Enhanced two-channel Kondo physics in a quantum box device

¹  Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology - SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
²  Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University - Houston, TX 77005, USA
³  Department of Physics, Göteborg University - SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden

Received: 29 April 2007
Accepted: 26 June 2007

Abstract

We propose a design for a one-dimensional quantum box device where the charge fluctuations are described by an anisotropic two-channel Kondo model. The device consists of a quantum box in the Coulomb blockade regime, weakly coupled to a quantum wire by a single-mode point contact. The electron correlations in the wire produce strong backscattering at the contact, significantly increasing the Kondo temperature as compared to the case of non-interacting electrons. By employing boundary conformal field theory techniques we show that the differential capacitance of the box exhibits manifest two-channel Kondo scaling with temperature and gate voltage, uncontaminated by the one-dimensional electron correlations. We discuss the prospect to experimentally access the Kondo regime with this type of device.