Cotunneling mechanism of single-electron shuttling

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron transport via a shuttle in the Coulomb blockade regime, focusing on cotunneling as the primary mechanism during shuttle movement, and extends the Anderson tunneling model to this scenario.

Contribution

It generalizes the Anderson-like tunneling model to describe cotunneling in a shuttle system and calculates the conductance in the adiabatic regime.

Findings

Electron transport occurs mainly through cotunneling when the shuttle approaches the electrodes.

The tunneling conductance is derived for the adiabatic regime of shuttle motion.

Non-adiabatic effects are briefly discussed.

Abstract

The problem of electron transport by means of a dumbbell shaped shuttle in strong Coulomb blockade regime is solved. The electrons may be shuttled only in the cotunneling regime during the time spans when both shoulders of the shuttle approach the metallic banks. The conventional Anderson-like tunneling model is generalized for this case and the tunneling conductance is calculated in the adiabatic regime of slow motion of the shuttle. Non-adiabatic corrections are briefly discussed.