2003/02/20 by L. I. Glazman, M. Pustilnik
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall
published as "New Directions in Mesoscopic Physics (Towards Nanoscience)", eds. R. Fazio, V.F. Gantmakher, and Y. Imry (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2003), pp. 93-115 · A tutorial article for the Proceedings of the NATO-ASI "New Directions in Mesoscopic Physics" (Erice, 2002)
arxiv created 2003/02/20 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
We review the mechanisms of low-temperature electron transport across a quantum dot weakly coupled to two conducting leads. Conduction in this case is controlled by the interaction between electrons. At temperatures moderately lower than the single-electron charging energy of the dot, the linear conductance is suppressed by the Coulomb blockade. Upon further lowering of the temperature, however, the conductance may start to increase again due to the Kondo effect. This increase occurs only if the dot has a non-zero spin S. We concentrate on the simplest case of S=1/2, and discuss the conductance across the dot in a broad temperature range, which includes the Kondo temperature. Temperature dependence of the linear conductance in the Kondo regime is discussed in detail. We also consider a simple (but realistic) limit in which the differential conductance at a finite bias can be fully investigated.