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L. S. Levitov

Publications and source records attributed to L. S. Levitov.

102 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Tunneling in a bosonized Fermi liquid

We apply the bosonization technique to the problem of tunneling in a Fermi liquid, and present a semiclassical theory of tunneling rates. To test the method, we derive and evaluate an expression for the tunneling current in the problem of two parallel Luttinger liquids. Next we study tunneling between parallel two dimensional Fermi liquids. In the absence of a magnetic field, the conductance $I/V$ has a resonance peak at zero bias. Our estimate for the peak broadening agrees with the many-body theory results. In a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane, we find a tunneling gap linear in the field, in agreement with the experiment. In this regime the tunneling is spatially coherent over a distance of the order of the cyclotron radius. The coherence can be probed by a magnetic field parallel to the plane, which gives an Aharonov-Bohm phase to the tunneling amplitude. As a result, the current is an oscillatory function of the field.

cond-mat↗

Current fluctuations in a single tunnel junction

We study noise spectra of currents through a tunnel junction in weak tunneling limit. We introduce effective capacitance to take into account the interaction effect and explicitly incorporate the electromagnetic environment of the junction into the formulation. We study the effect of charging energy and macroscopic environment on noise spectra. We calculate current fluctuations at tunneling barrier and fluctuations measured at leads. It is shown that two fluctuations have different noise spectra and the relation between them is nontrivial. We provide an explanation for the origin of the difference. Experimental implications are discussed.

cond-mat↗

Spatial Coherence of Tunneling in Double Wells

We argue that the tunneling between two 2D electron gases in a weak magnetic field is of resonance character, and involves a long lifetime excitonic state of an electron and hole {\it uniformly spread} over cyclotron orbits. We find that the tunneling gap is linear in the field, in agreement with the experiment, and is anomalously sensitive to the electron density mismatch in the wells. The spatial coherence of tunneling along the orbit can be probed by magnetic field parallel to the plane, which produces an Aharonov-Bohm phase of the tunneling amplitude, and leads to an oscillatory field dependence of the current.

cond-mat↗

Coulomb Zero-Bias Anomaly: A Semiclassical Calculation

Effective action is proposed for the problem of Coulomb blocking of tunneling. The approach is well suited to deal with the ``strong coupling'' situation near zero bias, where perturbation theory diverges. By a semiclassical treatment, we reduce the physics to that of electrodynamics in imaginary time, and express the anomaly through exact conductivity of the system $σ(ω, q)$ and exact interaction. For the diffusive anomaly, we compare the result with the perturbation theory of Altshuler, Aronov, and Lee. For the metal-insulator transition we derive exact relation of the anomaly and critical exponent of conductivity.

cond-mat↗

Estimate of Minimal Noise in a Quantum Conductor

We study zero temperature fluctuations of charge flow in a metallic loop induced by time dependent magnetic flux, and solve for the optimal way of varying flux in order to minimize noise. Optimal time dependence of the flux is a sum of ``solitons,'' each corresponding to quantized flux change. Minimal noise coincides with that for the binomial distribution with the number of attempts equal to the number of solitons and with the probabilies defined by the scattering matrix of the system.

cond-mat↗

Coherent States of Alternating Current,

We study counting statistics of electric current pumped by pulses of an external field. The fluctuations depend on the pulse shape, and can be minimized by choosing the pulse shape properly. For an optimal pulse shape, the fluctuations are reduced to the {\it dc} level, i.e., they do not depend on the duty cycle of the signal. We develop an approach that allows to calculate all counting statistics for various driving fields, optimal and non-optimal. The statistics depend in an interesting way on the analytic structure of the field time dependence, and display an analogy with coherent states and instantons.

cond-mat↗

Universal Statistics of Transport in Disordered Conductors

In low temperature limit, we study electron counting statistics of a disordered conductor. We derive an expression for the distribution of charge transmitted over a finite time interval by using a result from the random matrix theory of quasi one dimensional disordered conductors. In the metallic regime, we find that the peak of the distribution is Gaussian and shows negligible sample to sample variations. We also find that the tails of the distribution are neither Gaussian nor Poisson and exhibit strong sample to sample variations.

cond-mat↗

Quantum Breaking of Elastic String

Breaking of an atomic chain under stress is a collective many-particle tunneling phenomenon. We study classical dynamics in imaginary time by using conformal mapping technique, and derive an analytic formula for the probability of breaking. The result covers a broad temperature interval and interpolates between two regimes: tunneling and thermal activation. Also, we consider the breaking induced by an ultrasonic wave propagating in the chain, and propose to observe it in an STM experiment.

cond-mat↗

Non-equilibrium noise in a mesoscopic conductor: microscopic analysis

Current fluctuations are studied in a mesoscopic conductor using non-equilibrium Keldysh technique. We derive a general expression for the fluctuations in the presence of a time dependent voltage, valid for arbitrary relation between voltage and temperature. Two limits are then treated: a pulse of voltage and a DC voltage. A pulse of voltage causes phase sensitive current fluctuations for which we derive microscopically an expression periodic in $\int V(t)dt$ with the period $h/e$. Applied to current fluctuations in Josephson circuits caused by phase slips, it gives an anomalous contribution to the noise with a logarithmic singularity near the critical current. In the DC case, we get quantum to classical shot noise reduction factor 1/3, in agreement with recent results of Beenakker and Büttiker.

cond-mat↗

Quantum Measurement in Electric Circuit

We study fluctuations of electric current in a quantum resistor and derive a general quantum-mechanical formula for the distribution of transmitted charge. For that we introduce a scheme of current measurement that involves a spin $1/2$ coupled to the current so that it precesses at the rate proportional to the current. Our approach allows the study of charge transfer without breaking the circuit. We analyze a single channel conductor and derive electron counting statistics for arbitrary relation between temperature and voltage. For a perfectly transmitting channel the counting distribution is gaussian, both for zero-point fluctuations and at finite temperature. At constant voltage and low temperature the distribution is binomial, i.e., it arises from Bernoulli statistics.

cond-mat↗

Orthogonality catastrophe in a mesoscopic conductor due to a time-dependent flux

We consider quantum fluctuations of current in a metallic loop induced by varying magnetic flux. The dependence of the fluctuations on the flux change $Φ$ contains a logarithmically divergent term periodic in $Φ$ with the period $Φ_0=hc/e$. The fluctuation is smallest near $Φ=nΦ_0$. The divergence is explained by a comparison with the orthogonality catastrophe problem. The $Φ_0-$periodicity is related with the discreteness of "attempts" in the binomial statistics picture of charge fluctuations.

cond-mat↗

Noise in an ac biased junction. Non-stationary Aharonov-Bohm effect

We study excess noise in a quantum conductor in the presence of constant voltage and alternating external field. Due to a two particle interference effect caused by Fermi correlations the noise is sensitive to the phase of the time dependent transmission amplitude. We compute spectral density and show that at T=0 the noise has singular dependence on the {\rm dc} voltage $V$ and the {\rm ac} frequency $Ω$ with cusplike singularities at integer $eV/\hbarΩ$. For a metallic loop with an alternating flux the phase sensitivity leads to an oscillating dependence of the strengths of the cusps on the flux amplitude.

cond-mat↗