Scattering phases in quantum dots: an analysis based on lattice models

We investigate the appearance of pi lapses in the transmission phase theta of a two-level quantum dot with Coulomb interaction U. Using the numerical and functional renormalization group methods we study the entire parameter space for spin-polarized as well as spin-degenerate dots, modeled by spinless or spinful electrons, respectively. We investigate the effect of finite temperatures T. For small T and sufficiently small single-particle spacings delta of the dot levels we fi...

The electron wave function experiences a phase modification at coherent transmission through a quantum dot. This transmission phase undergoes a characteristic shift of $\pi$ when scanning through a Coulomb-blockade resonance. Between successive resonances either a transmission phase lapse of $\pi$ or a phase plateau is theoretically expected to occur depending on the parity of the corresponding quantum dot states. Despite considerable experimental effort, this transmission ph...

Measuring phase in coherent electron systems (mesoscopic systems) provides ample information not easily revealed by conductance measurements. Phase measurements in relatively large quantum dots (QDs) recently demonstrated a universal like phase evolution independent of dot size, shape, and occupancy. Explicitly, in Coulomb blockaded QDs the transmission phase increased monotonically by pi throughout each conductance peak, thereafter, in the conductance valleys the phase retur...

We study the transmission phase shift across a Kondo correlated quantum dot in a GaAs heterostructure at temperatures below the Kondo temperature ($T < T_{\rm K}$), where the phase shift is expected to show a plateau at $\pi/2$ for an ideal Kondo singlet ground state. Our device is tuned such that the ratio $\Gamma/U$ of level width $\Gamma$ to charging energy $U$ is quite large ($\lesssim 0.5$ rather than $\ll 1$). This situation is commonly used in GaAs quantum dots to ensu...

Experimentally, the phase of the amplitude for electron transmission through a quantum dot (transmission phase) shows the same pattern between consecutive resonances. Such universal behavior, found for long sequences of resonances, is caused by correlations of the signs of the partial-width amplitudes of the resonances. We investigate the stability of these correlations in terms of a statistical model. For a classically chaotic dot, the resonance eigenfunctions are assumed to...

A pioneering experiment [E. Schuster, E. Buks, M. Heiblum, D. Mahalu, V. Umansky, and Hadas Shtrikman, Nature 385, 417 (1997)] reported the measurement of the transmission phase of an electron traversing a quantum dot and found the intriguing feature of a sudden phase drop in the conductance valleys. Based on the Friedel sum rule for a spinless effective one-dimensional system, it has been previously argued [H.-W. Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2358 (1999)] that the sudden phase d...

Lapses of transmission phase in transport through quantum dots are ubiquitous already in the absence of interaction, in which case their precise location is determined by the signs and magnitudes of the tunnelling matrix elements. However, actual measurements for a quantum dot embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer show systematic sequences of phase lapses separated by Coulomb peaks -- an issue that attracted much attention and generated controversy. Using a two-level qu...

In this paper we derive general relations for the band-structure of an array of quantum dots and compute its transport properties when connected to two perfect leads. The exact lattice Green's functions for the perfect array and with an attached adatom are derived. The expressions for the linear conductance for the perfect array as well as for the array with a defect are presented. The calculations are illustrated for a dot made of three atoms. The results derived here are al...

This review article describes theoretical and experimental advances in using quantum dots as a system for studying impurity quantum phase transitions and the non-Fermi liquid behavior at the quantum critical point.

Systematic trends of nonuniversal behavior of electron transmission phases through a quantum dot, with no phase lapse for the transition N=1 -> N=2 and a lapse of pi for the N=2 -> N=3 transition, are predicted, in agreement with experiments, from many-body transport calculations involving exact diagonalization of the dot Hamiltonian. The results favor shape anisotropy of the dot and strong e-e repulsion with consequent electron localization, showing dependence on spin config...