Multi-mode Coulomb blockade oscillations

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive theory of Coulomb blockade oscillations in mesoscopic devices with multiple charging modes, covering various operational regimes and their experimental signatures.

Contribution

It introduces a unified theoretical framework for Coulomb blockade oscillations in multi-mode systems, including regime crossovers and mode vanishing scenarios.

Findings

Distinctive oscillation features in different regimes

Full crossover theory among quantum, thermal, and mixed regimes

Effects of vanishing charging modes on oscillation patterns

Abstract

We develop a theory of Coulomb blockade oscillations in transport and thermodynamic properties of a mesoscopic device having multiple charging energy modes. This setup can be realized using a nanoelectronic circuit comprising coupled hybrid metal-semiconductor islands. We show that this device can have various distinctive operational regimes depending on the strength of charging modes and base temperature. We focus on three different regimes; quantum regime, thermal regime and quantum-thermal mixed regime, in which the shape of the Coulomb blockade oscillations manifests well-defined features that can be accessed via conductance measurements. Our theory covers full crossover among these regimes, and also accounts for an accidental vanishing of one of the charging modes.