Transport through a quantum wire with a side quantum-dot array

TL;DR

This paper analyzes electron transport in a quantum wire with a side-coupled quantum-dot array, revealing interference effects, an odd-even parity in conductance, and explicit relations between system spectrum and transport properties.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of conductance oscillations and parity effects in a noninteracting quantum-dot array coupled to a quantum wire, with explicit spectral relations.

Findings

Conductance exhibits oscillating bands with resonances and antiresonances.

Odd number of quantum dots leads to zero conductance, even number yields quantized conductance.

Explicit relation between conductance features and the spectrum of the isolated quantum-dot array.

Abstract

A noninteracting quantum-dot array side-coupled to a quantum wire is studied. Transport through the quantum wire is investigated by using a noninteracting Anderson tunneling Hamiltonian. The conductance at zero temperature develops an oscillating band with resonances and antiresonances due to constructive and destructive interference in the ballistic channel, respectively. Moreover, we have found an odd-even parity in the system, whose conductance vanishes for an odd number of quantum dots while becomes $2e^2/h$ for an even number. We established an explicit relation between this odd-even parity, and the positions of the resonances and antiresonances of the conductivity with the spectrum of the isolated QD array