Eur. Phys. J. B 64, 237-248 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00310-y

Photon-assisted shot noise due to the charging effect in a quantum dot device

Department of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, P.R. China

Corresponding author: ^a zhaohonk@yahoo.com

Received: 16 November 2007
Revised: 20 April 2008
Published online: 30 July 2008

Abstract

We have investigated the spectral density of shot noise for an ultra-small quantum dot(QD) system in the Coulomb blockade regime when irradiated with microwave fields (MWFs) by employing a nonequilibrium Green's function technique. The shot noise is sensitive to Coulomb interaction, and the photon-assisted Coulomb blockade behaviour strongly modifies the mesoscopic transport. We have calculated the first and second derivatives of shot noise in the strong and weak coupling regimes to compare the theoretical results with existing experimental results. In the strong coupling regime, the first and second derivatives of shot noise display Fano type peak-valley structures around the charging channel due to Coulomb interaction. When the magnitudes of the MWFs are sufficiently large, the system displays channel blockade due to photon irradiation. The photon-assisted and Coulomb blockade steps in the noise – as well as the resonant behaviour in the differential noise – are smeared by increasing temperature. The Coulomb interaction suppresses the shot noise, but the ac fields can either suppress the shot noise(balanced case) or enhance the shot noise(unbalanced case). The suppression of shot noise caused by ac fields in the balanced case is greater than that caused by Coulomb interaction in our system. Super-Poissonian shot noise may be induced due to the compound effects of strong Coulomb interaction and photon absorption-emission processes.