Charge Density Wave Ratchet

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to operate a charge density wave as an electron pump using oscillating gate potentials, resulting in quantized current plateaux, with analysis of thermal noise effects.

Contribution

It proposes a novel way to use charge density waves as electron pumps with quantized current steps and studies the impact of thermal noise on this system.

Findings

Quantized current plateaux separated by 2eNf.

Oscillating gate potential induces charge density wave sliding.

Thermal noise effects are characterized.

Abstract

We propose to operate a locally-gated charge density wave as an electron pump. Applying an oscillating gate potential with frequency $f$ causes equally spaced plateaux in the sliding charge density wave current separated by $\Delta I=2eNf,$ where $N$ is the number of parallel chains. The effects of thermal noise are investigated.