Interaction-Induced Restoration of Phase Coherence

Abstract

We study the conductance of a quantum T-junction coupled to two electron reservoirs and a quantum dot. In the absence of electron-electron interactions, the conductance $g$ is sensitive to interference between trajectories which enter the dot and those which bypass it. We show that including an intra-dot charging interaction has a marked influence-- it can enforce a coherent response from the dot at temperatures much larger than the single particle level spacing $\Delta$. The result is large oscillations of $g$ as a function of the voltage applied to a gate capacitively coupled to the dot. Without interactions, the conductance has only a weak interference signature when $T>\Delta$.