Multi-mode Coulomb blockade oscillations

Abstract

We develop a theory of Coulomb blockade oscillations in transport and thermodynamic properties of a mesoscopic device having multiple charging energy modes. This setup can be realized using a nanoelectronic circuit comprising coupled hybrid metal-semiconductor islands. We show that this device can have various distinctive operational regimes depending on the strength of charging modes and base temperature. We focus on three different regimes; quantum regime, thermal regime and quantum-thermal mixed regime, in which the shape of the Coulomb blockade oscillations manifests well-defined features that can be accessed via conductance measurements. Our theory covers full crossover among these regimes, and also accounts for an accidental vanishing of one of the charging modes.