856 research outputs found
Superconducting single-mode contact as a microwave-activated quantum interferometer
The dynamics of a superconducting quantum point contact biased at subgap
voltages is shown to be strongly affected by a microwave electromagnetic field.
Interference among a sequence of temporally localized, microwave-induced
Landau-Zener transitions between current carrying Andreev levels results in
energy absorption and in an increase of the subgap current by several orders of
magnitude. The contact is an interferometer in the sense that the current is an
oscillatory function of the inverse bias voltage. Possible applications to
Andreev-level spectroscopy and microwave detection are discussed
Nanoelectromechanics of shuttle devices
A single-electron tunneling (SET) device with a nanoscale central island that
can move with respect to the bulk source- and drain electrodes allows for a
nanoelectromechanical (NEM) coupling between the electrical current through the
device and mechanical vibrations of the island. Although an electromechanical
"shuttle" instability and the associated phenomenon of single-electron
shuttling were predicted more than 15 years ago, both theoretical and
experimental studies of NEM-SET structures are still carried out. New
functionalities based on quantum coherence, Coulomb correlations and coherent
electron-spin dynamics are of particular current interest. In this article we
present a short review of recent activities in this area.Comment: 23 pages, 26 figure
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