Kuan Tan

SINGLE-ELECTRON SHUTTLE BASED ON A SILICON QUANTUM DOT

We report on single-electron shuttling experiments with a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dot at 300 mK. Our system consists of an accumulated electron layer at the Si/SiO2 interface below an aluminum top gate with two additional barrier gates used to deplete the electron gas locally and to define a quantum dot. Directional single-electron shuttling from the source to the drain lead is achieved by applying a dc source-drain bias while driving the barrier gates with an ac voltage of frequency fp. Current plateaus at integer levels of efp are observed up to fp=240 MHz operation frequencies. The observed results are explained by a sequential tunneling model, which suggests that the electron gas may be heated substantially by the ac driving voltage.

Tunable electromagnetic environment for superconducting quantum bits

We introduce a setup which realises a tunable engineered environment for experiments in circuit quantum electrodynamics. We illustrate this concept with the specific example of a quantum bit, qubit, in a high-quality-factor cavity which is capacitively coupled to another cavity including a resistor. The temperature of the resistor, which acts as the dissipative environment, can be controlled in a well defined manner in order to provide a hot or cold environment for the qubit, as desired. Furthermore, introducing superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) into the cavity containing the resistor, provides control of the coupling strength between this artificial environment and the qubit. We demonstrate that our scheme allows us to couple strongly to the environment enabling rapid initialization of the system, and by subsequent tuning of the magnetic flux of the SQUIDs we may greatly reduce the resistor-qubit coupling, allowing the qubit to evolve unhindered.

Probe and control of the reservoir density of states in single-electron devices

We present a systematic study of quasi-one-dimensional density of states (DOS) in electron accumulation layers near a Si–SiO2 interface. In the experiments we have employed two conceptually different objects to probe DOS, namely, a phosphorus donor and a quantum dot, both operating in the single-electron tunneling regime. We demonstrate how the peaks in DOS can be moved in the transport window independently of the other device properties, and in agreement with the theoretical analysis. This method introduces a fast and convenient way of identifying excited states in these emerging nanostructures.

Microwave nanobolometer based on proximity Josephson junctions

We introduce a microwave bolometer aimed at high-quantum-efficiency detection of wave packet energy within the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics, the ultimate goal being single microwave photon detection. We measure the differential thermal conductance between the detector and its heat bath, obtaining values as low as 5 fW/K at 50 mK. This is one tenth of the thermal conductance quantum and corresponds to a theoretical lower bound on noise-equivalent-power of order

Single-photon heat conduction in electrical circuits

10^{-20}

Overlapping-gate architecture for silicon Hall bar field-effect transistors in the low electron density regime

W/\sqrt{\mbox{Hz}}

Detection of Zeptojoule Microwave Pulses Using Electrothermal Feedback in Proximity-Induced Josephson Junctions

at 50 mK. By measuring the differential thermal conductance of the same bolometer design in qualitatively different environments and materials, we determine that electron--photon coupling dominates the thermalization of our nanobolometer.

Nanobolometer with Ultralow Noise Equivalent Power

We study photonic heat conduction between two resistors coupled weakly to a single superconducting microwave cavity. At low enough temperature, the dominating part of the heat exchanged between the resistors is transmitted by single-photon excitations of the fundamental mode of the cavity. This manifestation of single-photon heat conduction should be experimentally observable with the current state of the art. Our scheme can possibly be utilized in remote interference-free temperature control of electric components and environment engineering for superconducting qubits coupled to cavities.

In-situ tunable environment for superconducting qubits

We build on the study of single-photon heat conduction in electronic circuits taking into account the back-action of the superconductor--insulator--normal-metal thermometers. In addition, we show that placing capacitors, resistors, and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) into a microwave cavity can severely distort the spatial current profile which, in general, should be accounted for in circuit design. The introduction of SQUIDs also allows for in situ tuning of the photonic power transfer which could be utilized in experiments on superconducting quantum bits.