Two-electron n-p double quantum dots in carbon nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron states in n-p double quantum dots in carbon nanotubes, revealing unique exchange interactions and energy degeneracies influenced by external potentials and magnetic fields.

Contribution

It introduces an exact diagonalization approach within a tight-binding model to analyze electron pairing and exchange effects in n-p quantum dots in CNTs, accounting for intervalley scattering.

Findings

Exchange interaction is limited to specific states and magnetic field intervals.

Ground-state energy remains four-fold degenerate at zero magnetic field.

Energy levels are unaffected by strong tunnel coupling in the n-p system.

Abstract

We consider electron states in n-p double quantum dots defined in a semiconducting carbon nanotube (CNT) by an external potential. We describe formation of extended single-electron orbitals originating from the conduction and valence bands confined in a minimum and a maximum of the external potential, respectively. We solve the problem of a confined electron pair using an exact diagonalization method within the tight-binding approach, which allows for a straightforward treatment of the conduction and valence band states, keeping an exact account for the intervalley scattering mediated by the atomic defects and the electron-electron interaction. The exchange interaction - which in the unipolar double dots is nearly independent of the axial magnetic field (B) and forms singlet-like and triplet-like states - in the n-p system appears only for selected states and narrow intervals of B. In particular the ground-state energy level of a n-p double dot is not split by the exchange interaction and remains four-fold degenerate at zero magnetic field also for a strong tunnel coupling between the dots.