Zero-Point Fluctuations and the Quenching of the Persistent Current in Normal Metal Rings

We investigate the persistent current of a ring with an in-line quantum dot capacitively coupled to an external circuit. Of special interest is the magnitude of the persistent current as a function of the external impedance in the zero temperature limit when the only fluctuations in the external circuit are zero-point fluctuations. These are time-dependent fluctuations which polarize the ring-dot structure and we discuss in detail the contribution of displacement currents to ...

The transfer of charge between different regions of a phase-coherent mesoscopic sample is investigated. Charge transfer from a side branch quantum dot into a ring changes the persistent current through a sequence of plateaus of diamagnetic and paramagnetic states. In contrast, a quantum dot embedded in a ring exhibits sharp resonances in the persistent current, whose sign is independent of the number of electrons in the dot if the total number of electrons in the system is ev...

Quantum mechanics predicts that the equilibrium state of a resistive electrical circuit contains a dissipationless current. This persistent current has been the focus of considerable theoretical and experimental work, but its basic properties remain a topic of controversy. The main experimental challenges in studying persistent currents have been the small signals they produce and their exceptional sensitivity to their environment. To address these issues we have developed a ...

We investigate the persistent current influenced by the spin fluctuations in a mesoscopic ring weakly coupled to a quantum dot. It is shown that the Kondo effect gives rise to some unusual features of the persistent current in the limit where the charge transfer between two subsystems is suppressed. Various aspects of the crossover from a delocalized to a localized dot limit are discussed in relation with the effect of the coherent response of the Kondo cloud to the Aharonov-...

We study coherent charge transfer between an Aharonov-Bohm ring and a side-attached quantum dot. The charge fluctuation between the two sub-structures is shown to give rise to algebraic suppression of the persistent current circulating the ring as the size of the ring becomes relatively large. The charge fluctuation at resonance provides transition between the diamagnetic and the paramagnetic states. Universal scaling, crossover behavior of the persistent current from a con...

Vacuum fluctuations are a source of irreversibility and decoherence. We investigate the persistent current and its fluctuations in a ring with an in-line quantum dot with an Aharonov-Bohm flux through the hole of the ring. The Coulomb blockade leads to persistent current peaks at values of the gate voltage at which two charge states of the dot have the same free energy. We couple the structure to an external circuit and investigate the effect of the zero-temperature (vacuum f...

The persistent current through a quantum dot inserted in a mesoscopic ring of length L is studied. A cluster representing the dot and its vicinity is exactly diagonalized and embedded into the rest of the ring. The Kondo resonance provides a new channel for the current to flow. It is shown that due to scaling properties, the persistent current at the Kondo regime is enhanced relative to the current flowing either when the dot is at resonance or along a perfect ring of same le...

We investigate fluctuations of persistent current (PC) in nanorings both with and without dissipation and decoherence. We demonstrate that such PC fluctuations may persist down to zero temperature provided there exists either interaction with an external environment or an external (periodic) potential produced, e.g., by quantum phase slips in superconducting nanorings. Provided quantum coherence is maintained in the system PC noise remains coherent and can be tuned by an exte...

We study a mesoscopic ring with an in-line quantum dot threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm flux. Zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic environment capacitively coupled to the ring, with $\omega^s$ spectral density, can suppress tunneling through the dot, resulting in a quantum phase transition from an unpolarized to a polarized phase. We show that robust signatures of such a transition can be found in the response of the persistent current in the ring to the external flux a...

We study the persistent currents induced by the Aharonov-Bohm effect in a closed ring which either embeds or is directly side coupled to a quantum dot at Kondo resonance. We predict that in both cases, the persistent current is very sensitive to the ratio between the length of the ring and the size of the Kondo screening cloud which appears as a fundamental prediction of scaling theories of the Kondo effect. Persistent current measurements provide therefore an opportunity to ...