Finite-temperature conductance of strongly interacting quantum wire with a nuclear spin order

Abstract

We study the temperature dependence of the electrical conductance of a clean strongly interacting quantum wire in the presence of a helical nuclear spin order. The nuclear spin helix opens a temperature-dependent partial gap in the electron spectrum. Using a bosonization framework we describe the gapped electron modes by sine-Gordon-like kinks. We predict an internal resistivity caused by an Ohmic-like friction these kinks experience via interacting with gapless excitations. As a result, the conductance rises from $G=e^2/h$ at temperatures below the critical temperature when nuclear spins are fully polarized to $G=2e^2/h$ at higher temperatures when the order is destroyed, featuring a relatively wide plateau in the intermediate regime. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental data for GaAs quantum wires obtained recently by Scheller et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 066801 (2014)].

18 pages, 10 figures

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• Wigner crystal physics in quantum wires
• Nuclear Magnetism and Electronic Order in 13C Nanotubes
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• Missing Shapiro steps and the $8\pi$-periodic Josephson effect in interacting helical electron systems
• Conductance of fractional Luttinger liquids at finite temperatures
• Universal conductance dips and fractional excitations in a two-subband quantum wire
• Transport in Magnetically Doped One-Dimensional Wires: Can the Helical Protection Emerge without the Global Helicity?
• Tunneling spectroscopy between one-dimensional helical conductors
• Electron-electron interactions in partially mixed helical states