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arXiv:1603.01225 · Scientific Reports

Three-waveform bidirectional pumping of single electrons with a silicon quantum dot

Tuomo Tanttu, Alessandro Rossi, Kuan Yen Tan, Akseli Mäkinen, K. W. Chan, Andrew S. Dzurak, Mikko Möttönen

Published Nov 8, 2016• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Semiconductor-based quantum dot single-electron pumps are currently the most promising candidates for the direct realization of the emerging quantum standard of the ampere in the International System of Units. Here, we discuss a silicon quantum dot single-electron pump with radio frequency control over the transparencies of entrance and exit barriers as well as the dot potential. We show that our driving protocol leads to robust bidirectional pumping: one can conveniently reverse the direction of the quantized current by changing only the phase shift of one driving waveform with respect to the others. We anticipate that this pumping technique may be used in the future to perform error counting experiments by pumping the electrons into and out of a reservoir island monitored by a charge sensor.

DOI
10.1038/srep36381

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Semiconductor-based quantum dot single-electron pumps are currently the most promising candidates for the direct realization of the emerging quantum standard of the ampere in the International System of Units. Here, we discuss a silicon quantum dot single-electron pump with radio frequency control over the transparencies of entrance and exit barriers as well as the dot potential. We show that our driving protocol leads to robust bidirectional pumping: one can conveniently reverse the direction of the quantized current by changing only the phase shift of one driving waveform with respect to the others. We anticipate that this pumping technique may be used in the future to perform error counting experiments by pumping the electrons into and out of a reservoir island monitored by a charge sensor.
In quantum metrology, semiconductor single-electron pumps are used to generate accurate electric currents with the ultimate goal of implementing the emerging quantum standard of the ampere. Pumps based on electrostatically defined tunable quantum dots (QDs) have thus far shown the most promising performance in combining fast and accurate charge transfer. However, at frequencies exceeding approximately 1 GHz the accuracy typically decreases. Recently, hybrid pumps based on QDs coupled to trap states have led to increased transfer rates due to tighter electrostatic confinement. Here, we operate a hybrid electron pump in silicon obtained by coupling a QD to multiple parasitic states and achieve robust current quantization up to a few gigahertz. We show that the fidelity of the electron capture depends on the sequence in which the parasitic states become available for loading, resulting in distinctive frequency-dependent features in the pumped current.
Single-electron pumps based on quantum dots (QDs) with tunable barriers are promising candidates for the emerging quantum standard of electrical current, but accuracy at elevated reservoir temperatures can be challenging. In this study, a planar silicon QD achieves accurate, high-speed single-electron pumping in the thermal regime, where reservoir temperature could rise to a few kelvin. This device operates without the demanding conditions of previous experiments, indicating that it could deliver a cost-effective and easily distributed standard of current---and, furthermore, could be useful for long-range transfer of quantum information.
Electron cotunneling in semiconductor quantum dots is a higher-order tunneling mechanism that connects initial and final charge states through energetically inaccessible virtual intermediate configurations. In quantum-dot arrays, such processes can produce simultaneous charge motion across multiple tunnel junctions and enable transitions that would otherwise be suppressed by Coulomb blockade. Here, building on an earlier proof-of-principle demonstration, we investigate radio-frequency (rf)-driven correlated cotunneling and its application to dispersive quantum-dot readout. Using both theoretical modeling and experimental measurements in two different foundry-fabricated silicon devices, we show that an external rf drive can induce correlated cyclic single-electron transitions, resulting in enhanced charge-polarization of the system. We develop a general theoretical framework for rf electron-cascade readout, which exploits cotunneling events in quantum-dot systems with three or more dots to produce a relative signal enhancement, and extend its experimental demonstration to a gate-sensed device architecture. Our results establish the operating principles of rf electron-cascade readout and provide a route to increased dispersive readout fidelity in semiconductor quantum computing architectures.
A gigahertz single-electron (SE) pump with a semiconductor charge island is promising for a future quantum current standard. However, high-accuracy current in the nanoampere regime is still difficult to achieve because the performance of SE pumps tends to degrade significantly at frequencies exceeding 1 GHz. Here, we demonstrate robust SE pumping via a single-trap level in silicon up to 7.4 GHz, at which the pumping current exceeds 1 nA. An accuracy test with an uncertainty of about one part per million (ppm) reveals that the pumping current deviates from the ideal value by only about 20 ppm at the flattest part of the current plateau. This value is two orders of magnitude better than the best one reported in the nanoampere regime. In addition, the pumping accuracy is almost unchanged up to 7.4 GHz, probably due to strong electron confinement in the trap. These results indicate that trap-mediated SE pumping is promising for achieving the practical operation of the quantum current standard.
Three key metrics for readout systems in quantum processors are measurement speed, fidelity and footprint. Fast high-fidelity readout enables mid-circuit measurements, a necessary feature for many dynamic algorithms and quantum error correction, while a small footprint facilitates the design of scalable, highly-connected architectures with the associated increase in computing performance. Here, we present two complementary demonstrations of fast high-fidelity single-shot readout of spins in silicon quantum dots using a compact, dispersive charge sensor: a radio-frequency single-electron box. The sensor, despite requiring fewer electrodes than conventional detectors, performs at the state-of-the-art achieving spin read-out fidelity of 99.2% in less than 6 μμμs. We demonstrate that low-loss high-impedance resonators, highly coupled to the sensing dot, in conjunction with Josephson parametric amplification are instrumental in achieving optimal performance. We quantify the benefit of Pauli spin blockade over spin-dependent tunneling to a reservoir, as the spin-to-charge conversion mechanism in these readout schemes. Our results place dispersive charge sensing at the forefront of readout methodologies for scalable semiconductor spin-based quantum processors.