Rectification in Luttinger liquids

TL;DR

This paper studies how asymmetric potentials and strong electron interactions in Luttinger liquids lead to enhanced rectification effects, with asymmetric I-V characteristics and oscillatory behavior at higher voltages.

Contribution

It demonstrates that strong repulsive interactions in Luttinger liquids significantly enhance ratchet currents and induce asymmetric I-V curves even with weak asymmetry.

Findings

Strong repulsive interactions enhance ratchet current.

I-V curve is strongly asymmetric at low voltages.

Ratchet current oscillates at higher voltages.

Abstract

We investigate the rectification of an ac bias in Luttinger liquids in the presence of an asymmetric potential (the ratchet effect). We show that strong repulsive electron interaction enhances the ratchet current in comparison with Fermi liquid systems, and the I-V curve is strongly asymmetric in the low-voltage regime even for a weak asymmetric potential. At higher voltages the ratchet current exhibits an oscillatory voltage dependence.