Charge fluctuations and feedback effect in shot noise in a Y-terminal system

Abstract

We investigate a dynamical Coulomb blockade effect and its role in the enhancement of current-current correlations in a three-terminal device with a multilevel splitter, as well as with two quantum dots. Spectral decomposition analysis shows that in the Y-terminal system with a two-level ideal splitter, charge fluctuations at a level with a lowest outgoing tunneling rate are responsible for a super-Poissonian shot noise and positive cross correlations. Interestingly, for larger source-drain voltages, electrons are transferred as independent particles, when three levels participate in transport and double occupancy is allowed. We can explain compensation of the current correlations as the interplay between different bunching and antibunching processes by performing a spectral decomposition of the correlation functions for partial currents flowing through various levels. In the system with two quantum dots acting as a splitter, a long-range feedback effect of fluctuating potentials leads to the dynamical Coulomb blockade and an enhancement of shot noise.