Dark versus blocking states in electronic transport: a Lee-Yang zero analysis of full counting statistics

Abstract

Electronic transport through nanostructures can be suppressed by coherent population trapping, in which quantum coherence leads to a dark state that decouples from the drain electrode. Finite transport, then, relies on decoherence of the dark state. An alternative scenario for reduced transport is weak coupling of a state, referred to as a blocking state, to the drain. This raises the question of whether and how these two scenarios can be distinguished in the transport features. For the example of electron transport through a carbon nanotube, we identify regimes, in which this distinction is possible by analyzing the full counting statistics in terms of Lee-Yang zeros and factorial cumulants.