Bias dependent subband edges and the 0.7 conductance anomaly

Abstract

The 0.7 2e^2/h conductance anomaly is studied in strongly confined, etched GaAs/GaAlAs quantum point contacts by measuring the differential conductance G as a function of source-drain bias V_sd and gate-source bias V_gs as well as a function of temperature. In the V_gs - V_sd plane we use a grayscale plot of the transconductance dG/dV_gs to map out the bias dependent transitions between the normal and anomalous conductance plateaus. Any given transition is interpreted as arising when the bias controlled chemical potential mu_d (mu_s) of the drain (source) reservoir crosses a subband edge e_a in the point contact. From the grayscale plot we extract the constant normal subband edges e_0, e_1, ... and most notably the bias dependent anomalous subband edge e'_0(mu_d) split off from e_0. We show by applying a finite-bias version of the recently proposed BCF model, how the bias dependence of the anomalous subband edge is the key to analyze various experimental observations related to the 0.7 anomaly.