Giant mesoscopic fluctuations of the elastic cotunneling thermopower of a single-electron transistor

A. S. Vasenko, D. M. Basko, and F. W. J. Hekking
Phys. Rev. B 91, 085310 – Published 27 February 2015

Abstract

We study the thermoelectric transport of a small metallic island weakly coupled to two electrodes by tunnel junctions. In the Coulomb blockade regime, in the case when the ground state of the system corresponds to an even number of electrons on the island, the main mechanism of electron transport at the lowest temperatures is elastic cotunneling. In this regime, the transport coefficients strongly depend on the realization of the random impurity potential or the shape of the island. Using random-matrix theory, we calculate the thermopower and the thermoelectric kinetic coefficient and study the statistics of their mesoscopic fluctuations in the elastic cotunneling regime. The fluctuations of the thermopower turn out to be much larger than the average value.

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  • Received 16 December 2014
  • Revised 11 February 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.085310

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. S. Vasenko1, D. M. Basko1, and F. W. J. Hekking1,2

  • 1University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LPMMC, F-38000 Grenoble, France
  • 2Institut Universitaire de France, 103, bd Saint-Michel 75005 Paris, France

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 8 — 15 February 2015

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