Interaction-induced harmonic frequency mixing in quantum dots

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that electron interactions in quantum dots enable harmonic frequency mixing, providing a new spectroscopic method to probe correlations and enhance frequency conversion in nano-electronic devices.

Contribution

It reveals the dominant role of interactions in frequency mixing in quantum dots and offers explicit models for Anderson and phonon-mediated systems.

Findings

Interaction effects dominate harmonic mixing in quantum dots.

Frequency mixing can be used as a spectroscopic tool for correlations.

Potential for efficient frequency conversion in nano-devices.

Abstract

We show that harmonic frequency mixing in quantum dots coupled to two leads under the influence of time-dependent voltages of different frequency is dominated by interaction effects. This offers a unique and direct spectroscopic tool to access correlations, and holds promise for efficient frequency mixing in nano-devices. Explicit results are provided for an Anderson dot and for a molecular level with phonon-mediated interactions.