Transport through an Interacting Quantum Dot Coupled to Two Superconducting Leads

TL;DR

This paper develops a simplified formula for current through an interacting quantum dot with superconducting leads, revealing many-body effects, resonant tunneling, and boson-assisted transport phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a new formalism for analyzing many-body effects in mesoscopic systems with superconducting contacts, especially under strong Coulomb interactions.

Findings

Sharp peaks in current-voltage curves due to BCS density of states

Resonant tunneling of quasiparticles with Coulomb repulsion

Boson-assisted tunneling effects observed

Abstract

We derive a formula for the current through an interacting quantum dot coupled to two supercouducting leads, using the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. It is shown that the formula takes an especially simple form, when the Andreev reflections in the junctions are negligible because of large Coulomb repulsion in the dot. Our formalism provides a new framework to investigate many-body effects of mesoscopic systems in the presence of the superconducting leads. For an example, we describe the resonant tunneling of quasiparticles in the presence of strong Coulomb repulsion in the dot. Further, we discuss the boson assisted transport. Multiple sharp peaks are found in the current-voltage curve, which originate from the singularity of BCS density of states and the boson assisted tunneling.