No Arabic abstract
Universal properties of entangled many-body states are controlled by their symmetry and quantum fluctuations. By magnetic-field tuning of the spin-orbital degeneracy in a Kondo-correlated quantum dot, we have modified quantum fluctuations to directly measure their influence on the many-body properties along the crossover from $SU(4)$ to $SU(2)$ symmetry of the ground state. High-sensitive current noise measurements combined with the non-equilibrium Fermi liquid theory clarify that the Kondo resonance and electron correlations are enhanced as the fluctuations, measured by the Wilson ratio, increase along the symmetry crossover. Our achievement demonstrates that non-linear noise constitutes a measure of quantum fluctuations that can be used to tackle quantum phase transitions.
The thermopower of a Kondo-correlated gate-defined quantum dot is studied using a current heating technique. In the presence of spin correlations the thermopower shows a clear deviation from the semiclassical Mott relation between thermopower and conductivity. The strong thermopower signal indicates a significant asymmetry in the spectral density of states of the Kondo resonance with respect to the Fermi energies of the reservoirs. The observed behavior can be explained within the framework of an Anderson-impurity model. Keywords: Thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects, Coulomb blockade, single electron tunneling, Kondo-effect PACS Numbers: 72.20.Pa, 73.23.Hk
The Kondo effect is a key many-body phenomenon in condensed matter physics. It concerns the interaction between a localised spin and free electrons. Discovered in metals containing small amounts of magnetic impurities, it is now a fundamental mechanism in a wide class of correlated electron systems. Control over single, localised spins has become relevant also in fabricated structures due to the rapid developments in nano-electronics. Experiments have already demonstrated artificial realisations of isolated magnetic impurities at metallic surfaces, nanometer-scale magnets, controlled transitions between two-electron singlet and triplet states, and a tunable Kondo effect in semiconductor quantum dots. Here, we report an unexpected Kondo effect realised in a few-electron quantum dot containing singlet and triplet spin states whose energy difference can be tuned with a magnetic field. This effect occurs for an even number of electrons at the degeneracy between singlet and triplet states. The characteristic energy scale is found to be much larger than for the ordinary spin-1/2 case.
We calculate the nonequilibrium conductance of a system of two capacitively coupled quantum dots, each one connected to its own pair of conducting leads. The system has been used recently to perform pseudospin spectroscopy by controlling independently the voltages of the four leads. The pseudospin is defined by the orbital occupation of one or the other dot. Starting from the SU(4) symmetric point of spin and pseudospin degeneracy in the Kondo regime, for an odd number of electrons in the system, we show how the conductance through each dot varies as the symmetry is reduced to SU(2) by a pseudo-Zeeman splitting, and as bias voltages are applied to any of the dots. We analize the expected behavior of the system in general, and predict characteristic fingerprint features of the SU(4) to SU(2) crossover that have not been observed so far.
We analyze the low energy properties of a device with $N+1$ quantum dots in a star configuration. A central quantum dot is tunnel coupled to source and drain electrodes and to $N$ quantum dots. Extending previous results for the $N=2$ case we show that, in the appropriate parameter regime, the low energy Hamiltonian of the system is a ferromagnetic Kondo model for a $S=(N-1)/2$ impurity spin. For small enough interdot tunnel coupling, however, a two-stage Kondo effect takes place as the temperature is decreased. The spin $1/2$ in the central quantum dot is Kondo screened first and at lower temperatures the antiferromagnetic coupling to the side coupled quantum dots leads to an underscreened $S=N/2$ Kondo effect. We present numerical results for the thermodynamic and spectral properties of the system which show a singular behavior at low temperatures and allow to characterize the different strongly correlated regimes of the device.
We investigate a tunable two-impurity Kondo system in a strongly correlated carbon nanotube double quantum dot, accessing the full range of charge regimes. In the regime where both dots contain an unpaired electron, the system approaches the two-impurity Kondo model. At zero magnetic field the interdot coupling disrupts the Kondo physics and a local singlet state arises, but we are able to tune the crossover to a Kondo screened phase by application of a magnetic field. All results show good agreement with a numerical renormalization group study of the device.