•Andrei Zaikin1 und Dmitri Golubev1,2
1Institut ür Nanotechnologie, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe,
76021 Karlsruhe
2Institut für Theoretische Festkörperphysik, Universität
Karlsruhe, 76128 Karlsruhe
We present a detailed theoretical investigation of the effect of Coulomb
interactions on electron transport through quantum dots and double barrier
structures connected to a voltage source via an arbitrary linear impedance.
Combining real-time path integral techniques with the scattering matrix
approach we derive the effective action and evaluate the current-voltage
characteristics of quantum dots with large conductances. Our analysis reveals
a reach variety of different regimes which we specify in detail for the
case of chaotic quantum dots. At sufficiently low energies the interaction
correction to the current depends logarithmically on temperature and voltage.
We identify two different logarithmic regimes with the crossover between
them occurring at energies of order of the inverse dwell time of electrons
in the dot. We also analyze the frequency-dependent shot noise in chaotic
quantum dots and elucidate its direct relation to interaction effects in
mesoscopic electron transport.