We study the differential conductance in the Kondo regime of a quantum dot coupled to multiple leads. When the bias is applied symmetrically on two of the leads ($V$ and $-V$, as usual in experiments), while the others are grounded, the conductance through the biased leads always shows the expected enhancement at {\it zero} bias. However, under asymmetrically applied bias ($V$ and $λV$, with $λ>0$), a suppression - dip - appears in the differential conductance if the asymmetry coefficient $λ$ is beyond a given threshold $λ_0= \sqrt[3]{1+r}$ determined by the ratio $r$ of the dot-leads couplings. This is a recipe to determine experimentally this ratio which is important for the quantum-dot devices. This finding is a direct result of the Keldysh transport formalism. For the illustration we use a many-lead Anderson Hamiltonian, the Green functions being calculated in the Lacroix approximation, which is generalized to the case of nonequilibrium.
We theoretically investigate a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire, where the lowest two subbands are populated, in the presence of a helical magnetic field. We uncover a backscattering mechanism involving the helical magnetic field and Coulomb interaction between the electrons. The combination of these ingredients results in scattering resonances and partial gaps which give rise to non-standard plateaus and conductance dips at certain electron densities. The positions and values of these dips are independent of material parameters, serving as direct transport signatures of this mechanism. Our …
We develop a method of theoretically investigating the charge, energy and heat transport in the presence of the charge Kondo correlations. The Coulomb blockade oscillations of heat conductance in the single electron transistor exhibiting the charge Kondo effects are investigated. We explore the Wiedemann Franz ratio in both charge-single channel and charge-two channel Kondo regime. The close connections of our findings with the recent experiments on multi-channel charge Kondo effects are discussed.
Zero bias anomalies in topological nanowires have recently captured significant attention, as they are possible signatures of Majorana modes. Yet there are many other possible origins of zero bias peaks in nanowires, for example, weak localization, Andreev bound states, or the Kondo effect. Here, we discuss observations of differential conductance peaks at zero bias voltage in nonsuperconducting electronic transport through a 3D topological insulator nanowire. The zero bias conductance peaks show logarithmic temperature dependence and often linear splitting with magnetic fields, both of which …
We calculate the finite temperature linear DC conductance of a generic single-impurity Anderson model containing an arbitrary number of Fermi liquid leads, and apply the formalism to closed and open long Aharonov-Bohm-Kondo (ABK) rings. We show that, as with the short ABK ring, there is a contribution to the conductance from the connected 4-point Green's function of the conduction electrons. At sufficiently low temperatures this contribution can be eliminated, and the conductance can be expressed as a linear function of the T-matrix of the screening channel. For closed rings we show that at te…
We report electron transport studies of a thin InAs-Al hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanowire device using a four-terminal design. Compared to previous works, thinner InAs nanowire (diameter less than 40 nm) is expected to reach fewer sub-band regime. The four-terminal device design excludes electrode contact resistance, an unknown value which has inevitably affected previously reported device conductance. Using tunneling spectroscopy, we find large zero-bias peaks (ZBPs) in differential conductance on the order of $2e^2/h$. Investigating the ZBP evolution by sweeping various gate voltag…
Quantum entanglement between an impurity spin and electrons nearby is a key property of the single-channel Kondo effects. We show that the entanglement can be detected by measuring electron conductance through a double quantum dot in an orbital Kondo regime. We derive a relation between the entanglement and the conductance, when the SU(2) spin symmetry of the regime is weakly broken. The relation reflects the universal form of many-body states near the Kondo fixed point. Using it, the spatial distribution of the entanglement, hence, the Kondo cloud, can be detected, with breaking the symmetry …
We present results of resistance fluctuation spectroscopy on single crystals of the predicted Kondo topological insulator material SmB$_6$. Our measurements show that at low temperatures, transport in this system takes place only through surface states. The measured noise in this temperature range arises due to Universal Conductance Fluctuations whose statistics was found to be consistent with theoretical predictions for that of two-dimensional systems in the Symplectic symmetry class. At higher temperatures, we find signatures of glassy dynamics and establish that the measured noise is caused…
Combining ab initio calculations and effective models derived from them, we discuss the electronic structure of oxygen doped gold chains when one Au atom is replaced by any transition-metal atom of the $3d$ series. The effect of O doping is to bring extended Au $5d_{xz}$ and $5d_{yz}$ states to the Fermi level, which together with the Au states of zero angular momentum projection, lead to three possible channels for the screening of the magnetism of the impurity. For most 3d impurities the expected physics is similar to that of the underscreened Kondo model, with singular Fermi liquid behavior…
Determination of the molecular Kondo temperature $T_K$ poses a challenge in most cases when the experimental temperature cannot be tuned to a sufficient extent. We show how this ambiguity can be resolved if additional control parameters are present, such as magnetic field and mechanical gating. We record the evolution of the differential conductance by lifting an individual molecule from the metal surface with the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. By fitting the measured conductance spectra with the single impurity Anderson model we are able to demonstrate that the lifting tunes the junc…
