Measurement of the Charge Transfer Efficiency of Electrons Clocked on Superfluid Helium

TL;DR

This paper measures the charge transfer efficiency of electrons on superfluid helium, demonstrating high efficiency and no evidence of trapping, which is promising for quantum computing applications.

Contribution

It provides the first measurement of electron charge transfer efficiency on superfluid helium with high precision and shows no signs of electron trapping.

Findings

Charge transfer efficiency of 0.999 at low frequencies

Electron density of about 4 electrons/μm²

No evidence of deep electron traps

Abstract

Electrons floating on the surface of liquid helium are possible qubits for quantum information processing. Varying electric potentials do not modify spin states, which allows their transport on helium using a charge-coupled device (CCD)-like array of underlying gates. This scheme depends upon efficient inter-gate electron transfer and on the absence of electron traps. We will present a measurement of the charge transfer efficiency (CTE) of electrons clocked back and forth above a short CCD-like structure. The CTE obtained at low clocking frequencies is 0.999 with an electron density of about 4 electrons per square micrometer. We find no evidence for deep electron trapping.