Quantum Transport through a Triple Quantum Dot System in the Presence of Majorana Bound States

We study the electron transport through a special quantum-dot (QD) structure composed of three QDs and two Majorana bound states (MBSs) using the nonequilibrium Green's function technique. This QD-MBS ring structure includes two channels with the two coupled MBSs being Channel 1 and one QD being Channel 2, and three types of transport processes such as the electron transmission (ET), the Andreev reflection (AR), and the crossed Andreev reflection (CAR). By comparing the ET, AR, and CAR processes through Channels 1 and 2, we make a systematic study on the transport properties of the QD-MBS ring. It is shown that there appear two kinds of characteristic transport patterns for Channels 1 and 2, as well as the interplay between the two patterns. Of particular interest is that there exists an AR-assisted ET process in Channel 2, which is different from that in Channel 1. Thus a clear "X" pattern due to the ET and AR processes appears in the ET, AR, and CAR transmission coefficients. Moreover, we study how Channel 2 affects the three transport processes when Channel 1 is tuned in the ET and CAR regimes. It is shown that the transport properties of the ET, AR and CAR processes can be adjusted by tuning the energy level of the QD embedded in Channel 2. We believe this research should be a helpful reference for understanding the transport properties in the QD-MBS coupled systems. (paper)