Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 6: Transport: Nanoelectronics I - Quantum Dots, Wires, Point Contacts 1
TT 6.4: Talk
Monday, March 26, 2012, 10:15–10:30, BH 334
Single-particle interference versus two-particle collisions — •Stefan Juergens1, Janine Splettstoesser1, and Michael Moskalets1,2 — 1Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik, RWTH Aachen University — 2Department of Metal and Semic. Physics, NTU "Kharkiv Polytechnical Institute", Ukraine
In mesoscopics the particle- and wave-like nature of the electrons usually appears in separate setups. The discreteness of the charge leads e.g. to the well-known Coulomb blockade effect in quantum dots, while the wave-like behavior of an electron is manifested in the single-particle interference leading to Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations of the current through a ring. Recently, tunable single-electron sources, supplying particles one by one, have been realized in the QHE regime [1]. Here we make use of these sources in order to propose and theoretically discuss a mesoscopic circuit in which the particle- and wave-like nature of electrons can be observed in the same setup. It comprises of two sources emitting particles into a Mach-Zehnder interferometer penetrated by a magnetic flux [2]. We show that when synchronizing the sources, on one hand the time-resolved current always shows an interference pattern, indicating the wave-like behavior of electrons. In contrast, whether the detected charge shows the AB effect depends on the occurrence of collisions between particles, emitted from the two different sources, at the interferometer’s output. This ability to collide allows for an interpretation based on the particle nature of electrons.
G. Fève et al, Science 316, 1169 (2007)
S. Juergens, J. Splettstoesser, M. Moskalets, EPL 96, 37011(2011)