A scientific collaboration between IFISC and Stanford University has demonstrated for the first time the drag effect between correlated electrons in quantum dots. A quantum dot is a nanoscale system where electrons become confined in the three spatial directions. When two quantum dots are put in proximity with each other and a current source is connected to one of the dots, a drag current arises in the second dot due to electronic repulsion between the dot electrons.
Both the experimental verification of this effect and its theoretical discussion has been published as a joint report in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters (PRL). The work has been selected to be a PRL Editors’ Suggestion. About one Letter in six is chosen for this highlighting, aimed at particularly important or interesting papers. The work has been featured on the PRL homepage.
To reach the quantum regime, researchers lowered the temperature near 0 K (-273ºC). The authors showed that at such low temperature electronic motion is correlated, leading to energy exchange between the two quantum dots. The drag effect has been observed in graphene, quantum wires and now in quantum dots.
Quantum dots are unique systems in part because they might form the building blocks in future quantum computers. This work will allow researchers to put a limit to the packing density of nanoelectronic circuits and opens the door to more detailed investigations on detection properties of quantum charge sensors. From a more fundamental viewpoint, the obtained results will contribute to the knowledge advancement in quantum dynamics of interacting particles.
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.066602