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Auger relaxation in 2D strongly correlated electron gas can be represented as an Auger-like process for neutral magnetoplasmon excitations. The case of "dielectric" state with lack of free electrons (i.e. at integer filling $\nu$) is considered. Really the Auger-like process is a coalescence of two magnetoplasmons which are converted into a single one of a different plasmon mode with zero 2D wave-vector. This event turns out to be energetically allowed for magnetoplasmons near their roton minima where the spectrum has the infinite density of states. As a result the additional possibility appears for indirect observation of the magnetorotons by means of anti-Stokes Raman scattering. We find the rate of this process employing the technique of Excitonic Representation for the relevant matrix element calculation., Comment: 4 pages

The dephasing rate of an electron level in a quantum dot, placed next to a fluctuating edge current in the fractional quantum Hall effect, is considered. Using perturbation theory, we first show that this rate has an anomalous dependence on the bias voltage applied to the neighboring quantum point contact, because of the Luttinger liquid physics which describes the fractional Hall fluid. Next, we describe exactly the weak to strong backscattering crossover using the Bethe-Ansatz solution., Comment: Proceedings of the 6th Rencontres du Vietnam (2006)

We calculate the transfer rate of correlations from polarization entangled photons to the collective spin of a many-electron state in a two-band system. It is shown that when a semiconductor absorbs pairs of photons from a two-mode squeezed vacuum, certain fourth order electron-photon processes correlate the spins of the excited electron pairs of different quasi-momenta. Different distributions of the quantum Stokes vector of the light lead to either enhancement or reduction of the collective spin correlations, depending on the symmetry of the distribution. We find that as the squeezing of the light becomes non-classical, the spin correlations exhibit a crossover from being positive with a $\sim N^2$ ($N$ is average photon number) scaling, to being negative with $\sim N$ scaling, even when $N$ is not small. Negative spin correlations mean a preponderance of spin singlets in the optically generated state. We discuss the possibility to measure the collective spin correlations in a combined measurement of the Faraday rotation fluctuation spectrum and excitation density in a steady-state configuration., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We report the observation of an unpredicted behavior of interfering 2D electrons in the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) regime via a utilization of an electronic analog of the well-known Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The beauty of this experiment lies in the simplicity of two path interference. Electrons that travel the two paths via edge channels, feel only the edge potential and the strong magnetic field; both typical in the IQHE regime. Yet, the interference of these electrons via the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect, behaves surprisingly in a most uncommon way. We found, at filling factors 1 and 2, high visibility interference oscillations, which were strongly modulated by a lobe-type structure as we increased the electron injection voltage. The visibility went through a few maxima and zeros in between, with the phase of the AB oscillations staying constant throughout each lobe and slipping abruptly by at each zero. The lobe pattern and the 'stick-slip' behavior of the phase were insensitive to details of the interferometer structure; but highly sensitive to magnetic field. The observed periodicity defines a 'new energy scale' with an unclear origin. The phase rigidity, on the other hand, is surprising since Onsager relations are not relevant here., Comment: 21 pages, including 5 figures

We measure the absorption spectrum of a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) in a GaAs quantum well in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. We focus on the absorption spectrum into the lowest Landau Level around nu=1. We find that the spectrum consists of bound electron-hole complexes, trion and exciton like. We show that their oscillator strength is a powerful probe of the 2DES spatial correlations. We find that near nu=1 the 2DES ground state consists of Skyrmions of small size (a few magnetic lengths)., Comment: To be published in Phys Rev Lett. To be presented in ICSP2004, Flagstaff, Arizona. 4 figures (1 of them in color). 5 pages

The shakeup emission spectrum in a two-dimensional electron gas in a strong magnetic field is calculated analytically. The case of a localized photocreated hole is studied and the calculations are performed with a Nozieres-De Dominicis-like Hamiltonian. The hole potential is assumed to be small compared to the cyclotron energy and is therefore treated as a perturbation. Two competing many-body effects, the shakeup of the electron gas in the optical transition, and the excitonic effect, contribute to the shakeup satellite intensities. It is shown, that the range of the hole potential essentially influences the shakeup spectrum. For a short range interaction the above mentioned competition is more important and results in the shakeup emission quenching when electrons occupy only the lowest Landau level. When more than one Landau level is filled, the intensities of the shakeup satellites change with magnetic field nonmonotonically. If the interaction is long range, the Fermi sea shakeup processes dominate. Then, the satellite intensities smoothly decrease when the magnetic field increases and there is no suppression of the shakeup spectrum when the only lowest Landau level is filled. It is shown also that a strong hole localization is not a necessary condition for the SU spectrum to be observed. If the hole localization length is not small compared to the magnetic length, the SU spectrum still exists. Only the number of contributions to the SU spectrum reduces and the shakeup processes are always dominant., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures

Quantum fluctuations in a current biased Josephson junction, described in terms of the RCSJ-model, are considered. The fluctuations of the voltage and phase across the junction are assumed to be initiated by equilibrium current fluctuations in the shunting resistor. This corresponds to low enough temperatures, when fluctuations of the normal current in the junction itself can be neglected. We used the quantum Langevin equation in terms of random variables related to the limit cycle of the nonlinear Josephson oscillator. This allows to go beyond the perturbation theory and calculate the widths of the Josephson radiation lines.

Consider two Fermi gases with the same {\it average} currents: a transport gas, as in solid-state experiments where the chemical potentials of terminal 1 is $\mu+eV$ and of terminal 2 and 3 is $\mu$, and a beam, i.e., electrons entering only from terminal 1 having energies between $\mu$ and $\mu+eV$. By expressing the current noise as a sum over single-particle transitions we show that the temporal current fluctuations are very different: The beam is noisier due to allowed single-particle transitions into empty states below $\mu$. Surprisingly, the correlations between terminals 2 and 3 are the same., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

Current quantum noise can be pictured as a sum over transitions through which the electronic system exchanges energy with its environment. We formulate this picture and use it to show which type of current correlators are measurable, and in what measurement the zero point fluctuations will play a role (the answer to the latter is as expected: only if the detector excites the system.) Using the above picture, we calculate and give physical interpretation of the finite-frequency finite-temperature current noise in a noninteracting Landauer-type system, where the chemical potentials of terminals 1 and 2 are $\mu+eV/2$ and $\mu-eV/2$ respectively, and derive a detailed-balance condition for this nonequilibrium system. Finally, we derive a generalized form of the Kubo formula for a wide class of interacting nonequilibrium systems, relating the differential conductivity to the current noise., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, contribution to the Proceedings of the 2001 Recontres de Moriond: Electronic Correlations: from Meso- to Nanophysics, T. Martin, G. Montambaux and J. Tran Thanh Van eds. EDPScience 2001

Consider a measurement in which the current coming out of a mesoscopic sample is filtered around a given frequency, amplified, measured and squared. Then this process is repeated many times and the results are averaged. Often, two such measurements are performed on the same system in and out of equilibrium (the nonequilibrium state can be obtained by a variety of methods, e.g., by applying a DC voltage or electromagnetic radiation to the sample). The excess noise is defined as the difference in the noise between these two measurements. We find that this excess noise is given by the excess of the non-symmetrized power-spectrum of the current-noise. This result holds for a rather general class of experimental setups., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; contribution to "Quantum Noise" (Ya. M. Blanter and Yu. V. Nazarov, eds.)

We calculate the orbital magnetic response to Aharonov Bohm flux of disordered metallic rings with attractive pairing interaction. We consider the reduced BCS model, and obtain the result as an expansion of its exact solution to first order in the interaction. We emphasize the connection between the large magnetic response and the finite occupation of high energy levels in the many-body ground state of the ring., Comment: 10 pages, contribution to MS+S2002

Unlike bulk superconductivity, where one energy scale, the energy gap, characterizes pairing correlations, we show that in small superconducting grains there exist two different such quantities. The first characterizes cumulative properties of the grain, such as the condensation energy, and the second single-particle properties. To describe these two energy scales, we define two corresponding pairing parameters, and show that although both reduce to the bulk gap for large grains, this occurs at different size scales., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. B

We calculate the orbital linear magnetic response of disordered metallic rings to an Aharonov-Bohm flux using the BCS model for attractive electron-electron interaction. The contribution of all levels including those up to a high energy cutoff results in a much larger value than previously obtained using the local interaction model. The possible relevance of our results to the resolution of the discrepancy between the experimental and theoretical values for the ensemble-averaged persistent currents in these systems is discussed., Comment: Submitted to PRL

A confined system of non-interacting electrons, subject to the combined effect of a time-dependent potential and different external chemical-potentials, is considered. The current flowing through such a system is obtained for arbitrary strengths of the modulating potential, using the adiabatic approximation in an iterative manner. A new formula is derived for the charge pumped through an un-biased system (all external chemical potentials are kept at the same value); It reproduces the Brouwer formula for a two-terminal nanostructure. The formalism presented yields the effect of the chemical potential bias on the pumped charge on one hand, and the modification of the Landauer formula (which gives the current in response to a constant chemical-potential difference) brought about by the modulating potential on the other. Corrections to the adiabatic approximation are derived and discussed., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

After briefly reviewing the Fano effect, we explain why it may be relevant to various types of Aharonov-Bohm interferometers. We discuss both closed (electron conserving) and open interferometers, in which one path contains either a simple quantum dot or a decorated quantum dot (with more than one internal state or a parallel path). The possible relevance to some hitherto unexplained experimental features is also discussed., Comment: 15 pages

Aharonov-Bohm mesoscopic solid-state interferometers yield a conductance which contains a term $\cos(\phi+\beta)$, where $\phi$ relates to the magnetic flux. Experiments with a quantum dot on one of the interfering paths aim to relate $\beta$ to the dot's intrinsic Friedel transmission phase, $\alpha_1$. For closed systems, which conserve the electron current (unitarity), the Onsager relation requires that $\beta=0$. For open systems, we show that $\beta$ depends in general on the details of the broken unitarity. Although it gives information on the resonances of the dot, $\beta$ is generally not equal to $\alpha_1$. A direct relation between $\beta$ and $\alpha_1$ requires specific ways of opening the system, which are discussed., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures(eps). Phys. Rev. Letters (in press)

The acoustoelectric current, J, induced in a ballistic point contact (PC) by a surface acoustic wave is calculated in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field, B. It is found that the dependence of the current on the Fermi energy in the terminals is strongly correlated with that of the PC conductance: J is small at the conductance plateaus, and is large at the steps. Like the conductance, the acoustoelectric current has the same functional behavior as in the absence of the field, but with renormalized energy scales, which depend on the strength of the magnetic field, | B|., Comment: 7 pages

We investigate the phenomenon of reflectionless tunneling in ballistic normal-metal--superconductor (NS) structures, using a semiclassical formalism. It is shown that applied magnetic field and superconducting phase difference both impair the constructive interference leading to this effect, but in a qualitatively different way. This is manifested both in the conductance and in the shot noise properties of the system considered. Unlike diffusive systems, the features of the conductance are sharp, and enable fine spatial control of the current, as well as single channel manipulations. We discuss the possibility of conducting experiments in ballistic semiconductor-superconductor structures with smooth interfaces and some of the phenomena, specific to such structures, that could be measured. A general criterion for the barrier at NS interfaces, though large, to be effectively transparent to pair current is obtained., Comment: published version

The magnetic character of the ground-state of two electrons on a double quantum dot, connected in series to left and right single-channel leads, is considered. By solving exactly for the spectrum of the two interacting electrons, it is found that the coupling to the continuum of propagating states on the leads, in conjunction with the electron-electron interactions, may result in a delocalization of the bound state of the two electrons. This, in turn, reduces significantly the range of the Coulomb interaction parameters over which singlet-triplet transitions can be realized. It is also found that the coupling to the leads favors the singlet ground-state., Comment: 8 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. B

The dc Josephson effect is considered from the thermodynamic point of view. Universal thermodynamic equations, relating both bound and continuum contributions to the Josephson current with the normal electron scattering amplitudes are derived for the single mode case. To derive these equations we use and further develop the method of spatial separation between the superconducting and normal parts of the junction. We also use this method to find the Andreev bound states in structures containing superconducting components. The general thermodynamic formulas are applied to the calculation of the current in various Josephson-type structures. In particular, the crucial role of the continuum contribution is demonstrated, even for short junctions (where it is usually neglected). We also find structures where the bound states supporting the giant currents are well separated; thus they can, hopefully, be populated nonuniformly and such current can be measured., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures

The reduced BCS Hamiltonian for a metallic grain with a finite number of electrons is considered. The crossover between the ultrasmall regime, in which the level spacing, $d$, is larger than the bulk superconducting gap, $\Delta$, and the small regime, where $\Delta \gtrsim d$, is investigated analytically and numerically. The condensation energy, spin magnetization and tunneling peak spectrum are calculated analytically in the ultrasmall regime, using an approximation controlled by $1/\ln N$ as small parameter, where $N$ is the number of interacting electron pairs. The condensation energy in this regime is perturbative in the coupling constant $\lambda$, and is proportional to $d N \lambda^2 = \lambda^2 \omega_D$. We find that also in a large regime with $\Delta>d$, in which pairing correlations are already rather well developed, the perturbative part of the condensation energy is larger than the singular, BCS, part. The condition for the condensation energy to be well approximated by the BCS result is found to be roughly $\Delta > \sqrt{d \omega_D}$. We show how the condensation energy can, in principle, be extracted from a measurement of the spin magnetization curve, and find a re-entrant susceptibility at zero temperature as a function of magnetic field, which can serve as a sensitive probe for the existence of superconducting correlations in ultrasmall grains. Numerical results are presented which suggest that in the large $N$ limit the 1/N correction to the BCS result for the condensation energy is larger than $\Delta$., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev. B

Fluctuations in the acoustoelectric current, induced by a surface acoustic wave propagating along a ballistic quantum channel, are considered. We focus on the large wave-amplitude case, in which it has been experimentally found that the current is quantized, and analyze the noise spectrum. A phenomenological description of the process, in terms of a random pulse sequence, is proposed. The important ingredients of this description are the probabilities, p_n, for a surface acoustic wave well to capture n electrons. It is found that from the noise characteristics one can obtain these probabilities, and also estimate the typical length scales of the regions in which the electrons are trapped., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

We consider pumping through a small quantum dot separated from the leads by two point contacts, whose conductances, $G_{1}$ and $G_{2}$, serve as pumping parameters. When the dot is pincched, we find that there is a "resonance line" in the parameter plane $\{G_{1}, G_{2}\}$ along which the Fermi energy in the leads aligns with the energy of the quasi-bound state in the quantum dot. When $G_{1}$ and $G_{2}$ are modulated periodically and adiabatically such that the pumping contour defined by $G_{1}=G_{1}(t)$ and $ G_{2}=G_{2}(t)$ encircles the resonance line, the current is quantized: the charge pumped through the dot during each period of the modulation is close to a single electronic charge., Comment: 4 pages, LaTex

We present exact solutions for two interacting electrons on an artificial atom and on an artificial molecule made by one and two (single level) quantum dots connected by ideal leads. Specifically, we calculate the accumulated charge on the dots as function of the gate voltage, for various strengths of the electron-electron interaction and of the hybridization between the dots and the (one-dimensional) leads. With increasing of the (negative) gate voltage, the accumulated charge in the two-electron ground state increases in gradual steps from 0 to 1 and then to 2. The value 0 represents an "insulating" state, where both electrons are bound to shallow states on the impurities. The value of 1 corresponds to a "metal", with one electron localized on the dots and the other extended on the leads. The value of 2 corresponds to another "insulator", with both electrons strongly localized. The width of the "metallic" regime diverges with strength of the electron-electron interaction for the single dot, but remains very narrow for the double dot. These results are contrasted with the simple Coulomb blockade picture., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

The dc current induced by a coherent surface acoustic wave (SAW) of wave vector q in a ballistic channel of length L is calculated. The current contains two contributions, even and odd in q. The even current exists only in a asymmetric channel, when the electron reflection coefficients r_1 and r_2 at both channel ends are different. The direction of the even current does not depend on the direction of the SAW propagation, but is reversed upon interchanging r_1 and r_2. The direction of the odd current is correlated with the direction of the SAW propagation, but is insensitive to the interchange of r_1 and r_2. It is shown that both contributions to the current are non zero only when the electron reflection coefficients at the channel ends are energy dependent. The current exhibits geometric oscillations as function of qL. These oscillations are the hallmark of the coherence of the SAW and are completely washed out when the current is induced by a flux of non-coherent phonons. The results are compared with those obtained previously by different methods and under different assumptions., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures

The acoustoelectric current induced by a surface acoustic wave (SAW) in a ballistic quantum point contact is considered using a quantum approach. We find that the current is of the "pumping" type and is not related to drag, i.e. to the momentum transfer from the wave to the electron gas. At gate voltages corresponding to the plateaus of the quantized conductance the current is small. It is peaked at the conductance step voltages. The peak current oscillates and decays with increasing SAW wavenumber for short wavelengths. These results contradict previous calculations, based on the classical Boltzmann equation., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

The transmission of two electrons through a region where they interact is found to be enhanced by a renormalization of the repulsive interaction. For a specific example of the single-particle Hamiltonian, which includes a strongly attractive potential, the renormalized interaction becomes attractive, and the transmission has a pronounced maximum as function of the depth of the single-electron attractive potential. The results apply directly to a simple model of scattering of two interacting electrons by a quantum dot., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures

The eigenstates and the scattering transmission for two interacting electrons are found exactly for I quantum dots, including the hybridization with the states on the leads. The results imply limitations on the validity of the Coulomb blockade picture. The ground states for I=1, and 2 on a one--dimensional chain (modeling single and double quantum dots) exhibit quantum delocalization and magnetic transitions. The effective transmission T of two interacting electrons through one impurity (I=1) is enhanced by a renormalization of the repulsive interaction, when one of the electrons is captured in a strongly localized state.

We calculate the dephasing rate of an electron state in a pinched quantum dot, due to Coulomb interactions between the electron in the dot and electrons in a nearby voltage biased ballistic nanostructure. The dephasing is caused by nonequilibrium time fluctuations of the electron density in the nanostructure, which create random electric fields in the dot. As a result, the electron level in the dot fluctuates in time, and the coherent part of the resonant transmission through the dot is suppressed.

Relaxation of collective plasmon inter-Landau-level excitation is determined by emission of LO-phonons or by Auger-like processes when this emission is suppressed off the magneto-phonon resonance conditions. The decay of "one-cyclotron" magneto-plasmons with wave-vectors near the roton minimum is studied under the condition of filling $\nu=1$. Some features of this relaxation should be helpful for the experimental detection of the magneto-rotons in a strongly correlated 2D electron gas., Comment: Published: Physica E 5, 153-156 (2000)

We propose a new approach to calculate current and current correlations in a ballistic quantum point contact interacting with a classical field. The approach is based on the concept of scattering states for a time dependent Hamiltonian neglecting electron-electron interaction. Using this approach we calculated the spectra of the current noise in a biased point contact irradiated by a weak random field. For typical radiation frequencies \nu less than the temperature T and the bias voltage V we find a narrow peak of width \nu on top of a broad background of width \max (T,eV)., Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, no figures

We describe the interaction of surface acoustic waves with electrons in an array of quantum wires, patterned out of a two dimensional electron gas. Two specific geometries are considered, in which the surface acoustic wave travels parallel, or perpendicular to the wires. Although we assume the electron wave functions in different wires do not overlap, the screening of the phonon potential by the electrons in the wire array is a collective phenomenon. It is shown that the surface acoustic wave absorption cannot be described via the ac conductivity in the usual manner. We derive an integral equation for the dielectric function of the electrons in the quantum wire system, and solve it in the narrow wire approximation. Using the dielectric function we find the absorption and the change in velocity of the surface acoustic waves., Comment: REVTeX, 8 pages, no figures

We study the effect of a periodic density modulation on surface acoustic wave (SAW) propagation along a 2D electron gas near Landau level filling $\nu=1/2$. Within the composite fermion theory, the problem is described in terms of fermions subject to a spatially modulated magnetic field and scattered by a random magnetic field. We find that a few percent modulation induces a large peak in the SAW velocity shift, as has been observed recently by Willett et al. As further support of this theory we find the dc resistivity to be in good agreement with recent data of Smet et al., Comment: revised version resubmitted to PRL. Part concerning dc transport corrected and extended. A new figure showing dc resistivity in comparison with experiment of Smet et al included

The interaction of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) with a a two-dimensional electron gas in a periodic electric potential and a classical magnetic field is considered. We calculate the attenuation of the SAW and its velocity change and show that these quantities exhibit Weiss oscillations., Comment: 4 pages REVTEX, 2 figures included as eps files

We consider the influence of spin effects on the inter-Landau level electron-electron scattering rate in a two-dimensional electron gas. Due to the exchange spin splitting, the Landau levels are not equidistant. This leads to the suppresion of Auger processes and a nonlinear dependence of the lifetime on the concentration of the excited electrons even at very low excitation levels., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

The effect of the barrier on the proximity effect in normal-superconductor junction is analyzed. A general criterion for the barrier, though large, to be effectively transparent, is given. This criterion is applied to both the conductance of a disordered NS junction (reflectionless tunneling) and the density of states across it, showing that both phenomena stem from the same physical effect., Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 2 figures. References added, introduction revised

A recipe for the generalization of the Boltzmann equation to a quantum kinetic equation is given for cases in which only level shift and broadening are considered, while coherence phenomena can be neglected. We also consider a specific problem: Hot luminescence from a quantum wire near the threshold for optical phonon emission. The problem is first discussed within the framework of the Boltzmann equation. After pointing out the failure of this description, the Boltzmann equations are generalized to a set of quantum kinetic equations, which in turn are solved in order to describe the luminescence spectra., Comment: 35 pages, REVTeX, with 6 figures

The Hall conductivity and resistivity of strongly localized electrons at low temperatures and at small magnetic fields are obtained. It is found that the results depend on whether the conductivity or the resistivity tensors are averaged to obtain the macroscopic Hall resistivity. In the second case the Hall resistivity always {\it diverges} exponentially as the temperature tends to zero. But when the Hall resistivity is derived from the averaged conductivity, the resulting temperature dependence is sensitive to the disorder configuration. Then the Hall resistivity may approach a constant value as $T\to 0$. This is the Hall insulating behavior. It is argued that for strictly dc conditions, the transport quantity that should be averaged is the resistivity., Comment: Latex