Phonon Rabi-assisted tunneling in diatomic molecules

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions influence electronic transport in diatomic molecules, revealing Rabi-like splitting and temperature effects in conductance due to phonon-assisted tunneling.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of phonon Rabi-assisted tunneling in diatomic molecules considering both Coulomb and electron-phonon interactions, highlighting unique resonant phenomena.

Findings

Rabi-like splitting of Coulomb blockade peaks observed

Strong temperature dependence of conductance under resonant conditions

Competition between interactions creates unique interlevel transition conditions

Abstract

We study electronic transport in diatomic molecules connected to metallic contacts in the regime where both electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions are important. We find that the competition between these interactions results in unique resonant conditions for interlevel transitions and polaron formation: the Coulomb repulsion requires additional energy when electrons attempt phonon-assisted interlevel jumps between fully or partially occupied levels. We apply the equations of motion approach to calculate the electronic Green's functions. The density of states and conductance through the system are shown to exhibit interesting Rabi-like splitting of Coulomb blockade peaks and strong temperature dependence under the it interacting resonant conditions.