Real-time detection of single-electron tunneling using a quantum point contact

We observe individual tunnel events of a single electron between a quantum dot and a reservoir, using a nearby quantum point contact (QPC) as a charge meter. The QPC is capacitively coupled to the dot, and the QPC conductance changes by about 1% if the number of electrons on the dot changes by one. The QPC is voltage biased and the current is...

Engineering the quantum point contact response to single-electron charging in a few-electron quantum-dot circuit

We show that the design of a quantum point contact adjacent to a quantum dot can be optimized to produce maximum sensitivity to single-electron charging in the quantum dot. Our analysis is based on the self-consistent solution of coupled three-dimensional Kohn-Sham and Poisson equations for the quantum circuit. We predict a detection sensitivity...

Excited-state spectroscopy on a nearly closed quantum dot via charge detection

We demonstrate a method for measuring the discrete energy spectrum of a quantum dot connected very weakly to a single lead. A train of voltage pulses applied to a metal gate induces tunneling of electrons between the quantum dot and a reservoir. The effective tunnel rate depends on the number and nature of the energy levels in the dot made...