Zero bias maximum of differential conductance in coupled quantum dots: The effect of interdot Coulomb interaction

In this paper, we present a theoretical study of correlated electronic transport through coupled double quantum dot (DQD) system attached to normal leads, using a generalised two impurity Anderson Hamiltonian in the presence of intra- and inter-dot Coulomb interactions. A generic formulation from which different structures, i.e. series, symmetric as well as asymmetric parallel and T-shape, can be obtained easily, is developed using Keldysh non-equilibrium Green functions method. The occupation numbers and correlators appearing in the formulation have been calculated in a self-consistent manner. A special attention is paid to investigate the ZBM in the differential conductance, which appears, develops and disappears over a particular range of interdot Coulomb interaction, in the configuration of interest. The ZBM is found to result from the renormalization of energy levels induced by the interdot Coulomb interaction and therefore an attempt has been made to understand it within the framework of local density of states. The interdot tunneling is found to enhance the effect of the interdot Coulomb interaction in inducing the ZBM in all the three configurations. Calculations for the T-shape configuration reveal that non-zero value of the interdot tunneling is an essential condition for the appearance of the ZBM in the differential conductance.