Quantum criticality in a Mott pn-junction in an armchair carbon nanotube

Wei Chen, A. V. Andreev, L. I. Glazman

Published 2011-02-27Version 1

In an armchair carbon nanotube pn junction the p- and n- regions are separated by a region of a Mott insulator, which can backscatter electrons only in pairs. We predict a quantum-critical behavior in such a pn junction. Depending on the junction's built-in electric field E, its conductance G scales either to zero or to the ideal value G=4e^2/h as the temperature T is lowered. The two types of the G(T) dependence indicate the existence, at some special value of E, of an intermediate quantum critical point with a finite conductance G<4e^2/h. This makes the pn junction drastically different from a simple barrier in a Luttinger liquid.