Transport in a one-channel Luttinger liquid

TLDR

The study investigates transport of a one‑channel Luttinger liquid through a weak link and examines how Fermi‑liquid leads affect this process. The authors employ a theoretical analysis to model electron transport across the weak link in the Luttinger liquid. For repulsive interactions the weak link becomes insulating with complete reflection, whereas for attractive interactions it remains perfectly transmitting; at finite temperature the conductance vanishes as a power of T and the zero‑temperature current–voltage relation follows a power law.

Abstract

We study theoretically the transport of a one-channel Luttinger liquid through a weak link. For repulsive electron interactions, the electrons are completely reflected by even the smallest scatterer, leading to a truly insulating weak link, in striking contrast to that for noninteracting electrons. At finite temperature (T) the conductance is nonzero, and is predicted to vanish as a power of T. At T=0 power-law current-voltage characteristics are predicted. For attractive interactions, a Luttinger liquid is argued to be perfectly transmitted through even the largest of barriers. The role of Fermi-liquid leads is also explored.