Universal zero-bias conductance through a quantum wire side-coupled to a quantum dot

TL;DR

This study uses numerical renormalization-group methods to analyze the conductance in a quantum wire with a side-coupled quantum dot, revealing universal behavior and interference effects controlled by gate potential.

Contribution

It demonstrates a universal mapping for conductance in the Kondo regime and elucidates the control of conductance via gate potential in a side-coupled quantum dot system.

Findings

Conductance varies from nearly zero to nearly ballistic with temperature changes.

Gate potential controls the dominant conduction path and conductance behavior.

Fano antiresonance indicates interference effects in the system.

Abstract

A numerical renormalization-group study of the conductance through a quantum wire side-coupled to a quantum dot is reported. The temperature and the dot-energy dependence of the conductance are examined in the light of a recently derived linear mapping between the Kondo-regime temperature-dependent conductance and the universal function describing the conductance for the symmetric Anderson model of a quantum wire with an embedded quantum dot. Two conduction paths, one traversing the wire, the other a bypass through the quantum dot, are identified. A gate potential applied to the quantum wire is shown to control the flow through the bypass. When the potential favors transport through the wire, the conductance in the Kondo regime rises from nearly zero at low temperatures to nearly ballistic at high temperatures. When it favors the dot, the pattern is reversed: the conductance decays from nearly ballistic to nearly zero. When the fluxes through the two paths are comparable, the conductance is nearly temperature-independent in the Kondo regime, and a Fano antiresonance in the fixed-temperature plot of the conductance as a function of the dot energy signals interference. Throughout the Kondo regime and, at low temperatures, even in the mixed-valence regime, the numerical data are in excellent agreement with the universal mapping.