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L. Raymond

Publications and source records attributed to L. Raymond.

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Levitons in correlated nano-scale systems

in nanoscale systems in the presence of single-electron excitations generated by Lorentzian voltage drives, termed \textit{Levitons}. These excitations allow to realize the analog of quantum optics experiments using electrons instead of photons. Importantly, electrons in condensed matter systems are strongly affected by the presence of different types of non-trivial correlations, with no counterpart in the domain of photonic quantum optics. After providing a short introduction about Levitons in non-interacting systems, we focus on how they operate in the presence of two types of strong electronic correlations in nanoscale systems, such as those arising in the fractional quantum Hall effect or in superconducting systems. Specifically, we consider Levitons in a quantum Hall bar of the fractional quantum Hall effect, pinched by a quantum point contact, where anyons with fractional charge and statistics tunnel between opposite edges. In this case, a Leviton-Leviton interaction can be induced by the strongly correlated background. Concerning the effect of superconducting correlations on Levitons, we show that, in a normal metal system coupled to BCS superconductors, half integer Levitons minimize the excess noise in the Andreev regime. Interestingly, energy-entangled electron states can be realized on-demand in this type of hybrid setups by exploiting crossed Andreev reflection. The results exposed in this review have potential applications in the context of quantum information and computation with single-electron flying qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Quartet currents in a biased three-terminal diffusive Josephson junction

Biasing a three-terminal Josephson junction (TTJ) with symmetrical voltages $0,V,-V$ leads to new kinds of DC currents, namely quartet Josephson currents and phase-dependent multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) currents. We study these currents in a system where a normal diffusive metallic node $N$ is connected to three terminals $S_{0,1,2}$ by barriers of arbitrary transparency. We use the quantum circuit theory to calculate the current in each terminal, including decoherence. In addition to the stationary combination $\varphi_Q=\varphi_1+\varphi_2-2\varphi_0$ of the terminal phases $\varphi_i$, the bias voltage $V$ appears as a new and unusual control variable for a DC Josephson current. A general feature is the sign changes of the current-phase characteristics, manifesting in minima of the quartet ``critical current". Those sign changes can be triggered by the voltage, by the junction transparency or by decoherence. We study the possible separation of quartet currents from MAR currents in different regimes of parameters, including an "funnel" regime with very asymmetric couplings to $S_{0,1,2}$. In the regime of low transparency and asymetric couplings, we provide an analytic perturbative expression for the currents which shows an excellent agreement with the full numerical results.

cond-mat.supr-con

Colored delta-T noise in Fractional Quantum Hall liquids

Photons are emitted or absorbed by a nano-circuit under both equilibrium and non-equilibrium situations. Here, we focus on the non-equilibrium situation arising due to a temperature difference between the leads of a quantum point contact, and study the finite frequency (colored) noise. We explore this delta-$T$ noise in the finite frequency regime for two systems: conventional conductors described by Fermi liquid scattering theory and the fractional quantum Hall system at Laughlin filling fractions, described by the chiral Luttinger liquid formalism. We study the emission noise, its expansion in the temperature difference (focusing on the quadratic component) as well as the excess emission noise defined with respect to a properly chosen equilibrium situation. The behavior of these quantities are markedly different for the fractional quantum Hall system compared to Fermi liquids, signalling the role of strong correlations. We briefly treat the strong backscattering regime of the fractional quantum Hall liquid, where a behavior closer to the Fermi liquid case is observed.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Renormalization flow of a weak extended backscattering Hamiltonian in a non-chiral Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid

We consider a non-chiral Luttinger liquid in the presence of a backscattering Hamiltonian which has an extended range. Right/left moving fermions at a given location can thus be converted as left/right moving fermions at a different location, within a specific range. We perform a momentum shell renormalization group treatment which gives the evolution of the relative degrees of freedom of this Hamiltonian contribution under the renormalization flow, and we study a few realistic examples of this extended backscattering Hamiltonian. We find that, for repulsive Coulomb interaction in the Luttinger liquid, any such Hamiltonian contribution evolves into a delta-like scalar potential upon renormalization to a zero temperature cutoff. On the opposite, for attractive couplings, the amplitude of this kinetic Hamiltonian is suppressed, rendering the junction fully transparent. As the renormalization procedure may have to be stopped because of experimental constraints such as finite temperature, we predict the actual spatial shape of the kinetic Hamiltonian at different stages of the renormalization procedure, as a function of the position and the Luttinger interaction parameter, and show that it undergoes structural changes. This renormalized kinetic Hamiltonian has thus to be used as an input for the perturbative calculation of the current, for which we provide analytic expressions in imaginary time. We discuss the experimental relevance of this work by looking at one-dimensional systems consisting of carbon nanotubes or semiconductor nanowires.

cond-mat.str-el

Photo-assisted current in the fractional quantum Hall effect as a probe of the quasiparticle operator scaling dimension

We study photo-assisted transport for the edge states of a two dimensional electron gas in the fractional quantum Hall regime, pinched by a single quantum point contact. We provide a general expression of the photo-assisted current using a Keldysh-Floquet approach, when the AC drive is applied either directly to the edge states, or when it modulates the tunneling amplitude at the quantum point contact. Strikingly, for a simple cosine modulation of the tunneling amplitude, the phase shift of the second harmonic of the photoassisted current is directly related to the scaling dimension of the quasiparticle operators describing the fractional excitations. As the scaling dimension is intimately related to the statistics, our proposal of a gate modulation of the backscattered current provides a diagnosis of the statistics of Laughlin quasiparticles using a simple quantum point contact geometry.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Microscopic theory of photo-assisted electronic transport in normal-metal/BCS-superconductor junctions

We investigate photo assisted electronic transport in a normal-metal/BCS-superconductor junction with a microscopic Hamiltonian approach, for several types of periodic voltage drives applied on the normal-metal side. The time-dependent current and the photo-assisted noise are computed to all orders of the tunneling Hamiltonian using a Keldysh-Nambu-Floquet approach. An excess noise analysis allows one to determine to what extent pure electronic excitations with a small number of electrons per period can be generated by the different drives. When the superconducting gap is small compared to the drive frequency, the junction behaves like a normal-metal junction and minimal excess noise is reached for Lorentzian voltage drives carrying an integer charge (levitons). In the opposite regime of a large-gap, the excess noise vanishes for half-quantized levitons, giving rise to the perfect transmission of a Cooper pair on the superconducting side. This microscopic approach also allows us to address the intermediate regime, when the drive frequency is comparable to the gap, allowing us to study the non-trivial interplay between Andreev reflection and quasiparticle-transfer processes. Our analysis also shows the appearance of Tien-Gordon-type relations connecting the current and noise in the AC-driven junction to their DC counterpart, which we investigate in details. Finally, the possibility to build a reliable on-demand source of Cooper pairs with this setup is examined using realistic experimental parameters.

cond-mat.supr-con

Scattering Theory of Non-Equilibrium Noise and Delta $T$ current fluctuations through a quantum dot

We consider the non-equilibrium zero frequency noise generated by a temperature gradient applied on a device composed of two normal leads separated by a quantum dot. We recall the derivation of the scattering theory for non-equilibrium noise for a general situation where both a bias voltage and a temperature gradient can coexist and put it in a historical perspective. We provide a microscopic derivation of zero frequency noise through a quantum dot based on a tight binding Hamiltonian, which constitutes a generalization of the pioneering work of Caroli et al. for the current obtained in the context of the Keldysh formalism. For a single level quantum dot, the obtained transmission coefficient entering the scattering formula for the non-equilibrium noise corresponds to a Breit-Wigner resonance. We compute the delta-$T$ noise as a function of the dot level position, and of the dot level width, in the Breit-Wigner case, for two relevant situations which were considered recently in two separate experiments. In the regime where the two reservoir temperatures are comparable, our gradient expansion shows that the delta-$T$ noise is dominated by its quadratic contribution, and is minimal close to resonance. In the opposite regime where one reservoir is much colder, the gradient expansion fails and we find the noise to be typically linear in temperature before saturating. In both situations, we conclude with a short discussion of the case where both a voltage bias and a temperature gradient are present, in order to address the potential competition with thermoelectric effects.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Theory of non-equilibrium noise in general multi-terminal superconducting hydrid devices: application to multiple Cooper pair resonances

We consider the out-of-equilibrium behavior of a general class of mesoscopic devices composed of several superconducting or/and normal metal leads separated by quantum dots. Starting from a microscopic Hamiltonian description, we provide a non-perturbative approach to quantum electronic transport in the tunneling amplitudes between dots and leads: using the equivalent of a path integral formulation, the lead degrees of freedom are integrated out in order to compute both the current and the current correlations (noise) in this class of systems, in terms of the dressed Green's function matrix of the quantum dots. In order to illustrate the efficiency of this formalism, we apply our results to the "all superconducting Cooper pair beam splitter", a device composed of three superconducting leads connected via two quantum dots, where crossed Andreev reflection operates Cooper pair splitting. Commensurate voltage differences between the three leads allow to obtain expressions for the current and noise as a function of the Keldysh Nambu Floquet dressed Green's function of the dot system. This voltage configuration allows the occurrence of non-local processes involving multiple Cooper pairs which ultimately lead to the presence of non-zero DC currents in an out-of-equilibrium situation. We investigate in details the results for the noise obtained numerically in the specific case of opposite voltages, where the transport properties are dominated by the so called "quartet processes", involving the coherent exchange of two Cooper pairs among all three superconducting terminals. We show that these processes are noiseless in the non-resonant case, and that this property is also observed for other voltage configurations. When the dots are in a resonant regime, the noise characteristics change qualitatively, with the appearance of giant Fano factors.

cond-mat.supr-con

Finite frequency noise in a normal metal - topological superconductor junction

A topological superconductor nanowire bears a Majorana bound state at each of its ends, leading to unique transport properties. As a way to probe these, we study the finite frequency noise of a biased junction between a normal metal and a topological superconductor nanowire. We use the non-equilibrium Keldysh formalism to compute the finite frequency emission and absorption noise to all order in the tunneling amplitude, for bias voltages below and above the superconducting gap. We observe noticeable structures in the absorption and emission noise, which we can relate to simple transport processes. The presence of the Majorana bound state is directly related to a characteristic behavior of the noise spectrum at low frequency. We further compute the noise measurable with a realistic setup, based on the inductive coupling to a resonant LC circuit, and discuss the impact of the detector temperature. We have also computed the emission noise for a non-topological system with a resonant level, exhibiting a zero-energy Andreev bound state, in order to show the specificities of the topological case. Our results offer an original tool for the further characterization of the presence of Majorana bound states in condensed matter systems.

cond-mat.supr-con

Dynamical photo-induced electronic properties of molecular junctions

Nanoscale molecular-electronic devices and machines are emerging as promising functional elements, naturally flexible and efficient, for next generation technologies. A deeper understanding of carrier dynamics in molecular junctions is expected to benefit many fields of nanoelectronics and power-devices. We determine time-resolved charge current flowing at donor- acceptor interface in molecular junctions connected to metallic electrodes by means of quantum transport simulations. The current is induced by the interaction of the donor with a Gaussian-shape femtosecond laser pulse. Effects of the molecular internal coupling, metal- molecule tunneling and light-donor coupling on photocurrent are discussed. We then examine the junction working through the time-resolved donor density of states. Non-equilibrium reorganization of hybridized molecular orbitals through the light-donor interaction gives rise to two phenomena: the dynamical Rabi shift and the appearance of Floquet-like states. Such insights into the dynamical photoelectronic structure of molecules are of strong interest for ultrafast spectroscopy, and open avenues toward the possibility of analyzing and controlling the internal properties of quantum nanodevices with pump-push photocurrent spectroscopy.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Enhanced spin Hall effect in strong magnetic disorder

We consider a two-dimensional electron gas in an inversion asymmetric layer and in the presence of spatially distributed magnetic impurities. We investigate the relationship between the geometrical properties of the wave-function and the system's spin dependent transport properties. A localization transition, arising when disorder is increased, is exhibited by the appearance of a fractal state with finite inverse participation ratio. Below the transition, interference effects modify the carrier's diffusion, as revealed by the dependence on the scattering time of the power law exponents characterizing the spreading of a wave packet. Above the transition, in the strong disorder regime, we find that the states are spin polarized and localized around the impurities. A significant enhancement of the spin current develops in this regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Dynamical spin Hall conductivity in a magnetic disordered system

We investigate the intrinsic spin Hall effect in a quantum well semiconductor doped with magnetic impurities, as a means to manipulate the carriers' spin. Using a simple Hamiltonian with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and exchange interactions, we analytically compute the spin Hall conductivity. It is demonstrated that using the appropriate order of limits, one recovers the intrinsic universal value. Numerical computations on a tight-binding model, in the weak disorder regime, confirm that the spin Hall effect is preserved in the presence of magnetic impurities. The optical spin conductivity shows large sample to sample fluctuations in the low frequency region. As a consequence, for weak disorder, the static spin conductivity is found to follow a wide Gaussian distribution with its mean value near the intrinsic clean value.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Mechanisms of magnetoelectricity in manganese doped incipient ferroelectrics

We report magnetization measurements and magnetic resonance data for SrTiO3 doped by manganese. We show that the recently reported coexistent spin and dipole glass (multiglass) behaviours are strongly affected by the distribution of Mn ions between the Sr and Ti sites. Motivated by this finding we calculate the magnetic interactions between Mn impurities of different kinds. Both LSDA+U and many-body perturbation theory evidence that magnetic and magnetoelectric interactions are mediated by Mn$_B^{4+}$ ions substituting for Ti. We propose two microscopic magnetoelectric coupling mechanisms, which can be involved in all magnetoelectric systems based on incipient ferroelectrics. In the first one, the electric field modifies the spin susceptibility via spin-strain coupling of Mn$_{B}^{4+}$. The second mechanism concerns Mn pairs coupled by the position-dependent exchange interaction.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Interaction-Induced Adiabatic Cooling for Antiferromagnetism in Optical Lattices

In the experimental context of cold-fermion optical lattices, we discuss the possibilities to approach the pseudogap or ordered phases by manipulating the scattering length or the strength of the laser-induced lattice potential. Using the Two-Particle Self-Consistent Approach as well as Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we provide isentropic curves for the two- and three-dimensional Hubbard models at half-filling. These quantitative results are important for practical attempts to reach the ordered antiferromagnetic phase in experiments on optical lattices of two-component fermions. We find that adiabatically turning on the interaction in two dimensions to cool the system is not very effective. In three dimensions, adiabatic cooling to the antiferromagnetic phase can be achieved in such a manner although the cooling efficiency is not as high as initially suggested by Dynamical Mean-Field Theory. Adiabatic cooling by turning off the repulsion beginning at strong coupling is possible in certain cases.

cond-mat.str-el