of this tunneling exhibits Kramers degeneracy, nonmonotonic dependence on dissipation and a generic dissipation-driven phase transition of quantum interference, before which an unconventional dissipation-enhanced regime of quantum tunneling persists.
We analyze the magnetic and transport properties of a double quantum dot coupled to superconducting leads. In addition to the possible phase transition to a $pi$ state, already present in the single dot case, this system exhibits a richer magnetic behavior due to the competition between Kondo and inter-dot antiferromagnetic coupling. We obtain results for the Josephson current which may help to understand recent experiments on superconductor-metallofullerene dimer junctions. We show that in such a system the Josephson effect can be used to control its magnetic configuration.
Electron pairing is a rare phenomenon appearing only in a few unique physical systems; e.g., superconductors and Kondo-correlated quantum dots. Here, we report on an unexpected, but robust, electron pairing in the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) regime. The pairing takes place within an interfering edge channel circulating in an electronic Fabry-Perot interferometer at a wide range of bulk filling factors, $2<{ u} _B<5$. The main observations are: (a) High visibility Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillations with magnetic flux periodicity ${Delta}{phi}={varphi}_0/2=h/2e$ (instead of the ubiquitous $h/e$), with $e$ the electron charge and $h$ the Planck constant; (b) An interfering quasiparticle charge $e ^* {sim} 2e$ - revealed by quantum shot noise measurements; and (c) Full dephasing of the $h/2e$ periodicity by induced dephasing of the adjacent edge channel (while keeping the interfering edge channel intact) : a clear realization of inter-channel entanglement. While this pairing phenomenon clearly results from inter-channel interaction, the exact mechanism that leads to e-e attraction within a single edge channel is not clear.
Many-body correlations and macroscopic quantum behaviors are fascinating condensed matter problems. A powerful test-bed for the many-body concepts and methods is the Kondo model which entails the coupling of a quantum impurity to a continuum of states. It is central in highly correlated systems and can be explored with tunable nanostructures. Although Kondo physics is usually associated with the hybridization of itinerant electrons with microscopic magnetic moments, theory predicts that it can arise whenever degenerate quantum states are coupled to a continuum. Here we demonstrate the previously elusive `charge Kondo effect in a hybrid metal-semiconductor implementation of a single-electron transistor, with a quantum pseudospin-1/2 constituted by two degenerate macroscopic charge states of a metallic island. In contrast to other Kondo nanostructures, each conduction channel connecting the island to an electrode constitutes a distinct and fully tunable Kondo channel, thereby providing an unprecedented access to the two-channel Kondo effect and a clear path to multi-channel Kondo physics. Using a weakly coupled probe, we reveal the renormalization flow, as temperature is reduced, of two Kondo channels competing to screen the charge pseudospin. This provides a direct view of how the predicted quantum phase transition develops across the symmetric quantum critical point. Detuning the pseudospin away from degeneracy, we demonstrate, on a fully characterized device, quantitative agreement with the predictions for the finite-temperature crossover from quantum criticality.
In quantum Hall systems with two narrow constrictions, tunneling between opposite edges can give rise to quantum interference and Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations of the conductance. When there is an integer quantized Hall state within the constrictions, a region between them, with higher electron density, may form a compressible island. Electron-tunneling through this island can lead to residual transport, modulated by Coulomb-blockade type effects. We find that the coupling between the fully occupied lower Landau levels and the higher-partially occupied level gives rise to flux subperiods smaller than one flux quantum. We generalize this scenario to other geometries and to fractional quantum Hall systems, and compare our predictions to experiments.