Rectification in Y-junctions of Luttinger liquid wires

Abstract

We investigate rectification of a low-frequency ac bias in Y-junctions of one-channel Luttinger liquid wires with repulsive electron interaction. Rectification emerges due to three scatterers in the wires. We find that it is possible to achieve a higher rectification current in a Y-junction than in a single wire with an asymmetric scatterer at the same interaction strength and voltage bias. The rectification effect is the strongest in the absence of the time-reversal symmetry. In that case, the maximal rectification current can be comparable to the total current ~e2V/h even for low voltages, weak scatterers, and modest interaction strength. In a certain range of low voltages, the rectification current can grow as the voltage decreases. This leads to a bump in the I-V curve. © 2011 American Physical Society.