Phonon runaway in nanotube quantum dots

Abstract

We explore electronic transport in a nanotube quantum dot strongly coupled with vibrations and weakly with leads and the thermal environment. We show that the recent observation of anomalous conductance signatures in single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) quantum dots can be understood quantitatively in terms of current driven `hot phonons' that are strongly correlated with electrons. Using rate equations in the many-body configuration space for the joint electron-phonon distribution, we argue that the variations are indicative of strong electron-phonon coupling requiring an analysis beyond the traditional uncorrelated phonon-assisted transport (Tien-Gordon) approach.

8 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Electrical generation and absorption of phonons in carbon nanotubes
• Inelastic electron tunneling via molecular vibrations in single-molecule transistors
• Vibrational sidebands and dissipative tunneling in molecular transistors
• Current-induced nonequilibrium vibrations in single-molecule devices
• Theory for transport through a single magnetic molecule: Endohedral N@C60
• Three-terminal scanning tunneling spectroscopy of suspended carbon nanotubes

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Molecular Transport Junctions: Vibrational Effects
• Transport in molecular states language: Generalized quantum master equation approach
• Nonequilibrium isolated molecule limit
• Phonon Driven Nonlinear Electrical Behavior in Molecular Devices
• Theory of high bias Coulomb Blockade in ultrashort molecules
• Rectification by charging -- the physics of contact-induced current asymmetry in molecular conductors