Associate Prof. Dr Andrea Donarini

The common denominator of my research interests is the electronic transport through complex, interacting nano-junctions. I have explored several different aspects of this problem.
Together with my colleagues, I intensively studied interference effects in a benzene single electron transistor, triple dots and STM single molecule junctions. The interplay between interaction and interference has been also the focus of our work on dark state formation in suspended carbon nanotubes [1]. Along similar lines, we also studied, recently, the emergence of synthetic spin-orbit coupling due to pseudo exchange fields in a double quantum dot coupled to ferromagnetic leads [2].   
In a second research path I combine STM on a thin insulating film with THz optical pumping. The theoretical description of such lightwave driven STM allowed us recently to visualize the SOI induced electronic dynamics a copper-phthalocyanine, directly in its intrinsic time and length scales [3].
My third research line concerns nanoelectromechanical systems. We studied quantum shuttles, the dynamical symmetry breaking in the non-linear transport through a molecular junction with equivalent mechanical configurations and the role of vibrons in the current and noise of suspended carbon nanotubes [4]. Presently, I am investigating the Jahn-Teller effect in a Phthalocyanine STM single molecule junction.