arXiv subjects

Hermann Grabert

Publications and source records attributed to Hermann Grabert.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Absence of a dissipative quantum phase transition in Josephson junctions

Half a century after its discovery, the Josephson junction has become the most important nonlinear quantum electronic component at our disposal. It has helped reshape the SI system around quantum effects and is used in scores of quantum devices. By itself, the use of Josephson junctions in the volt metrology seems to imply an exquisite understanding of the component in every aspect. Yet, surprisingly, there have been long-standing subtle issues regarding the modeling of the interaction of a junction with its electromagnetic environment. Here, we find that a Josephson junction connected to a resistor does not become insulating beyond a given value of the resistance due to a dissipative quantum phase transition, as is commonly believed. Our work clarifies how this key quantum component behaves in the presence of a dissipative environment and provides a comprehensive and consistent picture, notably regarding the treatment of its phase.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Quantum mechanical response to a driven Caldeira-Leggett bath

We determine the frequency-dependent response characteristics of a quantum system to a driven Caldeira-Leggett bath. The bath degrees of freedom are explicitly driven by an external time-dependent force, in addition to the direct time-dependent forcing of the system itself. After general considerations of driven Caldeira-Leggett baths, we consider the Rubin model of a chain of quantum particles coupled by linear springs as an important model of a quantum dissipative system. We show that in the presence of time-dependent driving of the chain, this model can be mapped to a quantum system which couples to a driven Caldeira-Leggett bath. The effect of the bath driving is captured by a time-dependent force on the central system, which is, in principle, non-Markovian in nature. We study two specific examples, the exactly solvable case of a harmonic potential, and a quantum two-state system for which we assume a weak system-bath coupling. We evaluate the dynamical response to a periodic driving of the system and the bath. The dynamic susceptibility is shown to be altered qualitatively by the bath drive: The dispersive part is enhanced at low frequencies and acquires a maximum at zero frequency. The absorptive part develops a shoulder-like behavior in this frequency regime. These features seem to be generic for quantum systems in a driven Caldeira-Leggett bath.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Theory of quantum-circuit refrigeration by photon-assisted electron tunneling

We focus on a recently experimentally realized scenario of normal-metal-insulator-superconductor tunnel junctions coupled to a superconducting resonator. We develop a first-principles theory to describe the effect of photon-assisted electron tunneling on the quantum state of the resonator. Our results are in very good quantitative agreement with the previous experiments on refrigeration and heating of the resonator using the photon-assisted tunneling, thus providing a stringent verification of the developed theory. Importantly, our results provide simple analytical estimates of the voltage-tunable coupling strength and temperature of the thermal reservoir formed by the photon-assisted tunneling. Consequently, they are used to introduce optimization principles for initialization of quantum devices using such a quantum-circuit refrigerator. Thanks to the first-principles nature of our approach, extension of the theory to the full spectrum of quantum electric devices seems plausible.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Cryogenic microwave source based on nanoscale tunnel junctions

We experimentally realize an incoherent microwave source driven by voltage-controlled quantum tunneling of electrons through nanoscale normal-metal--insulator--superconductor junctions coupled to a resonator. We observe the direct conversion of the electronic energy into microwave photons by measuring the power spectrum of the microwave radiation emitted from the resonator. The demonstrated total output power exceeds that of 2.5-K thermal radiation although the photon and electron reservoirs are at subkelvin temperatures. Measurements of the output power quantitatively agree with a theoretical model in a wide range of the bias voltages providing information on the electrically-controlled photon creation. The developed photon source is fully compatible with low-temperature electronics and offers convenient in-situ electrical control of the photon emission rate with a predetermined frequency, without relying on intrinsic voltage fluctuations of heated normal-metal components nor suffering from unwanted dissipation in room temperature cables. In addition to its potential applications in microwave photonics, our results provide complementary verification of the working principles of the recently discovered quantum-circuit refrigerator.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Current Noise in Tunnel Junctions

We study current fluctuations in tunnel junctions driven by a voltage source. The voltage is applied to the tunneling element via an impedance providing an electromagnetic environment of the junction. We use circuit theory to relate the fluctuations of the current flowing in the leads of the junction with the voltage fluctuations generated by the environmental impedance and the fluctuations of the tunneling current. The spectrum of current fluctuations is found to consist of three parts: a term arising from the environmental Johnson-Nyquist noise, a term due to the shot noise of the tunneling current and a third term describing the cross-correlation between these two noise sources. Our phenomenological theory reproduces previous results based on the Hamiltonian model for the dynamical Coulomb blockade and provides a simple understanding of the current fluctuation spectrum in terms of circuit theory and properties of the average current. Specific results are given for a tunnel junction driven through a resonator.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Effect of the electromagnetic environment on current fluctuations in driven tunnel junctions

We examine current fluctuations in tunnel junctions driven by a superposition of a constant and a sinusoidal voltage source. In standard setups the external voltage is applied to the tunneling element via an impedance providing an electromagnetic environment of the junction. The modes of this environment are excited by the time-dependent voltage and are the source of Johnson-Nyquist noise. We determine the autocorrelation function of the current flowing in the leads of the junction in the weak tunneling limit up to terms of second order in the tunneling Hamiltonian. The driven modes of the electromagnetic environment are treated exactly by means of a unitary transformation introduced recently. Particular emphasis is placed on the spectral function of the current fluctuations. The spectrum is found to comprise three contributions: a term arising from the Johnson-Nyquist noise of the environmental impedance, a part due to the shot noise of the tunneling element and a third contribution which comes from the cross-correlation between fluctuations caused by the electromagnetic environment and fluctuations of the tunneling current. All three parts of the spectral function occur already for devices under dc bias. The spectral function of ac driven tunneling elements can be determined from the result for a dc bias by means of a photo-assisted tunneling relation of the Tien-Gordon type. Specific results are given for an Ohmic environment and for a junction driven through a resonator.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Dynamical Coulomb blockade of tunnel junctions driven by alternating voltages

The theory of dynamical Coulomb blockade is extended to tunneling elements driven by a time-dependent voltage. It is shown that for standard set-ups where an external voltage is applied to a tunnel junction via an impedance, time-dependent driving entails an excitation of the modes of the electromagnetic environment by the applied voltage. Previous approaches for ac driven circuits need to be extended to account for the driven bath modes. A unitary transformation involving also the variables of the electromagnetic environment is introduced which allows to split-off the time-dependence from the Hamiltonian in the absence of tunneling. This greatly simplifies perturbation-theoretical calculations based on treating the tunneling Hamiltonian as a perturbation. In particular, the average current flowing in the leads of the tunnel junction is studied. Explicit results are given for the case of an applied voltage with a constant dc part and a sinusoidal ac part. The connection with standard dynamical Coulomb blockade theory for constant applied voltage is established. It is shown that an alternating voltage source reveals significant additional effects caused by the electromagnetic environment. The hallmark of dynamical Coulomb blockade in ac driven devices is a suppression of higher harmonics of the current by the electromagnetic environment. The theory presented basically applies to all tunneling devices driven by alternating voltages.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Tuning Excess Noise by Aharonov-Bohm Interferometry

A voltage bias applied to a conductor induces a change of the current noise with respect to the equilibrium noise known as excess noise. We analyze the excess noise of the electronic current flowing through a mesoscopic Aharonov-Bohm ring threaded by a magnetic flux, coupled to a side gate, and contacted by two metallic electrodes. It is shown that the excess noise can be controlled both magnetically and electrostatically, demonstrating the full tunability of the system. At zero frequency, the ratio of the noise strength to the current (Fano factor) can thereby be minimized. Remarkably, at finite frequency, regions of negative excess noise emerge.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

The Nanoscale Free-Electron Model

A brief review of the nanoscale free-electron model of metal nanowires is presented. This continuum description of metal nanostructures allows for a unified treatment of cohesive and conducting properties. Conductance channels act as delocalized chemical bonds whose breaking is responsible for jumps in the conductance and force oscillations. It is argued that surface and quantum-size effects are the two dominant factors in the energetics of a nanowire, and much of the phenomenology of nanowire stability and structural dynamics can be understood based on the interplay of these two competing factors. A linear stability analysis reveals a sequence of ``magic'' conductance values for which the underlying nanowire geometry is exceptionally stable. The stable configurations include Jahn-Teller deformed wires of broken axial symmetry. The model naturally explains the experimentally observed shell and supershell structures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Electron tunneling into a quantum wire in the Fabry-Perot regime

We study a gated quantum wire contacted to source and drain electrodes in the Fabry-Perot regime. The wire is also coupled to a third terminal (tip), and we allow for an asymmetry of the tip tunneling amplitudes of right and left moving electrons. We analyze configurations where the tip acts as an electron injector or as a voltage-probe, and show that the transport properties of this three-terminal set-up exhibit very rich physical behavior. For a non-interacting wire we find that a tip in the voltage-probe configuration affects the source-drain transport in different ways, namely by suppressing the conductance, by modulating the Fabry-Perot oscillations, and by reducing their visibility. The combined effect of electron electron interaction and finite length of the wire, accounted for by the inhomogeneous Luttinger liquid model, leads to significantly modified predictions as compared to models based on infinite wires. We show that when the tip injects electrons asymmetrically the charge fractionalization induced by interaction cannot be inferred from the asymmetry of the currents flowing in source and drain. Nevertheless interaction effects are visible as oscillations in the non-linear tip-source and tip-drain conductances. Important differences with respect to a two-terminal set-up emerge, suggesting new strategies for the experimental investigation of Luttinger liquid behavior.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Feedback and Rate Asymmetry of the Josephson Junction Noise Detector

The Josephson junction noise detector measures the skewness of non-Gaussian noise via the asymmetry of the rate of escape from the zero-voltage state upon reversal of the bias current. The feedback of this detector on the noise generating device is investigated in detail. Concise predictions are made for a second Josephson junction as noise generating device. The strong nonlinearity of this component implies particularly strong feedback effects, including a change of sign of the rate asymmetry as the applied voltage approaches twice the superconducting gap.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Josephson junction detector of non-Gaussian noise

The measurement of higher order cumulants of the current noise generated by a nonlinear mesoscopic conductor using a Josephson junction as on-chip detector is investigated theoretically. The paper addresses the regime where the noise of the mesoscopic conductor initiates activated escape of the Josephson detector out of the zero-voltage state, which can be observed as a voltage rise. It is shown that the deviations from Johnson-Nyquist noise can mostly be accounted for by an effective temperature which depends on the second noise cumulant of the conductor. The deviations from Gaussian statistics lead to rather weak effects and essentially only the third cumulant can be measured exploiting the dependence of the corrections to the rate of escape from the zero-voltage state on the direction of the bias current. These corrections vanish as the bias current approaches the critical current. The theory is based on a description of irreversible processes and fluctuations in terms of state variables and conjugate forces. This approach, going back to work by Onsager and Machlup, is extended to account for non-Gaussian noise, and it is shown that the thermodynamically conjugate force to the electric charge plays a role similar to the counting field introduced in more recent approaches to describe non-Gaussian noise statistics. The theory allows to obtain asymptotically exact results for the rate of escape in the weak noise limit for all values of the damping strength of the Josephson detector. Also the feedback of the detector on the noise generating conductor is fully taken into account by treating both coupled mesoscopic devices on an equal footing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Scaling Theory of the Peierls-CDW in Metal Nanowires

The Peierls instability in multi-channel metal nanowires is investigated. Hyperscaling relations are established for the finite-size-, temperature-, and wavevector-scaling of the electronic free energy. It is shown that the softening of surface modes at wavevector $q=2k_{F,ν}$ leads to critical fluctuations of the wire's radius at zero temperature, where $k_{F,ν}$ is the Fermi wavevector of the highest occupied channel. This Peierls charge density wave emerges as the system size becomes comparable to the channel correlation length. Although the Peierls instability is weak in metal nanowires, in the sense that the correlation length is exponentially long, we predict that nanowires fabricated by current techniques can be driven into the charge-density-wave regime under strain.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Stability and Symmetry Breaking in Metal Nanowires

A general linear stability analysis of simple metal nanowires is presented using a continuum approach which correctly accounts for material-specific surface properties and electronic quantum-size effects. The competition between surface tension and electron-shell effects leads to a complex landscape of stable structures as a function of diameter, cross section, and temperature. By considering arbitrary symmetry-breaking deformations, it is shown that the cylinder is the only generically stable structure. Nevertheless, a plethora of structures with broken axial symmetry is found at low conductance values, including wires with quadrupolar, hexapolar and octupolar cross sections. These non-integrable shapes are compared to previous results on elliptical cross sections, and their material-dependent relative stability is discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Transport properties of single channel quantum wires with an impurity: Influence of finite length and temperature on average current and noise

The inhomogeneous Tomonaga Luttinger liquid model describing an interacting quantum wire adiabatically coupled to non-interacting leads is analyzed in the presence of a weak impurity within the wire. Due to strong electronic correlations in the wire, the effects of impurity backscattering, finite bias, finite temperature, and finite length lead to characteristic non-monotonic parameter dependencies of the average current. We discuss oscillations of the non-linear current voltage characteristics that arise due to reflections of plasmon modes at the impurity and quasi Andreev reflections at the contacts, and show how these oscillations are washed out by decoherence at finite temperature. Furthermore, the finite frequency current noise is investigated in detail. We find that the effective charge extracted in the shot noise regime in the weak backscattering limit decisively depends on the noise frequency $ω$ relative to $v_F/gL$, where $v_F$ is the Fermi velocity, $g$ the Tomonaga Luttinger interaction parameter, and $L$ the length of the wire. The interplay of finite bias, finite temperature, and finite length yields rich structure in the noise spectrum which crucially depends on the electron-electron interaction. In particular, the excess noise, defined as the change of the noise due to the applied voltage, can become negative and is non-vanishing even for noise frequencies larger than the applied voltage, which are signatures of correlation effects.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

How to detect the fourth order cumulant of electrical noise

It is proposed to measure the current noise generated in a mesoscopic conductor by macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) in a current biased Josephson junction placed in parallel to the conductor. The theoretical description of this set-up takes into account the complete dynamics of detector and noise source. Explicit results are given for the specific case of current fluctuations in an oxide layer tunnel junction, and it is shown how the device allows to extract the fourth order cumulant of the noise from the MQT data for realistic experimental parameters.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Quantum Brownian Motion With Large Friction

Quantum Brownian motion in the strong friction limit is studied based on the exact path integral formulation of dissipative systems. In this limit the time-nonlocal reduced dynamics can be cast into an effective equation of motion, the quantum Smoluchowski equation. For strongly condensed phase environments it plays a similar role as master equations in the weak coupling range. Applications for chemical, mesoscopic, and soft matter systems are discussed and reveal the substantial role of quantum fluctuations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2004

Charge and spin dynamics of interacting Fermions in a one dimensional harmonic trap

We study an atomic Fermi gas interacting through repulsive contact forces in a one dimensional harmonic trap. Bethe-Ansatz solutions lead to an inhomogeneous Tomonaga-Luttinger model for the low energy excitations. The equations of motion for charge and spin density waves are analyzed both near the trap center and near the trap edges. While the center shows conventional spin-charge separation the edges cause a giant increase of the separation between these modes.

cond-mat.str-el↗