arXiv subjects

Andrei Manolescu

Publications and source records attributed to Andrei Manolescu.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Excitation of radial collective modes in a quantum dot: Beyond linear response

We compare the response of five different models of two interacting electrons in a quantum dot to an external short lived radial excitation that is strong enough to excite the system well beyond the linear response regime. The models considered describe the Coulomb interaction between the electrons in different ways ranging from mean-field approaches to configuration interaction (CI) models, where the two-electron Hamiltonian is diagonalized in a large truncated Fock space. The radially symmetric excitation is selected in order to severely put to test the different approaches to describe the interaction and correlations of an electron system in a nonequilibrium state. As can be expected for the case of only two electrons none of the mean-field models can in full details reproduce the results obtained by the CI model. Nonetheless, some linear and nonlinear characteristics are reproduced reasonably well. All the models show activation of an increasing number of collective modes as the strength of the excitation is increased. By varying slightly the confinement potential of the dot we observe how sensitive the properties of the excitation spectrum are to the Coulomb interaction and its correlation effects. In order to approach closer the question of nonlinearity we solve one of the mean-field models directly in a nonlinear fashion without resorting to iterations.

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arXiv2014

Spin and impurity effects on flux-periodic oscillations in core-shell nanowires

We study the quantum mechanical states of electrons situated on a cylindrical surface of finite axial length to model a semiconductor core-shell nanowire. We calculate the conductance in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field by weakly coupling the cylinder to semi-infinite leads. Spin effects are accounted for through Zeeman coupling and Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI). Emphasis is on manifestations of flux-periodic (FP) oscillations and we show how factors such as impurities, contact geometry and spin affect them. Oscillations survive and remain periodic in the presence of impurities, noncircular contacts and SOI, while Zeeman splitting results in aperiodicity, beating patterns and additional background fluctuations. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent magnetotransport experiments performed on GaAs/InAs core-shell nanowires. Lastly, we propose methods of data analysis for detecting the presence of Rashba SOI in core-shell systems and for estimating the electron g-factor in the shell.

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arXiv2014

Coulomb interaction effects on the Majorana states in quantum wires

The stability of the Majorana modes in the presence of a repulsive interaction is studied in the standard semiconductor wire - metallic superconductor configuration. The effects of short-range Coulomb interaction, which is incorporated using a purely repulsive $δ$-function to model the strong screening effect due to the presence of the superconductor, are determined within a Hartree-Fock approximation of the effective Bogoliubov-De Gennes Hamiltonian that describes the low-energy physics of the wire. Through a numerical diagonalization procedure we obtain interaction corrections to the single particle eigenstates and calculate the extended topological phase diagram in terms of the chemical potential and the Zeeman energy. We find that, for a fixed Zeeman energy, the interaction shifts the phase boundaries to a higher chemical potential, whereas for a fixed chemical potential this shift can occur either to lower or to higher Zeeman energies. This effects can be interpreted as a renormalization of the g-factor due to the interaction. The minimum Zeeman energy needed to realize Majorana fermions decreases with increasing the strength of the Coulomb repulsion. Furthermore, we find that in wires with multi-band occupancy this effect can be enhanced by increasing the chemical potential, i. e. by occupying higher energy bands.

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arXiv2014

Impact of a circularly polarized cavity photon field on the charge and spin flow through an Aharonov-Casher ring

We explore the influence of a circularly polarized cavity photon field on the transport properties of a finite-width ring, in which the electrons are subject to spin-orbit and Coulomb interaction. The quantum ring is embedded in an electromagnetic cavity and described by ``exact'' numerical diagonalization. We study the case that the cavity photon field is circularly polarized and compare it to the linearly polarized case. The quantum device is moreover coupled to external, electrically biased leads. The time propagation in the transient regime is described by a non-Markovian generalized master equation. We find that the spin polarization and spin photocurrents of the quantum ring are largest for circularly polarized photon field and destructive Aharonov-Casher (AC) phase interference. The charge current suppression dip due to the destructive AC phase becomes threefold under the circularly polarized photon field as the interaction of the electrons' angular momentum and spin angular momentum of light causes many-body level splitting leading to three many-body level crossing locations instead of one. The circular charge current inside the ring, which is induced by the circularly polarized photon field, is found to be suppressed in a much wider range around the destructive AC phase than the lead-device-lead charge current. The charge current can be directed through one of the two ring arms with the help of the circularly polarized photon field, but is superimposed by vortices of smaller scale. Unlike the charge photocurrent, the flow direction of the spin photocurrent is found to be independent of the handedness of the circularly polarized photon field.

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arXiv2014

Delocalization of electrons by cavity photons in transport through a quantum dot molecule

We present new results on cavity-photon-assisted electron transport through two lateral quantum dots embedded in a finite quantum wire. The double quantum dot system is weakly connected to two leads and strongly coupled to a single quantized photon cavity mode with initially two linearly polarized photons in the cavity. Including the full electron-photon interaction, the transient current controlled by a plunger-gate in the central system is studied by using quantum master equation. Without a photon cavity, two resonant current peaks are observed in the range selected for the plunger gate voltage: The ground state peak, and the peak corresponding to the first-excited state. The current in the ground state is higher than in the first-excited state due to their different symmetry. In a photon cavity with the photon field polarized along or perpendicular to the transport direction, two extra side peaks are found, namely, photon-replica of the ground state and photon-replica of the first-excited state. The side-peaks are caused by photon-assisted electron transport, with multiphoton absorption processes for up to three photons during an electron tunneling process. The inter-dot tunneling in the ground state can be controlled by the photon cavity in the case of the photon field polarized along the transport direction. The electron charge is delocalized from the dots by the photon cavity. Furthermore, the current in the photon-induced side-peaks can be strongly enhanced by increasing the electron-photon coupling strength for the case of photons polarized along the transport direction.

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arXiv2013

Snaking states on a cylindrical surface in a perpendicular magnetic field

We calculate electronic states on a closed cylindrical surface as a model of a core-shell nanowire. The length of the cylinder can be infinite or finite. We define cardinal points on the circumference of the cylinder and consider a spatially uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the cylinder axis,in the direction South-North. The orbital motion of the electrons depends on the radial component of the field which is not uniform around the circumference: it is equal to the total field at North and South, but vanishes at the West and East sides. For a strong field, when the magnetic length is comparable to the radius of the cylinder, the electronic states at North and South become localized cyclotron orbits, whereas at East and West the states become long and narrow snaking orbits propagating along the cylinder. The energy of the cyclotron states increases with the magnetic field whereas the energy of the snaking states is stable. Consequently, at high magnetic fields the electron density vanishes at North and South and concentrates at East and West. We include spin-orbit interaction with linear Rashba and Dresselhaus models. For a cylinder of finite length the Dresselhaus interaction produces an axial twist of the charge density relative to the center of the wire, which may be amplified in the presence of the Rashba interaction.

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arXiv2013

Geometry and linearly polarized cavity photon effects on the charge and spin currents of spin-orbit interacting electrons in a quantum ring

We calculate the persistent spin current inside a quantum ring as a function of the strength of the Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction. We provide analytical results for the spin current of a one-dimensional (1D) ring of non-interacting electrons for comparison. Furthermore, we calculate the time evolution in the transient regime of a two-dimensional (2D) quantum ring connected to electrically biased semi-infinite leads using a time-convolutionless non-Markovian generalized master equation. In the latter case, the electrons are correlated via the Coulomb interaction and the ring can be embedded in a photon cavity with a single mode of linearly polarized photon field. The electron-electron and electron-photon interactions are described by exact numerical diagonalization. The photon field can be polarized perpendicular or parallel to the charge transport. We find a pronounced charge current dip associated with many-electron level crossings at the Aharonov-Casher phase $ΔΦ=π$, which can be disguised by linearly polarized light. Qualitative agreement is found for the spin currents of the 1D and 2D ring. Quantatively, however, the spin currents are weaker in the more realistic 2D ring, especially for weak spin-orbit interaction, but can be considerably enhanced with the aid of a linearly polarized electromagnetic field. Specific spin current symmetries relating the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction case to the Rashba one are found to hold for the 2D ring in the photon cavity.

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arXiv2013

Dike states in multiple quantum dots

We present a theoretical study of the collective optical effects which can occur in groups of three and four quantum dots. We define conditions for stable subradiant (dark) states, rapidly decaying superradiant states,and spontaneous trapping of excitation. Each quantum dot is treated like a two-level system. The quantum dots are though realistic, meaning that they may have different transition energies and dipole moments. The dots interact via a short-range coupling which allows excitation transfer across the dots, but conserves the total population. We calculate the time evolution of single- and biexciton states using the Linblad equation. In the steady state the individual populations of each dot may have permanent oscillations with frequencies given by the energy separation between the subradiant eigenstates.

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arXiv2013

Electron transport through a quantum dot assisted by cavity photons

We investigate transient transport of electrons through a single-quantum-dot controlled by a plunger gate. The dot is embedded in a finite wire that is weakly coupled to leads and strongly coupled to a single cavity photon mode. A non-Markovian density-matrix formalism is employed to take into account the full electron-photon interaction in the transient regime. In the absence of a photon cavity, a resonant current peak can be found by tuning the plunger gate voltage to lift a many-body state of the system into the source-drain bias window. In the presence of an $x$-polarized photon field, additional side peaks can be found due to photon-assisted transport. By appropriately tuning the plunger-gate voltage, the electrons in the left lead are allowed to make coherent inelastic scattering to a two-photon state above the bias window if initially one photon was present in the cavity. However, this photon-assisted feature is suppressed in the case of a $y$-polarized photon field due to the anisotropy of our system caused by its geometry.

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arXiv2013

Coherent Nonlinear Quantum Model for Composite Fermions

Originally proposed by Read [1] and Jain [2], the so-called "composite-fermion" is a phenomenological attachment of two infinitely thin local flux quanta seen as nonlocal vortices to two-dimensional (2D) electrons embedded in a strong orthogonal magnetic field. In this letter, it is described as a highly-nonlinear and coherent mean-field quantum process of the soliton type by use of a 2D stationary Schroedinger-Poisson differential model with only two Coulomb-interacting electrons. At filling factor $ν={1}{3}$ of the lowest Landau level, it agrees with both the exact two-electron antisymmetric Schroedinger wave function and Laughlin's Jastrow-type guess for the fractional quantum Hall effect, hence providing this later with a tentative physical justification based on first principles.

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arXiv2013

Thermoelectric Current and Coulomb-Blockade Plateaus in a Quantum Dot

A Generalized Master Equation (GME) is used to study the thermoelectric currents through a quantum dot in both the transient and steady-state regime. The two semi-infinite leads are kept at the same chemical potential but at different temperatures to produce a thermoelectric current which has a varying sign depending on the chemical potential. The Coulomb interaction between the electrons in the sample is included via the exact diagonalization method. We observe a saw-teeth like profile of the current alternating with plateaus of almost zero current. Our calculations go beyond the linear response with respect to the temperature gradient, but are compatible with known results for the thermopower in the linear response regime.

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arXiv2012

Magnetic-field influenced non-equilibrium transport through a quantum ring with correlated electrons in a photon cavity

We investigate magnetic-field influenced time-dependent transport of Coulomb interacting electrons through a two-dimensional quantum ring in an electromagnetic cavity under non-equilibrium conditions described by a time-convolutionless non-Markovian master equation formalism. We take into account the full electromagnetic interaction of electrons and cavity photons without resorting to the rotating wave approximation or reduction to two levels. A bias voltage is applied to semi-infinite leads along the x-axis, which are connected to the quantum ring. The magnetic field is tunable to manipulate the time-dependent electron transport coupled to a photon field with either x- or y-polarization. We find that the lead-system-lead current is strongly suppressed by the y-polarized photon field at magnetic field with two flux quanta due to a degeneracy of the many-body energy spectrum of the mostly occupied states. Furthermore, the current can be significantly enhanced by the y-polarized field at magnetic field with half integer flux quanta.

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arXiv2012

Symmetric excitation and de-excitation of a cavity QED system

We calculate the time evolution of a cavity-QED system subject to a time dependent sinusoidal drive. The drive is modulated by an envelope function with the shape of a pulse. The system consists of electrons embedded in a semiconductor nanostructure which is coupled to a single mode quantized electromagnetic field. The electron-electron as well as photon-electron interaction is treated exactly using "exact numerical diagonalization" and the time evolution is calculated by numerically solving the equation of motion for the system's density matrix. We find that the drive causes symmetric excitation and de-excitation where the system climbs up the Jaynes-Cummings ladder and descends back down symmetrically into its original state. This effect persists even in the ultra-strong coupling regime where the Jaynes-Cummings model is invalid. We investigate the robustness of this symmetric behavior with respect to the drive de-tuning and pulse duration.

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arXiv2012

Excitation of collective modes in a quantum flute

We use a generalized master equation (GME) formalism to describe the non-equilibrium time-dependent transport of Coulomb interacting electrons through a short quantum wire connected to semi-infinite biased leads. The contact strength between the leads and the wire is modulated by out-of-phase time-dependent potentials which simulate a turnstile device. We explore this setup by keeping the contact with one lead at a fixed location at one end of the wire whereas the contact with the other lead is placed on various sites along the length of the wire. We study the propagation of sinusoidal and rectangular pulses. We find that the current profiles in both leads depend not only on the shape of the pulses, but also on the position of the second contact. The current reflects standing waves created by the contact potentials, like in a wind musical instrument (for example a flute), but occurring on the background of the equilibrium charge distribution. The number of electrons in our quantum "flute" device varies between two and three. We find that for rectangular pulses the currents in the leads may flow against the bias for short time intervals, due to the higher harmonics of the charge response. The GME is solved numerically in small time steps without resorting to the traditional Markov and rotating wave approximations. The Coulomb interaction between the electrons in the sample is included via the exact diagonalization method. The system (leads plus sample wire) is described by a lattice model.

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arXiv2012

Stepwise introduction of model complexity in a generalized master equation approach to time-dependent transport

We demonstrate that with a stepwise introduction of complexity to a model of an electron system embedded in a photonic cavity and a carefully controlled stepwise truncation of the ensuing many-body space it is possible to describe the time-dependent transport of electrons through the system with a non-Markovian generalized quantum master equation. We show how this approach retains effects of an external magnetic field and the geometry of an anisotropic electronic system. The Coulomb interaction between the electrons and the full electromagnetic coupling between the electrons and the photons are treated in a non-perturbative way using "exact numerical diagonalization".

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arXiv2012

Nonperturbative Approach to Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics

We outline a rigorous method which can be used to solve the many-body Schroedinger equation for a Coulomb interacting electronic system in an external classical magnetic field as well as a quantized electromagnetic field. Effects of the geometry of the electronic system as well as the polarization of the quantized electromagnetic field are explicitly taken into account. We accomplish this by performing repeated truncations of many-body spaces in order to keep the size of the many particle basis on a manageable level. The electron-electron and electron-photon interactions are treated in a nonperturbative manner using "exact numerical diagonalization". Our results demonstrate that including the diamagnetic term in the photon-electron interaction Hamiltonian drastically improves numerical convergence. Additionally, convergence with respect to the number of photon states in the joint photon-electron Fock space basis is fast. However, the convergence with respect to the number of electronic states is slow and is the main bottleneck in calculations.

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arXiv2011

Persistent charge and spin currents in a 1D ring with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions by excitation with a terahertz pulse

Persistent, oscillatory charge and spin currents are shown to be driven by a two-component terahertz laser pulse in a one-dimensional mesoscopic ring with Rashba-Dresselhaus spin orbit interactions (SOI) linear in the electron momentum. The characteristic interference effects result from the opposite precession directions imposed on the electron spin by the two SOI couplings. The time dependence of the currents is obtained by solving numerically the equation of motion for the density operator, which is later employed in calculating statistical averages of quantum operators on few electron eigenstates. The parameterization of the problem is done in terms of the SOI coupling constants and of the phase difference between the two laser components. Our results indicate that the amplitude of the oscillations is controlled by the relative strength of the two SOI's, while their frequency is determined by the difference between the excitation energies of the electron states. Furthermore, the oscillations of the spin current acquire a beating pattern of higher frequency that we associate with the nutation of the electron spin between the quantization axes of the two SOI couplings. This phenomenon disappears at equal SOI strengths, whereby the opposite precessions occur with the same probability.

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arXiv2011

Time-dependent transport of electrons through a photon cavity

We use a non-Markovian master equation to describe the transport of Coulomb interacting electrons through an electromagnetic cavity with one quantized photon mode. The central system is a finite parabolic quantum wire that is coupled weakly to external parabolic quasi-one-dimensional leads at $t=0$. With a stepwise introduction of complexity to the description of the system and a corresponding stepwise truncation of the ensuing many-body spaces we are able to describe the time-dependent transport of Coulomb-interacting electrons through a geometrically complex central system. We take into account the full electromagnetic interaction of electrons and cavity photons without resorting to the rotating wave approximation or reduction of the electron states to two levels. We observe that the number of initial cavity photons and their polarization can have important effects on the transport properties of the system. The quasiparticles formed in the central system have a lifetime limited by the coupling to the leads and radiation processes active on a much longer timescale.

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