Poissonian tunneling through an extended impurity in the quantum Hall effect

We consider transport in the Poissonian regime between edge states in the quantum Hall effect. The backscattering potential is assumed to be arbitrary, as it allows for multiple tunneling paths. We show that the Schottky relation between the backscattering current and noise can be established in full generality: the Fano factor corresponds to the electron charge (the quasiparticle charge) in the integer (fractional) quantum Hall effect, as in the case of purely local tunneling. We derive an analytical expression for the backscattering current, which can be written as that of a local tunneling current, albeit with a renormalized tunneling amplitude which depends on the voltage bias. We apply our results to a separable tunneling amplitude which can represent an extended point contact in the integer or in the fractional quantum Hall effect. We show that the differential conductance of an extended quantum point contact is suppressed by the interference between tunneling paths, and it has an anomalous dependence with respect to the bias voltage.

Detection of finite frequency photo-assisted shot noise with a resonant circuit

Photo-assisted transport through a mesoscopic conductor occurs when an oscillatory (AC) voltage is superposed to the constant (DC) bias which is imposed on this conductor. Of particular interest is the photo assisted shot noise, which has been investigated theoretically and experimentally for several types of samples. For DC biased conductors, a detection scheme for finite frequency noise using a dissipative resonant circuit, which is inductively coupled to the mesoscopic device, was developped recently. We argue that the detection of the finite frequency photo-assisted shot noise can be achieved with the same setup, despite the fact that time translational invariance is absent here. We show that a measure of the photo-assisted shot noise can be obtained through the charge correlator associated with the resonant circuit, where the latter is averaged over the AC drive frequency. We test our predictions for a point contact placed in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime, for the case of weak backscattering. The Keldysh elements of the photo-assisted noise correlator are computed. For simple Laughlin fractions, the measured photo-assisted shot noise displays peaks at the frequency corresponding to the DC bias voltage, as well as satellite peaks separated by the AC drive frequency.

Josephson Effect through an isotropic magnetic molecule

We investigate the Josephson effect through a molecular quantum dot magnet connected to superconducting leads. The molecule contains a magnetic atom, whose spin is assumed to be isotropic. It is coupled to the electron spin on the dot via exchange coupling. Using the numerical renormalization group method we calculate the Andreev levels and the supercurrent and examine intertwined effect of the exchange coupling, Kondo correlation, and superconductivity on the current. Exchange coupling typically suppresses the Kondo correlation so that the system undergoes a phase transition from 0 to $pi$ state as the modulus of exchange coupling increases. Antiferromagnetic coupling is found to drive exotic transitions: the reentrance to the $pi$ state for a small superconducting gap and the restoration of 0 state for large antiferromagnetic exchange coupling. We suggest that the asymmetric dependence of supercurrent on the exchange coupling could be used as to detect its sign in experiments.

Charge pumping and noise in a one-dimensional wire with weak electron-electron interactions

We consider the adiabatic pumping of charge through a mesoscopic one dimensional wire in the presence of electron-electron interactions. A two-delta potential model is used to describe the wire, which allows to obtain exactly the scattering matrix coefficients, which are renormalized by the interactions. Two periodic drives, shifted one from another, are applied at two locations of the wire in order to drive a current through it in the absence of bias. Analytical expressions are obtained for the pumped charge, current noise, and Fano factor in different regimes. This allows to explore pumping for the whole parameter range of pumping strengths. We show that, working close to a resonance is necessary to have a comfortable window of pumping amplitudes where charge quantization is close to the optimum value: a single electron charge is transferred in one cycle. Interactions can improve the situation, the charge $Q$ is closer to one electron charge and noise is reduced, following a $Q (1-Q)$ behavior, reminiscent of the reduction of noise in quantum wires by $T (1-T)$, where $T$ is the energy transmission coefficient. For large pumping amplitudes, this charge vanishes, noise also decreases but slower than the charge.