Quantum Dynamics of Submicron Structures

Techniques for the preparation of condensed matter systems have advanced considerably since 1985, principally due to the developments in microfabrication technologies. The widespread availability of millikelvin temperature facilities also led to the discovery of a large number of new quantum phenomena. Simultaneously, the quantum theory of small condensed matter systems has matured, allowing quantitative predictions. The effects discussed in this book include typical quantum interference phenomena, such as the Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations of the magneto-resistance of thin metallic cylinders and rings, transport through chaotic billiards, and such quantization effects as the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect and the quantization of the conductance of point contacts in integer multiples of the "conductance quantum". Transport properties and tunnelling processes in various types of normal metal and superconductor tunnelling systems are treated. Reviews are given of quantum blockade mechanisms for electrons that tunnel through small junctions, like the Coulomb blockade and spin blockade, the influence of dissipative coupling of charge carriers to an environment, and Andreev scattering. Coulomb interactions and quantization effects in transport through quantum dots and in double-well potentials, as well as quantum effects in the motion of vortices, as in the Aharonov-Casher effect, are discussed. The status of the theory of the metal-insulator and superconductor-insulator phase transitions in ordered and disordered granular systems are reviewed as examples in which such quantum effects are of great importance.