Coherence of Single Electron Sources from Mach-Zehnder Interferometry

TL;DR

This paper investigates the coherence properties of single electron sources using Mach-Zehnder interferometry, highlighting the intrinsic coherence length crucial for quantum electronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to measure the single-particle coherence length from Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, providing insights into the quantum nature of electron sources.

Findings

Single-particle coherence length determined from interference decay.

Coherence length is an intrinsic property of the electron source.

Method distinguishes intrinsic coherence from dephasing effects.

Abstract

A new type of electron sources has emerged which permits to inject particles in a controllable manner, one at a time, into an electronic circuit. Such single electron sources make it possible to fully exploit the particles' quantum nature. We determine the single-particle coherence length from the decay of the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations as a function of the imbalance of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer connected to a single electron source. The single-particle coherence length is of particular importance as it is an intrinsic property of the source in contrast to the dephasing length.