Coherent resonant tunneling through an artificial molecule

Coherent resonant tunneling through an array of quantum dots in an inhomogeneous magnetic field is investigated using an extended Hubbard model. Both the multiterminal conductance of an array of quantum dots and the persistent current of a quantum-dot molecule embedded in an Aharanov-Bohm ring are calculated. The conductance and persistent current are calculated analytically for the case of a double quantum dot and numerically for larger arrays using a multiterminal Breit-Wigner-type formula, which allows for the explicit inclusion of inelastic processes. Cotunneling corrections to the persistent current are also investigated, and it is shown that the sign of the persistent current on resonance may be used to determine the spin quantum numbers of the ground state and low-lying excited states of an artificial molecule. An inhomogeneous magnetic field is found to strongly suppress transport due to pinning of the spin-density-wave ground state of the system, and giant magnetoresistance is predicted to result from the ferromagnetic transition induced by a uniform external magnetic field. @S0163-1829~98!01435-0#