Single-electron transport

Bockrath M, Cobden D H, McEuen P L, Chopra N G, Zettl A, Thess A and Smalley R E 1997 Single-electron transport in ropes of nanotubes Science 275 1922-5. 

Quantum dots are the engineered counterparts to inorganic materials such as groups IV, III-V and II-VI semiconductors. These structures are prepared by complex techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), lithography or self-assembly, much more complex than the conventional chemical synthesis. Quantum dots are usually termed artificial atoms (OD) with dimensions larger than 20-30 nm, limited by the preparation techniques. Quantum confinement, single electron transport. Coulomb blockade and related quantum effects are revealed with these OD structures (Smith, 1996). 2D arrays of such OD artificial atoms can be achieved leading to artificial periodic structures. 

Summary. We study how the single-electron transport in clean Andreev wires is affected by a weak disorder introduced by impurity scattering. The transport has two contributions, one is the Andreev diffusion inversely proportional to the mean free path i and the other is the drift along the transverse modes that increases with increasing . This behavior leads to a peculiar re-entrant localization as a function of the mean free path. 

Usually, the electronic thermal conductance re can be calculated from the Wiedemann - Franz law, re TG/e2. However, as shown in Ref. [8, 9] for the ballistic limit f > d, this law gives a wrong result for Andreev wires if one uses an expression for G obtained for a wire surrounded by an insulator. Andreev processes strongly suppress the single electron transport for all quasiparticle trajectories except for those which have momenta almost parallel to the wire thus avoiding Andreev reflection at the walls. The resulting expression for the thermal conductance... 

Here we report how the single electron transport in Andreev wires at low temperatures T weak disorder introduced by impurity scattering assuming that inelastic processes are negligible. The Andreev wire is clean in the sense that the mean free path is much longer than the wire diameter, 3> a. 

M. Bockrath, D.H. Cobden, P.L. McEuen, N.C. Chopra, A. Zettl, A. Thess, R.E. Smalley, Single-Electron Transport in Ropes of Carbon Nanotubes , Science, 275, 1922 (1997)... 

Small blue proteins are involved in various biochemical processes. Where their physiological function is known, it is that of single-electron transport proteins. The range of their redox potentials reaches from +183 mV (Halocyanin [18], + 184 mV Stellacyanin [68] to 680 mV (Rusticyanin [68, 69]) as compared to Cu2+/Cu+, E° = +153 mV. Very few redox proteins function in this range. This feature, and their characteristic blue color are the product of the type 1 copper center, the only redox-active group in these proteins. During electron... 

For centuries, metal nanoparticles have never ceased to attract scientists and artists from many diverse cultures. In this section we briefly introduce a phenomenon of metal nanoparticles that still inspires scientists localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) (Hutter and Fendler, 2004). Metal nanoparticles show nonlinear electronic transport (single-electron transport of Coulomb blockade) and nonlinear/ultrafast optical response due to the SPR. Conduction electrons (—) and ionic cores (-F) in a metal form a plasma state. When external electric fields (i.e., electromagnetic waves, electron beams etc.) are applied to a metal, electrons move so as to screen perturbed charge distribution, move beyond the neutral states, return to the neutral states, and so on. This collective motion of electrons is called a plasma oscillation. SPR is a collective excitation mode of the plasma localized near the surface. Electrons confined in a nanoparticle conform the LSPR mode. The resonance frequency of the surface plasmon is different... 

There have been attempts to design circuits that involve both self-assembly and exhibit single electron transport at room temperature [62-64]. It is possible to observe Coulomb blockade from Au nanocrystals linked to thiol molecules tethered to a Au surface [677]. Andres and coworkers [680] investigated... 

In our work we study a single electron transport for a real space 2D model Hamiltonian. The potential we introduce is a 2D one-electron effective QD model Hamiltonian that simulates the QD in Heiblum s experiment. Unlike the single-crossbar cavity used before our 2D potential is an analytical function. In our model the transition of the electron from the entrance channel to the exit one through the QD is hindered by two potential barriers that do not appear in the single-crossbar cavity model. 

Bockrath M, Cobden DH. et al., Single-electron transport in ropes of carbon nanotubes. Science, 1997. 275(5308) 1922-1925. 

Telg, H., Maultzsch, J., Reich, S., Hennrich, R, Thomsen, C. Chirality distribution and transition energies of carbon nanotubes , Phys. Rev. Lett. 93(17) (2004), 177401 Bockrath, M., Cobden, D.H., McEuen, P.L., Chopra, N.G., Zettl, A., Thess, A., Smalley, R.E. Single-electron transport in ropes of carbon nanotubes . Science 275(5308) (1997), 1922-1925... 

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