Heung-Sun Sim

Even-Odd Behavior of Conductance in Monatomic Sodium Wires

With the aid of the Friedel sum rule, we perform first-principles calculations of conductances through monatomic Na wires, taking into account the sharp tip geometry and discrete atomic structure of electrodes. We find that conductances (G) depend on the number (L) of atoms in the wires; G is G(0)( = 2e(2)/h) for odd L, independent of the wire geometry, while G is generally smaller than G(0) and sensitive to the wire structure for even L. This even-odd behavior is attributed to the charge neutrality and resonant character due to the sharp tip structure. We suggest that similar even-odd behavior may appear in other monovalent atomic wires.

Charge Frustration in a Triangular Triple Quantum Dot

We experimentally investigate the charge (isospin) frustration induced by a geometrical symmetry in a triangular triple quantum dot. We observe the ground-state charge configurations of sixfold degeneracy, the manifestation of the frustration. The frustration results in omnidirectional charge transport, and it is accompanied by nearby nontrivial triple degenerate states in the charge stability diagram. The findings agree with a capacitive interaction model. We also observe unusual transport by the frustration, which might be related to elastic cotunneling and the interference of trajectories through the dot. This work demonstrates a unique way of studying geometrical frustration in a controllable way.

Quantum noise and mode nonorthogonality in non-Hermitian PT-symmetric optical resonators

PT-symmetric optical resonators combine absorbing regions with active, amplifying regions. The latter are the source of radiation generated via spontaneous and stimulated emission, which embodies quantum noise and can result in lasing. We calculate the frequency-resolved output radiation intensity of such systems and relate it to a suitable measure of excess noise and mode nonorthogonality. The line shape differs depending on whether the emission lines are isolated (as for weakly amplifying, almost-Hermitian systems) or overlapping (as for the almost-degenerate resonances in the vicinity of exceptional points associated with spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking). The calculations are carried out in the scattering input-output formalism, and are illustrated for a quasi-one-dimensional resonator setup. In our derivations, we also consider the more general case of a resonator in which the amplifying and absorbing regions are not related by symmetry.

Magnetic edge states in graphene in nonuniform magnetic fields

. In the parallel case, when the Zeeman spin splitting can beignored, the magnetic edge states originating from the n = 0 Landau levels of the two domains havedispersionless energy levels, contrary to those from the n 6= 0 levels. Here, n is the graphene Landau-level index. They become dispersive as the Zeeman splitting becomes finite or as an electrostaticstep potential is additionally applied. In the antiparallel case, the n = 0 magnetic edge states splitinto electron-like and hole-like current-carrying states. The energy gap between the electron-likeand hole-like states can be created by the Zeeman splitting or by the step potential. These featuresare attributed to the fact that the pseudo-spin of the magnetic edge states couples to the directionof the magnetic field. We propose an Aharonov-Bohm interferometry setup in a graphene ribbonfor experimental study of the magnetic edge states.

Magnetic Quantum Dot: A Magnetic Transmission Barrier and Resonator

We study the ballistic edge-channel transport in quantum wires with a magnetic quantum dot, which is formed by two different magnetic fields B(*) and B0 inside and outside the dot, respectively. We find that the electron states located near the dot and the scattering of edge channels by the dot strongly depend on whether B(*) is parallel or antiparallel to B0. For parallel fields, two-terminal conductance as a function of channel energy is quantized except for resonances, while, for antiparallel fields, it is not quantized and all channels can be completely reflected in some energy ranges. All these features are attributed to the characteristic magnetic confinements caused by nonuniform fields.

Detecting Perfect Transmission in Josephson Junctions on the Surface of Three Dimensional Topological Insulators

We consider Josephson junctions on surfaces of three dimensional topological insulator nanowires. We find that in the presence of a parallel magnetic field, short junctions on nanowires show signatures of a perfectly transmitted mode capable of supporting Majorana fermions. Such signatures appear in the current-phase relation in the presence or absence of the fermion parity anomaly, and are most striking when considering the critical current as a function of flux , which exhibits a peak at . The peak sharpens in the presence of disorder at low but finite chemical potentials, and can be easily disentangled from weak-anti-localization effects. The peak also survives at small but finite temperatures, and represents a realistic and robust hallmark for perfect transmission and the emergence of Majorana physics inside the wire.

pi Berry phase and Veselago lens in a bilayer graphene np junction

Klein tunneling in gapless bilayer graphene, perfect reflection of electrons injecting normal to a pn junction, is expected to disappear in the presence of energy band gap induced by external gates. We theoretically show that the Klein effect still exists in gapped bilayer graphene, provided that the gaps in the n and p regions are balanced such that the polarization of electron pseudospin has the same normal component to the bilayer plane in the regions. We attribute the Klein effect to Berry phase π (rather than the conventional value 2π of bilayer graphene) and to electron-hole and time-reversal symmetries. The Klein effect and the Berry phase π can be identified in an electronic Veselago lens, an important component of graphene-based electron optics.

Ultrafast Emission and Detection of a Single-Electron Gaussian Wave Packet: A Theoretical Study.

Generating and detecting a prescribed single-electron state is an important step towards solid-state fermion optics. We propose how to generate an electron in a Gaussian state, using a quantum-dot pump with gigahertz operation and realistic parameters. With the help of a strong magnetic field, the electron occupies a coherent state in the pump, insensitive to the details of nonadiabatic evolution. The state changes during the emission from the pump, governed by competition between the Landauer-Buttiker traversal time and the passage time. When the former is much shorter than the latter, the emitted state is a Gaussian wave packet. The Gaussian packet can be identified by using a dynamical potential barrier, with a resolution reaching the Heisenberg minimal uncertainty ℏ/2.

Fano resonance in a two-level quantum dot side-coupled to leads

We theoretically study Fano resonance in a two-level quantum dot side-coupled to two leads, which are connected by a direct channel. The resonance lineshape is found to be deformed, from the conventional Fano form, by interlevel Coulomb interaction and interlevel interference. We derive the connection between the lineshape deformation and the interaction-induced nonmonotonicity of level occupation, which may be useful for experimental study. The dependence of the lineshape on the transmission of the direct channel and on the dot-lead coupling matrix elements is discussed.

Construction of an optimal witness for unknown two-qubit entanglement.

Whether entanglement in a state can be detected, distilled, and quantified without full state reconstruction is a fundamental open problem. We demonstrate a new scheme encompassing these three tasks for arbitrary two-qubit entanglement, by constructing the optimal entanglement witness for polarization-entangled mixed-state photon pairs without full state reconstruction. With better efficiency than quantum state tomography, the entanglement is maximally distilled by newly developed tunable polarization filters and quantified by the expectation value of the witness, which equals the concurrence. This scheme is extendible to multiqubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement.