Dephasing and thermal smearing in an electromechanical which-path device

In an electromechanical which-path device electrons travelling through an Aharonov-Bohm ring with a quantum dot in one of the arms are dephased by an interaction with the fundamental flexural mode of a radio-frequency cantilever, leading to a reduction in the visibilty of the interference fringes. However, at finite temperatures time-averaged measurement of the current leads to a fringe visibility which is reduced partly by dephasing of the electrons and partly by a thermal smearing effect. The balance between thermal smearing and dephasing predicted by a calculation depends very strongly on the choice of cantilever basis states used. The interaction between the cantilever and its environment is expected to select the coherent state basis for the cantilever and hence lead to a dephasing rate which is substantially lower than that which would arise if instead the Fock states were selected.Comment: To appear in Phonons 2001 Proceedings (Physica B

Quantum energy flow, dissipation and decoherence in mesoscopic dielectric structures

We first present a summary of recent results concerning the phononic energy transport properties of mesoscopic, suspended dielectric wires. We then discuss some related open problems concerning the fundamental lower limits on the vibrational damping rates of submicron-sized cantilever structures and also the possibility to create and detect quantum superpositions of spatially separated states for such structures.Comment: To appear in Physica B, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Phonon Scattering (Phonons 98

Mechanical Lamb-shift analogue for the Cooper-pair box

We estimate the correction to the Cooper-pair box energy level splitting due to the quantum motion of a coupled micromechanical gate electrode. While the correction due to zero-point motion is very small, it should be possible to observe thermal motion-induced corrections to the photon-assisted tunneling current.Comment: To appear in Phonons 2001 Proceedings (Physica B

Micromechanical electrometry of single-electron transistor island charge

We consider the possibility of using a micromechanical gate electrode located just above the island of a single-electron transistor to measure directly the fluctuating island charge due to tunnelling electrons.Comment: To appear in Phonons 2001 Proceedings (Physica B

A cavity-Cooper pair transistor scheme for investigating quantum optomechanics in the ultrastrong coupling regime

We propose a scheme involving a Cooper pair transistor (CPT) embedded in a superconducting microwave cavity, where the CPT serves as a charge tunable quantum inductor to facilitate ultra-strong coupling between photons in the cavity and a nano- to meso-scale mechanical resonator. The mechanical resonator is capacitively coupled to the CPT, such that mechanical displacements of the resonator cause a shift in the CPT inductance and hence the cavity's resonant frequency. The amplification provided by the CPT is sufficient for the zero point motion of the mechanical resonator alone to cause a significant change in the cavity resonance. Conversely, a single photon in the cavity causes a shift in the mechanical resonator position on the order of its zero point motion. As a result, the cavity-Cooper pair transistor coupled to a mechanical resonator will be able to access a regime in which single photons can affect single phonons and vice versa. Realizing this ultra strong coupling regime will facilitate the creation of non-classical states of the mechanical resonator, as well as the means to accurately characterize such states by measuring the cavity photon field

Phonon-mediated thermal conductance of mesoscopic wires with rough edges

We present an analysis of acoustic phonon propagation through long, free-standing, insulating wires with rough surfaces. Due to a crossover from ballistic propagation of the lowest-frequency phonon mode at $\omega <\omega _{1}=\pi c/W$ to a diffusive (or even localized) behavior upon the increase of phonon frequency, followed by re-entrance into the quasi-ballistic regime, the heat conductance of a wire acquires an intermediate tendency to saturate within the temperature range $T\sim \hbar \omega_{1}/k_{B}$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures included; minor changes and corrections, figures 1 and 2 replaced by better versions; to appear in PRB Brief Report

The Effect of Surface Roughness on the Universal Thermal Conductance

We explain the reduction of the thermal conductance below the predicted universal value observed by Schwab et al. in terms of the scattering of thermal phonons off surface roughness using a scalar model for the elastic waves. Our analysis shows that the thermal conductance depends on two roughness parameters: the roughness amplitude $\delta$ and the correlation length $a$. At sufficiently low temperatures the conductance decrease from the universal value quadratically with temperature at a rate proportional to $\delta ^{2}a$. Values of $\delta$ equal to 0.22 and $a$ equal to about 0.75 of the width of the conduction pathway give a good fit to the data.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Ref. added, typo correcte

From topological to parametrized field theory

It has been proposed to study the theory resulting from setting the gravitational constant to zero in the first order formalism for general relativity. In this letter we investigate this theory in the presence of matter fields, establish its equivalence with parametrized field theory on a flat background, and relate it to previous results in topological field theory (BF theory).Comment: 8 pages, latex, no figure

Elastic Wave Transmission at an Abrupt Junction in a Thin Plate, with Application to Heat Transport and Vibrations in Mesoscopic Systems

The transmission coefficient for vibrational waves crossing an abrupt junction between two thin elastic plates of different widths is calculated. These calculations are relevant to ballistic phonon thermal transport at low temperatures in mesoscopic systems and the Q for vibrations in mesoscopic oscillators. Complete results are calculated in a simple scalar model of the elastic waves, and results for long wavelength modes are calculated using the full elasticity theory calculation. We suggest that thin plate elasticty theory provide a useful and tractable approximation to the full three dimensional geometry.Comment: 35 pages, including 12 figure

Steering of a Bosonic Mode with a Double Quantum Dot

We investigate the transport and coherence properties of a double quantum dot coupled to a single damped boson mode. Our numerically results reveal how the properties of the boson distribution can be steered by altering parameters of the electronic system such as the energy difference between the dots. Quadrature amplitude variances and the Wigner function are employed to illustrate how the state of the boson mode can be controlled by a stationary electron current through the dots.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.