Pair tunneling through single molecules
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
2009-11-11 v2 Materials Science
Abstract
By a polaronic energy shift, the effective charging energy of molecules can become negative, favoring ground states with even numbers of electrons. Here, we show that charge transport through such molecules near ground-state degeneracies is dominated by tunneling of electron pairs which coexists with (featureless) single-electron cotunneling. Due to the restricted phase space for pair tunneling, the current-voltage characteristics exhibits striking differences from the conventional Coulomb blockade. In asymmetric junctions, pair tunneling can be used for gate-controlled current rectification and switching.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0510249,
title = {Pair tunneling through single molecules},
author = {Jens Koch and M. E. Raikh and Felix von Oppen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0510249},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4+ pages, 4 figures; minor changes, version published in Phys. Rev. Lett