Magnetic-field dependence of tunnel couplings in carbon nanotube quantum dots

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Apr 27;108(17):176802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.176802. Epub 2012 Apr 26.

Abstract

By means of sequential and cotunneling spectroscopy, we study the tunnel couplings between metallic leads and individual levels in a carbon nanotube quantum dot. The levels are ordered in shells consisting of two doublets with strong- and weak-tunnel couplings, leading to gate-dependent level renormalization. By comparison to a one- and two-shell model, this is shown to be a consequence of disorder-induced valley mixing in the nanotube. Moreover, a parallel magnetic field is shown to reduce this mixing and thus suppress the effects of tunnel renormalization.