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We study the interplay between the Kondo and superconducting (SC) proximity effects, taking place in a triangular triple quantum dot (TTQD) connected to one normal and two SC leads. This system shows various quantum phases. Without the SC leads, the lowest two states that belong to the different spin sectors, $S=0$ and $S=1/2$, become energetically very close to each other near half filling. The singlet one is a Kondo-screened state by conduction electrons from the normal lead, and the doublet one is a resonating valence bond state with unpaired free spin which remains unscreened. Furthermore, when one additional electron enters the TTQD, the ground state becomes a doublet in which the $S=1$ local moment due to the Nagaoka ferromagnetism is partially screened by conduction electrons.The Cooper pairs penetrating into the TTQD from the SC leads reconstruct the wavefunctions and vary the phase boundaries between these quantum states in the parameter space. We calculate ground-state phase diagrams using the numerical renormalization group, and show that the SC proximity effect induces a reentrant transition in-between the three- and four-electron fillings., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

We study the nonlocal magnetotransport through a strongly correlated quantum dot, connected to multiple terminals consisting of two normal and one superconducting (SC) leads. Specifically, we present a comprehensive view on the interplay between the crossed Andreev reflection (CAR), the Kondo effect, and the Zeeman splitting at zero temperature in the large SC gap limit. The ground state of this network shows an interesting variety, which varies continuously with the system parameters, such as the coupling strength $\Gamma_S^{}$ between the SC lead and the quantum dot, the Coulomb repulsion $U$, the impurity level $\varepsilon_d^{}$, and the magnetic field $b$. We show, using the many-body optical theorem which is derived from the Fermi-liquid theory, that the nonlocal conductance is determined by the transmission rate of the Cooper pairs $\mathcal{T}_{\mathrm{CP}}^{} = \frac{1}{4} \sin^2 \Theta\, \sin^2 \bigl(\delta_{\uparrow}+ \delta_{\downarrow})$ and that of the Bogoliubov particles $\mathcal{T}_{\mathrm{BG}}^{}= \frac{1}{2}\sum_{\sigma} \sin^2 \delta_{\sigma}^{}$. Here, $\delta_\sigma^{}$ is the phase shift of the renormalized Bogoliubov particles, and $\Theta \equiv \cot^{-1} (\xi_d^{}/ \Gamma_S^{})$ is the Bogoliubov-rotation angle in the Nambu pseudo spin space, with $\xi_d^{} =\varepsilon_d^{}+U/2$. It is also demonstrated, using Wilson's numerical renormalization group approach, that the CAR is enhanced in the crossover region between the Kondo regime and the SC-proximity-dominated regime at zero magnetic field. The magnetic fields induce another crossover between the Zeeman-dominated regime and the SC-dominated regime. We find that the CAR is enhanced and becomes less sensitive to magnetic fields in the SC-dominated regime close to the crossover region spreading over the angular range of $\pi/4 \lesssim \Theta \lesssim 3\pi/4$., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures

We study ground-state properties of a triangular triple quantum dot connected to two superconducting (SC) leads. In this system orbital motion along the triangular configuration causes various types of quantum phases, such as a Kondo effect with a four-fold degenerate state and the Nagaoka ferromagnetic mechanism, depending on the electron filling. The ground state also evolves as the Cooper pairs penetrate from the SC leads. We describe the phase diagram in a wide range of the parameter space, varying the gate voltage, the couplings between the dots and leads, and also the Josephson phase between the SC gaps. The results are obtained in the limit of large SC gap, carrying out exact diagonalization of an effective Hamiltonian. We also discuss a classification of the quantum states according to the fixed point of the Wilson numerical renormalization group (NRG). Furthermore, we show that the Bogoliubov zero-energy excitation determines the ground state of a $\pi$ Josephson junction at small electron fillings., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures. Typos have been corrected

We study low-energy transport through a quantum dot coupled to one normal and two superconducting (SC) leads in a junction of Y-shape. In this geometry a crossover between Kondo dominated and Cooper-pairing dominated states occurs by tuning the parameters such as the quantized energy level of the dot and the Josephson phase, which induces a supercurrent flowing between the two SC leads through the dot. Furthermore, Andreev scattering takes place at the interface between the dot and normal lead. The low-lying energy states of this system can be described by a local Fermi-liquid theory for interacting Bogoliubov particles. In a description based on an Anderson impurity model we calculate transport coefficients, renormalized parameters and spectral function, using Wilson's numerical renormalization group (NRG) approach, in the limit of large SC gap. Our results demonstrate how the Andreev resonance level approaches the Fermi level in the crossover region between Cooper-pairing singlet state and strong coupling situation as the impurity level or Josephson phase are varied. The strong coupling situation shows a Kondo effect with a significantly renormalized resonance width. The crossover is smeared when the coupling between the dot and normal lead is large. Furthermore, asymmetry in the Josephson junction suppresses the cancellations of the SC proximity for finite Josephson phase, and it favors the SC singlet state rather than the Kondo singlet., Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, some brief explanations are added

We study the Kondo effect in side-coupled double quantum dots with particular focus on the crossover between two distinct singlet ground states, using the numerical renormalization group. The crossover occurs as the quantized energy level of the embedded dot, which is connected directly to the leads, is varied. In the parameter region where the embedded dot becomes almost empty or doubly occupied, the local moment emerging in the other dot at the side of the path for the current is screened via a superexchange process by the conduction electrons tunneling through the embedded dot. In contrast, in the other region where the embedded dot is occupied by a single electron, the local moment emerges also in the embedded dot, and forms a singlet bond with the moment in the side dot. Furthermore, we derive two different Kondo Hamiltonians for these limits carrying out the Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, and show that they describe the essential feature of the screening for each case., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures

We study the interplay between the Kondo and Andreev-Josephson effects in a quantum dot coupled to one normal and two superconducting (SC) leads. In the large gap limit, the low-energy states of this system can be described exactly by a local Fermi liquid for the interacting Bogoliubov particles. The phase shift and the renormalized parameters for the Bogoliubov particles vary depending on the Josephson phase between the two SC leads. We explore the precise features of a crossover that occurs between the Kondo singlet and local Cooper-pairing states as the Josephson phase varies, using the numerical renormalization group approach., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, contribution to SCES 2011

Transport in an ideal two-dimensional quantum spin Hall device is dominated by the counterpropagating edge states of electrons with opposite spins, giving the universal value of the conductance, $2e^2/h$. We study the effect on the conductance of a magnetic impurity, which can backscatter an electron from one edge state to the other. In the case of isotropic Kondo exchange we find that the correction to the electrical conductance caused by such an impurity vanishes in the dc limit, while the thermal conductance does acquire a finite correction due to the spin-flip backscattering., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

Using the modified perturbation theory, we theoretically study the nonequilibrium Andreev transport through a quantum dot coupled to normal and superconducting leads (N-QD-S), which is strongly influenced by the Kondo and superconducting correlations. From the numerical calculation, we find that the renormalized couplings between the leads and the dot in the equilibrium states characterize the peak formation in the nonequilibrium differential conductance. In particular, in the Kondo regime, the enhancement of the Andreev transport via a Kondo resonance occurs in the differential conductance at a finite bias voltage, leading to an anomalous peak whose position is given by the renormalized parameters. In addition to the peak, we show that the energy levels of the Andreev bound states give rise to other peaks in the differential conductance in the strongly correlated N-QD-S system. All these features of the nonequilibrium transport are consistent with those in the recent experimental results [R. S. Deacon {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 104}, 076805 (2010); Phys. Rev. B {\bf 81}, 12308 (2010)]. We also find that the interplay of the Kondo and superconducting correlations induces an intriguing pinning effect of the Andreev resonances to the Fermi level and its counter position., Comment: 22 pages, 23 figures

The effective quantum pseudospin-1/2 model for interacting rare-earth magnetic moments, which are locally described with atomic doublets, is studied theoretically for magnetic pyrochlore oxides. It is derived microscopically for localized Pr^{3+} 4f moments in Pr_2TM_2O_7 (TM = Zr, Sn, Hf, and Ir) by starting from the atomic non-Kramers magnetic doublets and performing the strong-coupling perturbation expansion of the virtual electron transfer between the Pr 4f and O 2p electrons. The most generic form of the nearest-neighbor anisotropic superexchange pseudospin-1/2 Hamiltonian is also constructed from the symmetry properties, which is applicable to Kramers ions Nd^{3+}, Sm^{3+}, and Yb^{3+} potentially showing large quantum effects. The effective model is then studied by means of a classical mean-field theory and the exact diagonalization on a single tetrahedron and on a 16-site cluster. These calculations reveal appreciable quantum fluctuations leading to quantum phase transitions to a quadrupolar state as a melting of spin ice for the Pr^{3+} case. The model also shows a formation of cooperative quadrupole moment and pseudospin chirality on tetrahedrons. A sign of a singlet quantum spin ice is also found in a finite region in the space of coupling constants. The relevance to the experiments is discussed., Comment: 18 pages including 14 figures; Comparison with the magnetization curve on Pr2Ir2O7 included; to appear in Phys. Rev. B

We study the nonequilibrium transport through a quantum dot coupled to normal and superconducting leads. We use the modified second-order perturbation theory to calculate the differential conductance and the local density of states at the quantum dot. In the strong but finite Coulomb interaction regime, the differential conductance shows an anomalous peak not at a zero bias voltage but at a finite bias voltage. We also observe an additional Kondo resonance besides the normal one in the local density of states, where the former is caused by nonequilibrium Andreev tunneling via the normal Kondo resonance. We explain that this specific Andreev tunneling gives rise to the anomalous peak in the differential conductance. Since the Andreev tunneling via the Kondo resonance is suppressed with increasing temperature, the anomalous peak in the differential conductance disappears at high temperatures., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We study Andreev transport through double quantum dots connected in series normal and superconducting (SC) leads, using the numerical renormalization group. The ground state of this system shows a crossover between a local Cooper-pairing singlet state and a Kondo singlet state, which is caused by the competition between the Coulomb interaction and the SC proximity. We show that the ground-state properties reflect this crossover especially for small values of the inter-dot coupling $t$, while in the opposite case, for large $t$, another singlet with an inter-dot character becomes dominant. We find that the conductance for the local SC singlet state has a peak with the unitary-limit value $4e^2/h$. In contrast, the Andreev reflection is suppressed in the Kondo regime by the Coulomb interaction. Furthermore, the conductance has two successive peaks in the transient region of the crossover. It is further elucidated that the gate voltage gives a different variation into the crossover. Specifically, as the energy level of the dot that is coupled to the normal lead varies, the Kondo screening cloud is deformed to a long-range singlet bond., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures

A quantum melting of the spin ice is proposed for pyrochlore-lattice magnets Pr$_2TM_2$O$_7$ ($TM=$Ir, Zr, and Sn). The quantum superexchange Hamiltonian having a nontrivial magnetic anisotropy is derived in the basis of atomic non-Kramers magnetic doublets. The ground states exhibit a cooperative ferroquadrupole and pseudospin chirality, forming a magnetic analog of smectic liquid crystals. Our theory accounts for dynamic spin-ice behaviors experimentally observed in Pr$_2TM_2$O$_7$., Comment: 4 pages including 4 fgures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett.; powder-neutron scatteing profile added in favorable comparison with experiment

We study the transport through side-coupled double quantum dots, connected to normal and superconducting (SC) leads with a T-shape configuration. We find, using the numerical renormalization group, that the Coulomb interaction suppresses SC interference in the side dot, and enhances the conductance substantially in the Kondo regime. This behavior stands in total contrast to a wide Kondo valley seen in the normal transport. The SC proximity penetrating into the interfacial dot pushes the Kondo clouds, which screens the local moment in the side dot, towards the normal lead to make the singlet bond long. The conductance shows a peak of unitary limit as the cloud expands. Furthermore, two separate Fano structures appear in the gate-voltage dependence of the Andreev transport, where a single reduced plateau appears in the normal transport., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

We study transport through a quantum dot coupled to normal and superconducting leads using the numerical renormalization group method. We show that the low-energy properties of the system are described by the local Fermi liquid theory despite of the superconducting correlations penetrated into the dot due to a proximity effect. We calculate the linear conductance due to the Andreev reflection in the presence of the Coulomb interaction. It is demonstrated that the maximum structure appearing in the conductance clearly characterizes a crossover between two distinct spin-singlet ground states, i.e. the superconducting singlet state and the Kondo singlet state. It is further elucidated that the gate-voltage dependence of the conductance shows different behavior in the superconducting singlet region from that in the Kondo singlet region., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures; a typo in eq. (B.5) corrected, which does not affect any other results of the paper

We study transport through double quantum dots coupled to normal and superconducting leads, where the Andreev reflection plays a key role in determining characteristic transport properties. We shall discuss two typical cases, i.e. double dots with serial or parallel geometry. For the parallel geometry, the interference of electrons via multiple paths is induced, so that the transmission probability has Fano-type dip structures which are symmetric with respect to the Fermi energy. We also investigate the Aharonov-Bohm(AB) effect for the parallel geometry. In some particular situations, we find that the general AB period for double dots, 4$\pi$, is reduced to 2$\pi$., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the Proceedings of the International Symposium on Mesoscopic Superconductivity and Spintronics 2006

We investigate the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect for the double quantum dots in the Kondo regime using the slave-boson mean-field approximation. In contrast to the non-interacting case, where the AB oscillation generally has the period of 4$\pi$ when the two-subring structure is formed via the interdot tunneling $t_c$, we find that the AB oscillation has the period of 2$\pi$ in the Kondo regime. Such effects appear for the double quantum dots close to the T-shaped geometry even in the charge-fluctuation regime. These results follow from the fact that the Kondo resonance is always fixed to the Fermi level irrespective of the detailed structure of the bare dot-levels., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures; minor changes

We systematically investigate electron transport through double quantum dots with particular emphasis on interference induced via multiple paths of electron propagation. By means of the slave-boson mean-field approximation, we calculate the conductance, the local density of states, the transmission probability in the Kondo regime at zero temperature. It is clarified how the Kondo-assisted transport changes its properties when the system is continuously changed among the serial, parallel and T-shaped double dots. The obtained results for the conductance are explained in terms of the Kondo resonances influenced by interference effects. We also discuss the impacts due to the spin-polarization of ferromagnetic leads., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures ; minor corrections and references added

We investigate spin-polarized transport phenomena through double quantum dots coupled to ferromagnetic leads in series. By means of the slave-boson mean-field approximation, we calculate the conductance in the Kondo regime for two different configurations of the leads: spin-polarization of two ferromagnetic leads is parallel or anti-parallel. It is found that transport shows some remarkable properties depending on the tunneling strength between two dots. These properties are explained in terms of the Kondo resonances in the local density of states., Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures