Effect of the Tunneling Conductance on the Coulomb Staircase

TL;DR

This paper investigates how tunneling conductance affects the Coulomb staircase in quantum systems, using perturbation theory and Monte Carlo simulations to explain experimental observations.

Contribution

It provides a third-order perturbative analysis of quantum charge fluctuations and compares it with Monte Carlo data, enhancing understanding of Coulomb effects in nanostructures.

Findings

Perturbation theory up to third order accurately predicts Coulomb staircase rounding.

Monte Carlo simulations confirm the validity of perturbative results for large conductance.

Experimental data on metallic nanostructures align well with the theoretical model.

Abstract

Quantum fluctuations of the charge in the single electron box are investigated. The rounding of the Coulomb staircase caused by virtual electron tunneling is determined by perturbation theory up to third order in the tunneling conductance and compared with precise Monte Carlo data computed with a new algorithm. The remarkable agreement for large conductance indicates that presently available experimental data on Coulomb charging effects in metallic nanostructures can be well explained by finite order perturbative results.