No Arabic abstract
We construct a real time current-conserving functional renormalization group (RG) scheme on the Keldysh contour to study frequency-dependent transport and noise through a quantum dot in the local moment regime. We find that the current vertex develops a non-trivial non-local structure in time, governed by a new set of RG equations. Solving these RG equations, we compute the complete frequency and temperature-dependence of the noise spectrum. For voltages large compared to the Kondo temperature, $eV gg k_BT_K$, two sharp anti-resonances are found in the noise spectrum at frequencies $hbar omega = pm e V$, and correspondingly, two peaks in the ac conductance through the dot.
We introduce a real time version of the functional renormalization group which allows to study correlation effects on nonequilibrium transport through quantum dots. Our method is equally capable to address (i) the relaxation out of a nonequilibrium initial state into a (potentially) steady state driven by a bias voltage and (ii) the dynamics governed by an explicitly time-dependent Hamiltonian. All time regimes from transient to asymptotic can be tackled; the only approximation is the consistent truncation of the flow equations at a given order. As an application we investigate the relaxation dynamics of the interacting resonant level model which describes a fermionic quantum dot dominated by charge fluctuations. Moreover, we study decoherence and relaxation phenomena within the ohmic spin-boson model by mapping the latter to the interacting resonant level model.
We present a detailed study for the finite-frequency current noise of a Kondo quantum dot in presence of a magnetic field by using a recently developed real time functional renormalization group approach [Phys. Rev. B $mathbf{83}$, 201303(R) (2011)]. The scaling equations are modified in an external magnetic field; the couplings and non-local current vertices become strongly anisotropic, and develop new singularities. Consequently, in addition to the natural emission threshold frequency, $hbaromega = |eV|$, a corresponding singular behavior is found to emerge in the noise spectrum at frequencies $hbar omega approx |eVpm B|$. The predicted singularities are measurable with present-day experimental techniques.
We report selective injection of both spin-up and spin-down single electrons into a quantum dot (QD) from spin-polarized non-equilibrium quantum Hall edge channels (ECs) generated by selective transmission of spin-resolved ECs using a surface gate placed at a distance from the QD. We change the spin polarization of non-equilibrium ECs by changing the bias voltages applied to different source Ohmic contacts. The efficiency of spin-up electron injection reaches 0.5, which is approximately 0.2 higher than that induced by spin-dependent tunnel coupling between QD and ECs. On the other hand, the efficiency of spin-down electron injection reaches 0.4. In addition, we rectify the underestimation of the efficiency of spin filtering for equilibrium ECs by numerically subtracting the contribution of the excited states in the QD. The obtained spin-filtering efficiency is higher than that evaluated from the raw experimental data and increases with magnetic field as expected with the increase in the spatial separation between ECs.
We consider the non-equilibrium zero frequency noise generated by a temperature gradient applied on a device composed of two normal leads separated by a quantum dot. We recall the derivation of the scattering theory for non-equilibrium noise for a general situation where both a bias voltage and a temperature gradient can coexist and put it in a historical perspective. We provide a microscopic derivation of zero frequency noise through a quantum dot based on a tight binding Hamiltonian, which constitutes a generalization of the pioneering work of Caroli et al. for the current obtained in the context of the Keldysh formalism. For a single level quantum dot, the obtained transmission coefficient entering the scattering formula for the non-equilibrium noise corresponds to a Breit-Wigner resonance. We compute the delta-$T$ noise as a function of the dot level position, and of the dot level width, in the Breit-Wigner case, for two relevant situations which were considered recently in two separate experiments. In the regime where the two reservoir temperatures are comparable, our gradient expansion shows that the delta-$T$ noise is dominated by its quadratic contribution, and is minimal close to resonance. In the opposite regime where one reservoir is much colder, the gradient expansion fails and we find the noise to be typically linear in temperature before saturating. In both situations, we conclude with a short discussion of the case where both a voltage bias and a temperature gradient are present, in order to address the potential competition with thermoelectric effects.
We study shot noise in tunneling current through a double quantum dot connected to two electric leads. We derive two master equations in the occupation-state basis and the eigenstate basis to describe the electron dynamics. The approach based on the occupation-state basis, despite widely used in many previous studies, is valid only when the interdot coupling strength is much smaller than the energy difference between the two dots. In contrast, the calculations using the eigenstate basis are valid for an arbitrary interdot coupling. We show that the master equation in the occupation-state basis includes only the low-order terms with respect to the interdot coupling compared with the more accurate master equation in the eigenstate basis. Using realistic model parameters, we demonstrate that the predicted currents and shot-noise properties from the two approaches are significantly different when the interdot coupling is not small. Furthermore, properties of the shot noise predicted using the eigenstate basis successfully reproduce qualitative features found in a recent experiment.