Mott metal-insulator transition driven by an external electric field in coupled quantum dot arrays and its application to field effect devices

Abstract

The Mott metal-insulator transition in coupled quantum dot arrays (CQDAs) can be driven by an external electric field perpendicular to the arrays. By changing the applied electric field, the transfer energy is effectively modulated and quantum states of two electrons in a pair of coupled quantum dots change from uncorrelated states to correlated states. Our numerical results suggest that the Mott transition can be driven by a base electrode, and the effect provides a new method of modulating transport properties in CQDAs. We can modulate only collective excitations in a channel from metallic excitations carrying the current to insulating excitations if we use the effect for transistor operations.