230 research outputs found
Irreversibility on the Level of Single-Electron Tunneling
We present a low-temperature experimental test of the fluctuation theorem for
electron transport through a double quantum dot. The rare entropy-consuming
system trajectories are detected in the form of single charges flowing against
the source-drain bias by using time-resolved charge detection with a quantum
point contact. We find that these trajectories appear with a frequency that
agrees with the theoretical predictions even under strong nonequilibrium
conditions, when the finite bandwidth of the charge detection is taken into
account
A V-shape superconducting artificial atom based on two inductively coupled transmons
Circuit quantum electrodynamics systems are typically built from resonators
and two-level artificial atoms, but the use of multi-level artificial atoms
instead can enable promising applications in quantum technology. Here we
present an implementation of a Josephson junction circuit dedicated to operate
as a V-shape artificial atom. Based on a concept of two internal degrees of
freedom, the device consists of two transmon qubits coupled by an inductance.
The Josephson nonlinearity introduces a strong diagonal coupling between the
two degrees of freedom that finds applications in quantum non-demolition
readout schemes, and in the realization of microwave cross-Kerr media based on
superconducting circuits.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Time-resolved charge detection with cross-correlation techniques
We present time-resolved charge sensing measurements on a GaAs double quantum
dot with two proximal quantum point contact (QPC) detectors. The QPC currents
are analyzed with cross-correlation techniques, which enables us to measure dot
charging and discharging rates for significantly smaller signal-to-noise ratios
than required for charge detection with a single QPC. This allows to reduce the
current level in the detector and therefore the invasiveness of the detection
process and may help to increase the available measurement bandwidth in
noise-limited setups.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Kerr coefficients of plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains
We present an experimental and theoretical analysis of the self- and
cross-Kerr effect of extended plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains.
We calculate the Kerr coefficients by deriving and diagonalizing the
Hamiltonian of a linear circuit model for the chain and then adding the
Josephson non-linearity as a perturbation. The calculated Kerr-coefficients are
compared with the measurement data of a chain of 200 junctions. The Kerr effect
manifests itself as a frequency shift that depends linearly on the number of
photons in a resonant mode. By changing the input power on a low signal level,
we are able to measure this shift. The photon number is calibrated using the
self-Kerr shift calculated from the sample parameters. We then compare the
measured cross-Kerr shift with the theoretical prediction, using the calibrated
photon number.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
Quantum dot occupation and electron dwell time in the cotunneling regime
We present comparative measurements of the charge occupation and conductance
of a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot. The dot charge is measured with a capacitively
coupled quantum point contact sensor. In the single-level Coulomb blockade
regime near equilibrium, charge and conductance signals are found to be
proportional to each other. We conclude that in this regime, the two signals
give equivalent information about the quantum dot system. Out of equilibrium,
we study the inelastic-cotunneling regime. We compare the measured differential
dot charge with an estimate assuming a dwell time of transmitted carriers on
the dot given by h/E, where E is the blockade energy of first-order tunneling.
The measured signal is of a similar magnitude as the estimate, compatible with
a picture of cotunneling as transmission through a virtual intermediate state
with a short lifetime
Optimization of sample-chip design for stub-matched radio-frequency reflectometry measurements
A radio-frequency (rf) matching circuit with an in situ tunable varactor
diode used for rf reflectometry measurements in semiconductor nanostructures is
investigated and used to optimize the sample-specific chip design. The samples
are integrated in a 2-4 GHz stub-matching circuit consisting of a waveguide
stub shunted to the terminated coplanar waveguide. Several quantum point
contacts fabricated on a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure with different chip
designs are compared. We show that the change of the reflection coefficient for
a fixed change in the quantum point contact conductance can be enhanced by a
factor of 3 compared to conventional designs by a suitable electrode geometry
Models of gravitational lens candidates from Space Warps CFHTLS
We report modelling follow-up of recently-discovered gravitational-lens
candidates in the Canada France Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. Lens modelling
was done by a small group of specially-interested volunteers from the
SpaceWarps citizen-science community who originally found the candidate lenses.
Models are categorised according to seven diagnostics indicating (a) the image
morphology and how clear or indistinct it is, (b) whether the mass map and
synthetic lensed image appear to be plausible, and (c) how the lens-model mass
compares with the stellar mass and the abundance-matched halo mass. The lensing
masses range from ~10^11 Msun to >10^13 Msun. Preliminary estimates of the
stellar masses show a smaller spread in stellar mass (except for two lenses): a
factor of a few below or above ~10^11 Msun. Therefore, we expect the
stellar-to-total mass fraction to decline sharply as lensing mass increases.
The most massive system with a convincing model is J1434+522 (SW05). The two
low-mass outliers are J0206-095 (SW19) and J2217+015 (SW42); if these two are
indeed lenses, they probe an interesting regime of very low star-formation
efficiency. Some improvements to the modelling software (SpaghettiLens), and
discussion of strategies regarding scaling to future surveys with more and
frequent discoveries, are included.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, online supplement table_1.csv contains
additional detailed numbers shown in table 1 and figure
The most creative organization in the world? The BBC, 'creativity' and managerial style
The managerial styles of two BBC directors-general, John Birt and Greg Dyke, have often been contrasted but not so far analysed from the perspective of their different views of 'creative management'. This article first addresses the orthodox reading of 'Birtism'; second, it locates Dyke's 'creative' turn in the wider context of fashionable neo-management theory and UK government creative industries policy; third, it details Dyke's drive to change the BBC's culture; and finally, it concludes with some reflections on the uncertainties inherent in managing a creative organisation
Gravitational lens modelling in a citizen science context
We develop a method to enable collaborative modelling of gravitational lenses
and lens candidates, that could be used by non-professional lens enthusiasts.
It uses an existing free-form modelling program (glass), but enables the input
to this code to be provided in a novel way, via a user-generated diagram that
is essentially a sketch of an arrival-time surface. We report on an
implementation of this method, SpaghettiLens, which has been tested in a
modelling challenge using 29 simulated lenses drawn from a larger set created
for the Space Warps citizen science strong lens search. We find that volunteers
from this online community asserted the image parities and time ordering
consistently in some lenses, but made errors in other lenses depending on the
image morphology. While errors in image parity and time ordering lead to large
errors in the mass distribution, the enclosed mass was found to be more robust:
the model-derived Einstein radii found by the volunteers were consistent with
those produced by one of the professional team, suggesting that given the
appropriate tools, gravitational lens modelling is a data analysis activity
that can be crowd-sourced to good effect. Ideas for improvement are discussed,
these include (a) overcoming the tendency of the models to be shallower than
the correct answer in test cases, leading to systematic overestimation of the
Einstein radius by 10 per cent at present, and (b) detailed modelling of arcs.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure
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