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 th
at, 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 analyze the transport properties of a double quantum dot device in the side-coupled configuration. A small quantum dot (QD), having a single relevant electronic level, is coupled to source and drain electrodes. A larger QD, whose multilevel nature
is considered, is tunnel-coupled to the small QD. A Fermi liquid analysis shows that the low temperature conductance of the device is determined by the total electronic occupation of the double QD. When the small dot is in the Kondo regime, an even number of electrons in the large dot leads to a conductance that reaches the unitary limit, while for an odd number of electrons a two stage Kondo effect is observed and the conductance is strongly suppressed. The Kondo temperature of the second stage Kondo effect is strongly affected by the multilevel structure of the large QD. For increasing level spacing, a crossover from a large Kondo temperature regime to a small Kondo temperature regime is obtained when the level spacing becomes of the order of the large Kondo temperature.
