Temperature dependence of electron transport through a quantum shuttle

TL;DR

This paper investigates how temperature affects electron transport in a quantum shuttle, revealing diverse behaviors from 1/T decrease to exponential growth, and compares theoretical results with experimental molecular data.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics of a quantum shuttle below the instability threshold, highlighting new transport behaviors.

Findings

Current exhibits pronounced steps at low temperature.

Temperature dependence varies from 1/T decay to exponential growth.

Results align with experimental data on molecular electron transport.

Abstract

We analyze electron transport through a quantum shuttle for the applied voltage below the instability threshold. We obtain current-voltage characteristics of this system and show that at low temperature they exhibit pronounced steps. The temperature dependence of the current is calculated in the range from 2K to 300K and it demonstrates a wide variety of behavior - from 1/T decreasing to an exponential growth - depending on how deep the shuttle is in quantum regime. The results obtained are compared to experimental data on electron transport through long molecules.