753 research outputs found
Decoherence in circuits of small Josephson junctions
We discuss dephasing by the dissipative electromagnetic environment and by
measurement in circuits consisting of small Josephson junctions. We present
quantitative estimates and determine in which case the circuit might qualify as
a quantum bit. Specifically, we analyse a three junction Cooper pair pump and
propose a measurement to determine the decoherence time .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The optimal sink and the best source in a Markov chain
It is well known that the distributions of hitting times in Markov chains are
quite irregular, unless the limit as time tends to infinity is considered. We
show that nevertheless for a typical finite irreducible Markov chain and for
nondegenerate initial distributions the tails of the distributions of the
hitting times for the states of a Markov chain can be ordered, i.e., they do
not overlap after a certain finite moment of time.
If one considers instead each state of a Markov chain as a source rather than
a sink then again the states can generically be ordered according to their
efficiency. The mechanisms underlying these two orderings are essentially
different though.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
Measurement of coherent charge transfer in an adiabatic Cooper pair pump
We study adiabatic charge transfer in a superconducting Cooper pair pump,
focusing on the influence of current measurement on coherence. We investigate
the limit where the Josephson coupling energy between the various parts
of the system is small compared to the Coulomb charging energy . In this
case the charge transferred in a pumping cycle , the charge of one
Cooper pair: the main contribution is due to incoherent Cooper pair tunneling.
We are particularly interested in the quantum correction to , which is due
to coherent tunneling of pairs across the pump and which depends on the
superconducting phase difference between the electrodes: . A measurement of tends to destroy the phase
coherence. We first study an arbitrary measuring circuit and then specific
examples and show that coherent Cooper pair transfer can in principle be
detected using an inductively shunted ammeter
Weak-Localization in Chaotic Versus Non-Chaotic Cavities: A Striking Difference in the Line Shape
We report experimental evidence that chaotic and non-chaotic scattering
through ballistic cavities display distinct signatures in quantum transport. In
the case of non-chaotic cavities, we observe a linear decrease in the average
resistance with magnetic field which contrasts markedly with a Lorentzian
behavior for a chaotic cavity. This difference in line-shape of the
weak-localization peak is related to the differing distribution of areas
enclosed by electron trajectories. In addition, periodic oscillations are
observed which are probably associated with the Aharonov-Bohm effect through a
periodic orbit within the cavities.Comment: 4 pages revtex + 4 figures on request; amc.hub.94.
Adiabatic spin pumping through a quantum dot with a single orbital level
We investigate an adiabatic spin pumping through a quantum dot with a single
orbital energy level under the Zeeman effect. Electron pumping is produced by
two periodic time dependent parameters, a magnetic field and a difference of
the dot-lead coupling between the left and right barriers of the dot. The
maximum charge transfer per cycle is found to be , the unit charge in the
absence of a localized moment in the dot. Pumped charge and spin are different,
and spin pumping is possible without charge pumping in a certain situation.
They are tunable by changing the minimum and maximum value of the magnetic
field.Comment: RevTeX4, 5 pages, 3 figure
Single-electron transport driven by surface acoustic waves: moving quantum dots versus short barriers
We have investigated the response of the acoustoelectric current driven by a
surface-acoustic wave through a quantum point contact in the closed-channel
regime. Under proper conditions, the current develops plateaus at integer
multiples of ef when the frequency f of the surface-acoustic wave or the gate
voltage Vg of the point contact is varied. A pronounced 1.1 MHz beat period of
the current indicates that the interference of the surface-acoustic wave with
reflected waves matters. This is supported by the results obtained after a
second independent beam of surface-acoustic wave was added, traveling in
opposite direction. We have found that two sub-intervals can be distinguished
within the 1.1 MHz modulation period, where two different sets of plateaus
dominate the acoustoelectric-current versus gate-voltage characteristics. In
some cases, both types of quantized steps appeared simultaneously, though at
different current values, as if they were superposed on each other. Their
presence could result from two independent quantization mechanisms for the
acoustoelectric current. We point out that short potential barriers determining
the properties of our nominally long constrictions could lead to an additional
quantization mechanism, independent from those described in the standard model
of 'moving quantum dots'.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, to be published in a special issue of J. Low
Temp. Phys. in honour of Prof. F. Pobel
Transport spectroscopy in a time-modulated open quantum dot
We have investigated the time-modulated coherent quantum transport phenomena
in a ballistic open quantum dot. The conductance and the electron dwell
time in the dots are calculated by a time-dependent mode-matching method. Under
high-frequency modulation, the traversing electrons are found to exhibit three
types of resonant scatterings. They are intersideband scatterings: into
quasibound states in the dots, into true bound states in the dots, and into
quasibound states just beneath the subband threshold in the leads. Dip
structures or fano structures in are their signatures. Our results show
structures due to 2 intersideband processes. At the above
scattering resonances, we have estimated, according to our dwell time
calculation, the number of round-trip scatterings that the traversing electrons
undertake between the two dot openings.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Dissipation and noise in adiabatic quantum pumps
We investigate the distribution function, the heat flow and the noise
properties of an adiabatic quantum pump for an arbitrary relation of pump
frequency and temperature. To achieve this we start with the
scattering matrix approach for ac-transport. This approach leads to expressions
for the quantities of interest in terms of the side bands of particles exiting
the pump. The side bands correspond to particles which have gained or lost a
modulation quantum . We find that our results for the pump
current, the heat flow and the noise can all be expressed in terms of a
parametric emissivity matrix. In particular we find that the current
cross-correlations of a multiterminal pump are directly related a to a
non-diagonal element of the parametric emissivity matrix. The approach allows a
description of the quantum statistical correlation properties (noise) of an
adiabatic quantum pump
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