Enhancing the conductance of a two-electron nanomechanical oscillator

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the conductance of a two-electron nanomechanical oscillator varies with system parameters, revealing enhanced conductance for the second electron and differing temperature dependencies, highlighting the impact of mechanical-electronic coupling.

Contribution

It introduces a model showing how asymmetry and external fields affect Coulomb blockade peaks in a nanomechanical oscillator, revealing new conductance behaviors.

Findings

Second electron conductance is greatly enhanced under external electric fields.

Coulomb blockade peaks exhibit different temperature dependencies.

Asymmetry in lead coupling affects the functional dependence of conductance.

Abstract

We consider electron transport through a mobile island (i.e., a nanomechanical oscillator) which can accommodate one or two excess electrons and show that, in contrast to immobile islands, the Coulomb blockade peaks, associated with the first and second electrons entering the island, have different functional dependences on the nano-oscillator parameters when the island coupling to its leads is asymmetric. In particular, the conductance for the second electron (i.e., when the island is already charged) is greatly enhanced in comparison to the conductance of the first electron in the presence of an external electric field. We also analyze the temperature dependence of the two conduction peaks and show that these exhibit different functional behaviors.