SciPost Phys. 11, 081 (2021) ·
published 22 October 2021
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A normal metal source reservoir can load two electrons onto a double quantum dot in the spin-triplet configuration. We show that if the drain lead of the dot is a spin-singlet superconductor, these electrons cannot form a Cooper pair and are blockaded on the double dot. We call this phenomenon Andreev blockade because it arises due to suppressed Andreev reflections. We identify transport characteristics unique to Andreev blockade. Most significantly, it occurs for any occupation of the dot adjacent to the superconductor, in contrast with the well-studied Pauli blockade which requires odd occupations. Andreev blockade is lifted if quasiparticles are allowed to enter the superconducting lead, but it should be observable in the hard gap superconductor-semiconductor devices. A recent experiment tests this model and finds support for several predictions made here [P. Zhang, H. Wu, J. Chen, S. A. Khan, P. Krogstrup, D. Pekker, and S. M. Frolov, arXiv:2102.03283 (2021)]. Andreev blockade should be considered in the design of topological quantum circuits, hybrid quantum bits and quantum emulators.
Arne Schobert, Jan Berges, Tim Wehling, Erik van Loon
SciPost Phys. 11, 079 (2021) ·
published 20 October 2021
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Charge-density waves are responsible for symmetry-breaking displacements of atoms and concomitant changes in the electronic structure. Linear response theories, in particular density-functional perturbation theory, provide a way to study the effect of displacements on both the total energy and the electronic structure based on a single ab initio calculation. In downfolding approaches, the electronic system is reduced to a smaller number of bands, allowing for the incorporation of additional correlation and environmental effects on these bands. However, the physical contents of this downfolded model and its potential limitations are not always obvious. Here, we study the potential-energy landscape and electronic structure of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model, where all relevant quantities can be evaluated analytically. We compare the exact results at arbitrary displacement with diagrammatic perturbation theory both in the full model and in a downfolded effective single-band model, which gives an instructive insight into the properties of downfolding. An exact reconstruction of the potential-energy landscape is possible in a downfolded model, which requires a dynamical electron-biphonon interaction. The dispersion of the bands upon atomic displacement is also found correctly, where the downfolded model by construction only captures spectral weight in the target space. In the SSH model, the electron-phonon coupling mechanism involves exclusively hybridization between the low- and high-energy bands and this limits the computational efficiency gain of downfolded models.
