Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external drive
The nanomechanical single-electron shuttle is a resonant system in which a suspended metallic island oscillates between and impacts at two electrodes. This setup holds promise for one-by-one electron transport and the establishment of an absolute current standard. While the charge transported per os...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2014-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/4/043009 |
| _version_ | 1797751469150044160 |
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| author | Michael J Moeckel Darren R Southworth Eva M Weig Florian Marquardt |
| author_facet | Michael J Moeckel Darren R Southworth Eva M Weig Florian Marquardt |
| author_sort | Michael J Moeckel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The nanomechanical single-electron shuttle is a resonant system in which a suspended metallic island oscillates between and impacts at two electrodes. This setup holds promise for one-by-one electron transport and the establishment of an absolute current standard. While the charge transported per oscillation by the nanoscale island will be quantized in the Coulomb blockade regime, the frequency of such a shuttle depends sensitively on many parameters, leading to drift and noise. Instead of considering the nonlinearities introduced by the impact events as a nuisance, here we propose to exploit the resulting nonlinear dynamics to realize a highly precise oscillation frequency via synchronization of the shuttle self-oscillations to an external signal. We link the established phenomenological description of synchronization based on the Adler equation to the microscopic nonlinear dynamics of the electron shuttle by calculating the effective Adler constant analytically in terms of the microscopic parameters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:49:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d271d5e7deb94e1bb8e2695578e9c38d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:49:01Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-d271d5e7deb94e1bb8e2695578e9c38d2023-08-08T11:26:04ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302014-01-0116404300910.1088/1367-2630/16/4/043009Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external driveMichael J Moeckel0Darren R Southworth1Eva M Weig2Florian Marquardt3Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik , Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, Garching D-85748, Germany; Center for Computational Chemistry and Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK; St John's College Cambridge , Cambridge CB2 1TP, UKCenter for NanoScience (CeNS) and Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, München D-80539, GermanyCenter for NanoScience (CeNS) and Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, München D-80539, Germany; Department of Physics, Universität Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10 , Konstanz D-78457, GermanyInstitute for Theoretical Physics, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg , Staudtstr. 7, Erlangen D-91058, GermanyThe nanomechanical single-electron shuttle is a resonant system in which a suspended metallic island oscillates between and impacts at two electrodes. This setup holds promise for one-by-one electron transport and the establishment of an absolute current standard. While the charge transported per oscillation by the nanoscale island will be quantized in the Coulomb blockade regime, the frequency of such a shuttle depends sensitively on many parameters, leading to drift and noise. Instead of considering the nonlinearities introduced by the impact events as a nuisance, here we propose to exploit the resulting nonlinear dynamics to realize a highly precise oscillation frequency via synchronization of the shuttle self-oscillations to an external signal. We link the established phenomenological description of synchronization based on the Adler equation to the microscopic nonlinear dynamics of the electron shuttle by calculating the effective Adler constant analytically in terms of the microscopic parameters.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/4/043009nanomechanical resonatorssynchronizationsingle electron shuttlenonlinear dynamicsnanometrology |
| spellingShingle | Michael J Moeckel Darren R Southworth Eva M Weig Florian Marquardt Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external drive New Journal of Physics nanomechanical resonators synchronization single electron shuttle nonlinear dynamics nanometrology |
| title | Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external drive |
| title_full | Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external drive |
| title_fullStr | Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external drive |
| title_full_unstemmed | Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external drive |
| title_short | Synchronizing a single-electron shuttle to an external drive |
| title_sort | synchronizing a single electron shuttle to an external drive |
| topic | nanomechanical resonators synchronization single electron shuttle nonlinear dynamics nanometrology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/4/043009 |
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