We study a mesoscopic interacting quantum dot described by the "universal Hamiltonian" that is coupled to a Kondo spin. The ferromagnetic exchange interaction within the dot leads to a stepwise increase of the ground state spin; this Stoner staircase is modified non-trivially by the Kondo interaction. We find that the spin-transition steps move to lower values of the exchange coupling for weak Kondo interaction, but shift back up for sufficiently strong Kondo coupling. The problem is solved numerically by diagonalizing the system Hamiltonian in a customized good-spin basis and analytically in the weak and strong Kondo coupling limits. The interplay of Kondo and ferromagnetic exchange can be probed with experimentally tunable parameters.
We consider a Kondo spin that is coupled antiferromagnetically to a large chaotic quantum dot. Such a dot is described by the so-called universal Hamiltonian and its electrons are interacting via a ferromagnetic exchange interaction. We derive an effective Hamiltonian in the limit of strong Kondo coupling, where the screened Kondo spin effectively removes one electron from the dot. We find that the exchange coupling constant in this reduced dot (with one less electron) is renormalized and that new interaction terms appear beyond the conventional terms of the strong-coupling limit. The eigenene…
We analyze the interactions between two Kondo Quantum Dots connected to a Rashba-active Quantum Wire. We find that the Kondo-doublet interaction, at an inter-dot distance of the order of the wire Fermi length, is over an order of magnitude greater than the RKKY interaction. The effects induced on the Kondo-doublet interaction by the wire spin-orbit coupling can be used to control the Quantum Dots spin-spin correlation. These results imply that the widely used assumption that the RKKY is the dominant interaction between Anderson impurities must be revised.
We demonstrate delicate control over the Kondo effect and its interplay with quantum interference in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer containing one Kondo dot and one noninteracting dot. It is shown that the Kondo resonance undergoes a dramatic evolution as the interdot tunnel coupling progressively increases. A novel triple Kondo splitting occurs from the interference between constant and Lorentzian conduction bands that cooperate in forming the Kondo singlet. The device also manifests a highly controllable Fano-Kondo effect in coherent electronic transport, and can be tuned to a regime where …
We investigate a symmetrical double quantum dot system serially attached to the leads. The emphasis is on the numerical analysis of finite inter-dot tunneling in the presence of inter-dot repulsive capacitive coupling. The results reveal the competition between extended Kondo phases and local singlet phases in spin and charge degrees of freedom. The corresponding phase diagram is determined quantitatively.
Double quantum dots offer unique possibilities for the study of many-body correlations. A system containing one Kondo dot and one effectively noninteracting dot maps onto a single-impurity Anderson model with a structured (nonconstant) density of states. Numerical renormalization-group calculations show that while band filtering through the resonant dot splits the Kondo resonance, the singlet ground state is robust. The system can also be continuously tuned to create a pseudogapped density of states and access a quantum critical point separating Kondo and non-Kondo phases.
We study the Kondo effect in multiple-dot systems for which the inter- as well as intra-dot Coulomb repulsions are strong, and the inter-dot tunneling is small. The application of the Ward-Takahashi identity to the inter-dot dynamical susceptibility enables us to analytically calculate the conductance for a double-dot system by using the Bethe-ansatz exact solution of the SU(4) impurity Anderson model. It is clarified how the inter-dot Kondo effect enhances or suppresses the conductance under the control of the gate voltage and the magnetic field. We then extend our analysis to multiple-dot sy…
We study the gate voltage dependence of the linear conductance through a quantum dot coupled to one-dimensional leads. For interacting dot electrons but noninteracting leads Kondo physics implies broad plateau-like resonances. In the opposite case Luttinger liquid behavior leads to sharp resonances. In the presence of Kondo as well as Luttinger liquid physics and for experimentally relevant parameters, we find a line shape that resembles the one of the Kondo case.
We investigate the dependence of the ground state of a multi-level quantum dot on the coupling to an external fermionic system and on the interactions in the dot. As the coupling to the external system increases, the rearrangement of the effective energy levels in the dot signals the transition from the Kondo regime to a mixed valence (MV) regime. The MV regime in a two level dot is characterized by an intrinsic mixing of the levels in the dot, resulting in non-perturbative sub- and super-tunneling phenomena that strongly influence the Kondo effect.
We investigate entanglement between electrons in serially coupled double quantum dots attached to non interacting leads. In addition to local repulsion we consider the influence of capacitive inter-dot interaction. We show how the competition between extended Kondo and local singlet phases determines the ground state and thereby the entanglement.
We study the Kondo temperature of a quantum dot embedded into one arm of an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer. The topology of a disordered or chaotic Aharanov-Bohm ring leads to a stochastic term in the scaling equation and in the renormalization procedure. As a result, the Kondo temperature displays significant fluctuations as a function of magnetic flux.
Orbital Kondo effect in a system of two single-level quantum dots attached to external electron reservoirs is considered theoretically. The dots are coupled via direct hoping term and Coulomb interaction. The Kondo temperature is evaluated from the scaling approach and slave boson technique. The later method is also used to calculate linear conductance of the system. Nonlinear conductance, in turn, is calculated in terms of the nonequilibrium Green function formalism.
We consider the spin and orbital Kondo effect in a parallel arrangement of two strongly electrostatically coupled quantum dots. Increasing the exchange of electrons between the dots through the attached leads induces the transition between the SU(4) spin- and orbital Kondo effect and SU(2) spin Kondo effect. Being the same for the SU(4) and SU(2) symmetry points, the Kondo temperature drops slightly in the intermediate regime. Experimentally, two kinds of Kondo effects can be discriminated by the sensitivity to the suppression of the spin Kondo effect by Zeeman field. The dependence of Kondo t…
We study theoretically the out-of-equilibrium transport properties of a double quantum dot system in the Kondo regime. We model the system by means of a two-impurity Anderson Hamiltonian. The transport properties are characterized by Kondo effect properties, however, superimposed them, the system possesses novel non-linear bistability behavior.
We show that through an interdot off-site electron correlation in a double quantum-dot (DQD) device, Kondo resonances emerge in the local density of states without the electron spin-degree of freedom. We identify the physical mechanism behind this phenomenon: rather than forming a spin singlet in the device as required in the conventional Kondo physics, we found that exchange of electron position between the two quantum dots, together with the off-site Coulomb interaction, are sufficient to induce the Kondo resonance. Due to peculiar co-tunneling events, the Kondo resonance in one dot may be p…
We consider a N-dot-S junction in the Kondo regime in the limit where the superconducting gap is much smaller than the Kondo temperature. A generalization of the floating of the Kondo resonance is proposed and many body corrections to the average subgap current are calculated. The zero frequency noise is computed and the Fano factor sticks to the value 10/3 for all voltages below the gap. Implications for finite frequency noise are briefly discussed.
We study phase evolution of transmission through a quantum dot with Kondo correlations. By considering a model that includes nonresonant transmission as well as the Anderson impurity, we explain unusually large phase evolution of about $π$ in the Kondo valley observed in recent experiments. We argue that this anomalous phase evolution is a universal property that can be found in the high-temperature Kondo phase in the presence of the time-reversal symmetry.
We consider spin and orbital Kondo effect in a parallel arrangement of two strongly electrostatically coupled quantum dots. Increasing the exchange of electrons between the dots through the attached leads induces a smooth crossover between SU(4) spin- and orbital Kondo effect and SU(2) spin Kondo effect. Being the same for the SU(4) and SU(2) symmetry points, the Kondo temperature drops slightly in the intermediate regime. Experimentally, two kinds of Kondo effect can be discriminated by the sensitivity to the suppression of the spin Kondo effect by Zeeman field. The dependence of the Kondo te…
We investigate the thermopower due to the orbital Kondo effect in a single quantum dot system by means of the noncrossing approximation. It is elucidated how the asymmetry of tunneling resonance due to the orbital Kondo effect affects the thermopower under gate-voltage and magnetic-field control.
We propose a nanoscale device consisting of a double quantum dot with strong intra- and inter- dot Coulomb repulsions. In this design, the current can only flow through the lower dot, but is triggered by the gate-controlled occupancy of the upper dot. At low temperatures, our calculations predict the double dot to pass through a narrow Kondo regime, resulting in highly sensitive switching characteristics between three well-defined states : insulating, normal conduction and resonant conduction.
The coherent spin dependent transport through a set of two capacitively coupled quantum dots placed in a magnetic field is considered within the equation of motion method. The magnetic field breaks the spin degeneracy. For special choices of gate voltages the dot levels are tuned to resonance and the orbital Kondo effect results. For different Zeemann splittings at the dots the Kondo resonance can be formed for only one spin channel. In this case the system operates as an efficient spin filter.
The interplay between the Kondo effect and the inter-dot magnetic interaction in a coupled-dot system is studied. An exact result for the transport properties at zero temperature is obtained by diagonalizing a cluster, composed by the double-dot and its vicinity, which is connected to leads. It is shown that the system goes continuously from the Kondo regime to an anti-ferromagnetic state as the inter-dot interaction is increased. The conductance, the charge at the dots and the spin-spin correlation are obtained as a function of the gate potential.
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.
We study a small spin-degenerate quantum dot with even number of electrons, weakly connected by point contacts to the metallic electrodes, and subject to an external magnetic field. If the Zeeman energy B is equal to the single-particle level spacing $Δ$ in the dot, the ground state of the dot becomes doubly degenerate, and the system exhibits Kondo effect, despite the fact that B exceeds by far the Kondo temperature $T_{K}$. A possible realization of this in tunneling experiments is discussed.
We develop a general method to evaluate the Kondo temperature in a multilevel quantum dot that is weakly coupled to conducting leads. Our theory reveals that the Kondo temperature is strongly enhanced when the intradot energy-level spacing is comparable to or smaller than the charging energy. We propose an experiment to test our result, which consists of measuring the size-dependence of the Kondo temperature.
We have studied the influence of microwave radiation on the transport properties of a semiconductor quantum dot in the Kondo regime. In the entire frequency range tested (10--50 GHz), the Kondo resonance vanishes by increasing the microwave power. This suppression of the Kondo resonance shows an unexpected scaling behavior. No evidence for photon-sideband formation is found. The comparison with temperature-dependence measurements indicates that radiation-induced spin dephasing plays an important role in the suppression of the Kondo effect.
We show how the charge input signal applied to the gate electrode in a double and triple quantum dot may be converted to a pulse in the Kondo cotunneling current being a spin response of a nano-device under a strong Coulomb blockade. The stochastic component of the input signal results in the infrared cutoff of Kondo transmission. The stochastization of the orbital component of the Kondo effect in triple quantum dots results in a noise-induced SU(4) - SU(2) quantum transition.
We investigate the Kondo effect in a quantum dot with almost degenerate spin-singlet and triplet states for an even number of electrons. We show that the Kondo temperature as a function of the energy difference between the states Delta reaches its maximum around Delta=0 and decreases with increasing Delta. The Kondo effect is thus enhanced by competition between singlet and triplet states. Our results explain recent experimental findings. We evaluate the linear conductance in the perturbative regime.
A two quantum-dot device is coupled in parallel for studying the competition between the pseudo-spin Kondo effect and strongly hybridized molecular states. Cryogenic measurements are performed in the regime of weak coupling of the two dots to lead states under linear transport conditions. Detailed simulations verify the finding of the transition between the two different regimes.
We consider the Kondo effect in quantum dots coupled to Luttinger liquid leads, focussing on the case of repulsive interactions and spin SU(2) symmetry in the leads. We find that the system can flow to the 1-channel or 2-channel Kondo fixed points, depending on the interactions in the system. We compute the conductance and find that the qualitative behavior is strongly dependent on the interactions. Finally, we point out a consequence of 2-channel Kondo physics, which should be observable in thermal conductance measurements.
We study a strongly interacting "quantum dot 1" and a weakly interacting "dot 2" connected in parallel to metallic leads. Gate voltages can drive the system between Kondo-quenched and non-Kondo free-moment phases separated by Kosterlitz-Thouless quantum phase transitions. Away from the immediate vicinity of the quantum phase transitions, the physical properties retain signatures of first-order transitions found previously to arise when dot 2 is strictly noninteracting. As interactions in dot 2 become stronger relative to the dot-lead coupling, the free moment in the non-Kondo phase evolves smo…
The persistent current through a quantum dot inserted in a mesoscopic ring of length L is studied. A cluster representing the dot and its vicinity is exactly diagonalized and embedded into the rest of the ring. The Kondo resonance provides a new channel for the current to flow. It is shown that due to scaling properties, the persistent current at the Kondo regime is enhanced relative to the current flowing either when the dot is at resonance or along a perfect ring of same length. In the Kondo regime the current scales as $L^{-1/2}$, unlike the $L^{-1}$ scaling of a perfect ring. We discuss th…
Tunneling conductance through two quantum dots, which are connected in series to left and right leads, is calculated by using the numerical renormalization group method. As the hopping between the dots increases from very small value, the following states continuously appear; (i) Kondo singlet state of each dot with its adjacent-site lead, (ii) singlet state between the local spins on the dots, and (iii) double occupancy in the bonding orbital of the two dots. The conductance shows peaks at the transition regions between these states. Especially, the peak at the boundary between (i) and (ii) h…
A new theoretical method is introduced to study coherent electron transport in an interacting multilevel quantum dot. The method yields the correct behavior both in the limit of weak and strong coupling to the leads, giving a unified description of Coulomb blockade and the Kondo effect. Results for the density of states and the temperature dependent conductance for a two- level dot are presented. The relevance of these results in connection to recent experiments on the Kondo effect in semiconducting quantum dots is discussed.
We investigate the linear and nonlinear dc transport through an interacting quantum dot connected to two ferromagnetic electrodes around Kondo regime with spin-flip scattering in the dot. Using a slave-boson mean field approach for the Anderson Hamiltonian having finite on-site Coulomb repulsion, we find that a spin-flip scattering always depresses the Kondo correlation at arbitrary polarization strength in both parallel and antiparallel alignment of the lead magnetization and that it effectively reinforces the tunneling related conductance in the antiparallel configuration. For systems deep i…
Electron tunneling through quantum-dots side coupled to a quantum wire, in equilibrium and nonequilibrium Kondo regime, is studied. The mean-field finite-$U$ slave-boson formalism is used to obtain the solution of the problem. We have found that the transmission spectrum shows a structure with two anti-resonances localized at the renormalized energies of the quantum dots. The DOS of the system shows that when the Kondo correlations are dominant there are two Kondo regimes with its own Kondo temperature. The above behavior of the DOS can be explained by quantum interference in the transmission …
The interplay between the coupling of an interacting quantum dot to a conduction band and its connection to localized levels has been studied in a triple quantum dot arrangement. The electronic Dicke effect, resulting from quasi-resonant states of two side-coupled non-interacting quantum dots, is found to produce important effects on the Kondo resonance of the interacting dot. We study in detail the Kondo regime of the system by applying a numerical renormalization group analysis to a finite-U multi-impurity Anderson Hamiltonian model. We find an extreme narrowing of the Kondo resonance, as th…
We study the thermopower and some related transport quantities due to the orbital Kondo effect in a single quantum dot system with a finite value of Coulomb repulsion by means of the noncrossing approximation applied to the multiorbital impurity Anderson model. It is elucidated how the asymmetry of the renormalized tunneling resonance due to the two-orbital Kondo effect causes characteristic behavior of the thermopower at finite temperatures under gate-voltage and magnetic-field control, which is compared with that of the ordinary spin Kondo effect.
The spin and orbital Kondo effects and the related shot noise for a laterally coupled double quantum dot are studied taking account of coherent indirect coupling via a reservoir. We calculate the linear conductance and shot noise for various charge states to distinguish between the spin and orbital Kondo effects. We find that a novel antiferromagnetic exchange coupling can be generated by the coherent indirect coupling, and it works to suppress the spin Kondo effect when each quantum dot holds just one electron. We also show that we can capture the feature of the pseudospin Kondo effect from t…
We investigate a mesoscopic setup composed of a small electron droplet (dot) coupled to a larger quantum dot (grain) also subject to Coulomb blockade as well as two macroscopic leads used as source and drain. An exotic Kondo ground state other than the standard SU(2) Fermi liquid unambiguously emerges: an SU(4) Kondo correlated liquid. The transport properties through the small dot are analyzed for this regime, through boundary conformal field theory, and allow a clear distinction with other regimes such as a two-channel spin state or a two-channel orbital state.
We theoretically compare transport properties of Fano-Kondo effect with those of Fano effect. We focus on shot noise characteristics of a triple quantum dot (QD) system in the Fano-Kondo region at zero temperature, and discuss the effect of strong electric correlation in QDs. We found that the modulation of the Fano dip is strongly affected by the on-site Coulomb interaction in QDs.
The triangular triple quantum dot is an interesting system which can demonstrate various types of the Kondo effects, such as the one due to the local spin S=1 moment caused by the Nagaoka ferromagnetic mechanism and the SU(4) Kondo effect. We theoretically study the low-temperature properties and the Kondo energy scale of the triangular triple quantum dot, using the Wilson numerical renormalization group. We have explored a wide parameter region of the electron-filling and distortions which break the symmetry of an equilateral structure. Our results give a comprehensive overview of how the Kon…
The out-of-equilibrium electron transport of carbon nanotube semiconducting quantum dot placed in a magnetic field is studied in the Kondo regime by means of the non-equilibrium Green functions. The equation of motion method is used. For parallel magnetic field the Kondo peak splits in four peaks, following the simultaneous splitting of the orbital and spin states. For perpendicular field orientation the triple peak structure of density of states is observed with the central peak corresponding to orbital Kondo effect and the satellites reflecting the spin and spin-orbital fluctuations.
A dilute concentration of magnetic impurities can dramatically affect the transport properties of an otherwise pure metal. This phenomenon, known as the Kondo effect, originates from the interactions of individual magnetic impurities with the conduction electrons. Nearly a decade ago, the Kondo effect was observed in a new system, in which the magnetic moment stems from a single unpaired spin in a lithographically defined quantum dot, or artificial atom. The discovery of the Kondo effect in artificial atoms spurred a revival in the study of Kondo physics, due in part to the unprecedented contr…
We analyze the consequences of a first-order (in the effective Kondo coupling) inter-impurity correlation present in the Two-Impurity Anderson Hamiltonian. This correlation generates a pair of Kondo Doublet states which are responsible for the first (higher energy) Kondo stage of these systems. Applied to systems of quantum dots in a semiconductor heterolayer, these Doublets predict a mainly ferromagnetic dot-dot spin correlation which is different than the expected from the second-order RKKY interaction. In order to effectively screen both dots, a parallel alignment of the dot-spins is favore…
We consider a simple setup in which a small quantum dot is strongly connected to a finite size box. This box can be either a metallic box or a finite size quantum wire.The formation of the Kondo screening cloud in the box strongly depends on the ratio between the Kondo temperature and the box level spacing. By weakly connecting two metallic reservoirs to the quantum dot, a detailed spectroscopic analysis can be performed. Since the transport channels and the screening channels are almost decoupled, such a setup allows an easier access to the measure of finite-size effects associated with the f…
We study transport through two quantum dots coupled by an RKKY interaction as a function of temperature and magnetic field. By applying the Numerical Renormalization Group (NRG) method we obtain the transmission and the linear conductance. At zero temperature and magnetic field, we observe a quantum phase transition between the Kondo screened state and a local spin singlet as the RKKY interaction is tuned. Above the critical RKKY coupling the Kondo peak is split. However, we find that both finite temperature and magnetic field restore the Kondo resonance. Our results agree well with recent tra…
We study an orbitally degenerate Kondo effect in a triangular triple quantum dot (TTQD), where the three dots are connected vertically with a single metallic lead through electron tunneling. Both spin and orbital degrees of freedom play an important role in the SU(4) Kondo effect. This is demonstrated by an equilateral TTQD Kondo system at half-filling, by Wilson's numerical renormalization group method. We show how an emergent electric polarization of the TTQD is associated with a crossover from SU(4) to SU(2) symmetry in the low-temperature state. A marked sign reversal of the electric polar…
We report here on a direct and non-invasive measurement of the charge and its distribution in a Kondo correlated quantum dot (QD). A non-invasive potential-sensitive detector in proximity with the QD reveals that even though the conductance of the QD is significantly enhanced as it enters the Kondo regime the net charge in the QD remains unaffected. This demonstrates the separation between spin and charge degrees of freedom in the Kondo effect. We find however, under certain experimental conditions, that an abrupt redistribution of the charge in the QD is taking place simultaneously with the o…
We consider charge fluctuations in a quantum dot coupled to an interacting one-dimensional electron liquid. We find the behavior of this system to be similar to the multichannel pseudogap Kondo model. By tuning the coupling between the dot and the one-dimensional electron liquid, one can access the quantum critical point and the various fixed points which arise. The differential capacitance is computed and is shown to contain detailed information about the system.
We investigate a lateral semiconductor quantum dot with a large number of electrons in the limit of strong coupling to the leads. A Kondo effect is observed and can be tuned in a perpendicular magnetic field. This Kondo effect does not exhibit Zeeman splitting. It shows a modulation with the periodicity of one flux quantum per dot area at low temperatures. The modulation leads to a novel, strikingly regular stripe pattern for a wide range in magnetic field and number of electrons.
We study the SU(4) Kondo effect in carbon nanotube quantum dots, where doubly degenerate orbitals form 4-electron ``shells''. The SU(4) Kondo behavior is investigated for one, two and three electrons in the topmost shell. While the Kondo state of two electrons is quenched by magnetic field, in case of an odd number of electrons two types of SU(2) Kondo effect may survive. Namely, the spin SU(2) state is realized in the magnetic field parallel to the nanotube (inducing primarily orbital splitting). Application of the perpendicular field (inducing Zeeman splitting) results in the orbital SU(2) K…
An interacting quantum dot side-coupled to a perfect quantum wire is studied. Transport through the quantum wire is investigated by using an exact sum rule and the slave-boson mean field treatment. It is shown that the Kondo effect provides a suppression of the transmission due to the destructive interference of the ballistic channel and the Kondo channel. At finite temperatures, anti-resonance behavior is found as a function of the quantum dot level position, which is interpreted as a crossover from the high temperature Kondo phase to the low temperature charge fluctuation phase.
We have studied the Kondo quantum dot coupled to two superconducting leads and investigated the subgap Andreev states using the NRG method. Contrary to the recent NCA results [Clerk and Ambegaokar, Phys. Rev. B 61, 9109 (2000); Sellier et al., Phys. Rev. B 72, 174502 (2005)], we observe Andreev states both below and above the Fermi level.
An Aharonov-Bohm interferometer (ABI) carrying a quantum dot on one of its arms is analyzed. It is found that the Kondo temperature of the device depends strongly on the magnetic flux penetrating the ring. As a result, mesoscopic finite-size effects appear when the Kondo temperature of the dot on the ABI is significantly smaller than the nominal one of the quantum dot (when not on the interferometer), leading to plateaus in the finite-temperature conductance as function of the flux. The possibility to deduce the transmission phase shift of the quantum dot from measurements of the ABI conductan…
We investigate the effects of voltage induced spin-relaxation in a quantum dot in the Kondo regime. Using nonequilibrium perturbation theory, we determine the joint effect of self-energy and vertex corrections to the conduction electron T-matrix in the limit of transport voltage much larger than temperature. The logarithmic divergences, developing near the different chemical potentials of the leads, are found to be cut off by spin-relaxation rates, implying that the nonequilibrium Kondo-problem remains at weak coupling as long as voltage is much larger than the Kondo temperature.
We investigate the Fano-Kondo interplay in an Aharonov-Bohm ring with an embedded non-interacting quantum dot and a Coulomb interacting quantum dot. Using a slave-boson mean-field approximation we diagonalize the Hamiltonian via scattering matrix theory, and derive the conductance in the form of a Fano expression, which depends on the mean field parameters. We predict that in the Kondo regime the magnetic field leads to a gapped energy level spectrum due to hybridisation of the non-interacting QD state and the Kondo state, and can quantum-mechanically alter the electron's path preference. We d…
We investigate the influence of an electromagnetic environment, characterized by a finite impedance $Z(ω)$, on the Kondo effect in quantum dots. The circuit voltage fluctuations couple to charge fluctuations in the dot and influence the spin exchange processes transferring charge between the electrodes. We discuss how the low-energy properties of a Kondo quantum dot subject to dynamical Coulomb blockade resemble those of Kondo impurities in Luttinger liquids. Using previous knowledge based on the bosonization of quantum impurity models, we show that low-voltage conductance anomalies appear at …
Motivated by recent experimental observation of spin-orbit coupling in carbon nanotube quantum dots [F. Kuemmeth \textsl{et al.}, Nature (London) {\bf 452}, 448 (2008)], we investigate in detail its influence on the Kondo effect. The spin-orbit coupling intrinsically lifts out the fourfold degeneracy of a single electron in the dot, thereby breaking the SU(4) symmetry and splitting the Kondo resonance even at zero magnetic field. When the field is applied, the Kondo resonance further splits and exhibits fine multipeak structures resulting from the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman ef…
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 tem…
