High frequency limit for single-electron pumping operations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the maximum operational frequency of single-electron pumps and reveals that quantum coherence effects cause deviations from expected current-frequency proportionality.

Contribution

It establishes a high frequency limit for single-electron pumping and analyzes the impact of quantum coherence on current behavior.

Findings

Identified a maximum frequency for single-electron pumping operations.

Discovered that quantum coherence affects the proportionality between current and frequency.

Provided insights into transient electron transfer phenomena in quantum devices.

Abstract

In this Letter, we study the transient electron transfer phenomena of single-electron devices with alternating external gate voltages. We obtain a high frequency limit for pumping electrons one at a time in single-electron devices. Also, we find that in general the electrical current is not proportional to the frequency of the external signals in the single-electron devices, due to the strong quantum coherence tunneling effect.