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arXiv:cond-mat/0512315 · Physical Review Letters

Signatures of a Noise-Induced Quantum Phase Transition in a Mesoscopic Metal Ring

Ning-Hua Tong, Matthias Vojta C

Published Jul 7, 2006• 60 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study a mesoscopic ring with an inline quantum dot threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm flux. Zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic environment capacitively coupled to the ring, with omega(s) spectral density, can suppress tunneling through the dot, resulting in a quantum phase transition from an unpolarized to a polarized phase. We show that robust signatures of such a transition can be found in the response of the persistent current in the ring to the external flux as well as to the bias between the dot and the arm. Particular attention is paid to the experimentally relevant cases of Ohmic (s = 1) and sub-Ohmic (s = 1/2) noise.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.97.016802

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We study a mesoscopic ring with an inline quantum dot threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm flux. Zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic environment capacitively coupled to the ring, with omega(s) spectral density, can suppress tunneling through the dot, resulting in a quantum phase transition from an unpolarized to a polarized phase. We show that robust signatures of such a transition can be found in the response of the persistent current in the ring to the external flux as well as to the bias between the dot and the arm. Particular attention is paid to the experimentally relevant cases of Ohmic (s = 1) and sub-Ohmic (s = 1/2) noise.
A three-site mesoscopic ring provides an ideal setting for an exact calculation of the bond current when the ring is threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm flux. The bond current is a measurable outcome of the coherent properties of the quantum phase. However the coherence is impeded by noise when the ring is put in contact with an environment. This coherence-to-incoherence transition is analyzed in detail here for both classical (Gaussian and telegraphic) and quantum noise and a comparative assessment is made when the quantum noise is governed by a spin-boson Hamiltonian of dissipative quantum mechanics.
Vacuum fluctuations are a source of irreversibility and decoherence. We investigate the persistent current and its fluctuations in a ring with an in-line quantum dot with an Aharonov-Bohm flux through the hole of the ring. The Coulomb blockade leads to persistent current peaks at values of the gate voltage at which two charge states of the dot have the same free energy. We couple the structure to an external circuit and investigate the effect of the zero-temperature (vacuum fluctuations) on the ground state of the ring. We find that the ground state of the ring undergoes a crossover from a state with an average persistent current much larger than the (time-dependent) mean squared fluctuations to a state with a small average persistent current and large mean squared fluctuations. We discuss the spectral density of charge fluctuations and discuss diffusion rates for angle variables characterizing the ground state in Bloch representation.
Mesoscopic multiply connected samples such as conducting rings, cylinders or tori exhibit quantum size phenomena originating from the Aharonov–Bohm effects. One of the most spectacular phenomena is a persistent current [1] which is a direct manifestation of quantum phase coherence of the current carriers over a mesoscopic length scale. At a non-zero temperature, T > 0, the phase coherence of carriers is weakened and the samples exhibit the dissipative Ohmic contribution to the total current. There is a regime of temperatures in which both phase-coherent and dissipative Ohmic currents coexist. Such currents generate a magnetic flux. Its properties can be studied via modelling based on kinetic equations like Langevin equations [2]. The long-time, steady states of the magnetic flux are characterized by properties of the stationary probability density obtained from the corresponding Langevin equation. For instance, if the stationary probability density is bimodal, i.e., it has two maxima it reflects the possibility of occurrence of non-zero magnetic fluxes and in consequence the currents. One can notice an obvious analogy to the Josephson-based flux qubits [3]. There are serious advantages for using non-superconducting samples like rings as a building blocks for qubit storage because due to a small size they seem to be more stable with respect to decoherence and dephasing [4]. For higher temperatures, when __________
We investigate the effect of local charge detection in an Aharonov-Bohm ring composed of NNN identical coupled quantum dots. It is found that the single-electron persistent current of the ring is not fully suppressed in the limit of perfect charge detection except for the case of N=2N=2N=2. This property is analyzed for a single electron in the number-state representation. We point out that the nonvanishing persistent current can be understood in terms of the single-electron entanglement in the number-state representation. In addition, we find that the local charge detection may produce a finite persistent current even in the absence of the external magnetic fields.
For a two-terminal modified Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring with a quantum dot inserted in one arm and threaded by a magnetic flux, the phase rigidity is observed experimentally in the linear response regime, and also established theoretically. We show that this phase rigidity can be broken, even in the linear response regime, by applying a time-varying field on the dot, together with the magnetic flux through the AB ring. This provides another way of observing the continuous variation of the transmission phase through a two-terminal mesoscopic system.
Using state-of-the-art numerical techniques, we investigate how quantum phase fluctuations and quasiparticle tunneling shape the behavior of a small-capacitance Josephson junction across Ohmic, sub-Ohmic, and super-Ohmic dissipation regimes. We show that increasing the Ohmic dissipation strength drives a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless quantum phase transition at thermodynamic equilibrium. Deviations from Ohmic behavior profoundly alter this scenario: the super-Ohmic regime exhibits no phase transition, whereas the sub-Ohmic regime displays a continuous second-order transition, consistent with the universality classes of the spin-boson model. Within the Ohmic regime, real-frequency linear-response calculations reveal that the phase particle does not undergo the commonly assumed diffusive-to-localized crossover. Instead, finite resistance progressively suppresses the singular zero-frequency response, producing a ballistic-to-localized change in the dynamics. At finite frequencies, coupling to the environment generates a long-lived excitation in the charge response, which evolves into a resonance as the subgap and shunt resistances are reduced.