We report measurements on a graphene quantum dot with an integrated graphene charge detector. The quantum dot device consists of a graphene island (diameter approx. 200 nm) connected to source and drain contacts via two narrow graphene constrictions. From Coulomb diamond measurements a charging energy of 4.3 meV is extracted. The charge detector is based on a 45 nm wide graphene nanoribbon placed approx. 60 nm from the island. We show that resonances in the nanoribbon can be used to detect individual charging events on the quantum dot. The charging induced potential change on the quantum dot causes a step-like change of the current in the charge detector. The relative change of the current ranges from 10% up to 60% for detecting individual charging events.
We present real-time detection measurements of electron tunneling in a graphene quantum dot. By counting single electron charging events on the dot, the tunneling process in a graphene constriction and the role of localized states are studied in detail. In the regime of low charge detector bias we see only a single time-dependent process in the tunneling rate which can be modeled using a Fermi-broadened energy distribution of the carriers in the lead. We find a non-monotonic gate dependence of the tunneling coupling attributed to the formation of localized states in the constriction. Increasing the detector bias above 2 mV results in an increase of the dot-lead transition rate related to back-action of the charge detector current on the dot.
We report on charge detection in electrostatically-defined quantum dot devices in bilayer graphene using an integrated charge detector. The device is fabricated without any etching and features a graphite back gate, leading to high quality quantum dots. The charge detector is based on a second quantum dot separated from the first dot by depletion underneath a 150 nm wide gate. We show that Coulomb resonances in the sensing dot are sensitive to individual charging events on the nearby quantum dot. The potential change due to single electron charging causes a step-like change (up to 77 %) in the current through the charge detector. Furthermore, the charging states of a quantum dot with tunable tunneling barriers and of coupled quantum dots can be detected.
Single electron pumps are set to revolutionize electrical metrology by enabling the ampere to be re-defined in terms of the elementary charge of an electron. Pumps based on lithographically-fixed tunnel barriers in mesoscopic metallic systems and normal/superconducting hybrid turnstiles can reach very small error rates, but only at MHz pumping speeds corresponding to small currents of the order 1 pA. Tunable barrier pumps in semiconductor structures have been operated at GHz frequencies, but the theoretical treatment of the error rate is more complex and only approximate predictions are available. Here, we present a monolithic, fixed barrier single electron pump made entirely from graphene. We demonstrate pump operation at frequencies up to 1.4 GHz, and predict the error rate to be as low as 0.01 parts per million at 90 MHz. Combined with the record-high accuracy of the quantum Hall effect and proximity induced Josephson junctions, accurate quantized current generation brings an all-graphene closure of the quantum metrological triangle within reach. Envisaged applications for graphene charge pumps outside quantum metrology include single photon generation via electron-hole recombination in electrostatically doped bilayer graphene reservoirs, and for readout of spin-based graphene qubits in quantum information processing.
In order to employ solid state quantum dots as qubits, both a high degree of control over the confinement potential as well as sensitive charge detection are essential. We demonstrate that by combining local anodic oxidation with local Schottky-gates, these criteria are nicely fulfilled in the resulting hybrid device. To this end, a quantum dot with adjacent charge detector is defined. After tuning the quantum dot to contain only a single electron, we are able to observe the charge detector signal of the quantum dot state for a wide range of tunnel couplings.
We have studied the transport properties of a large graphene double quantum dot under the influence of background disorder potential and magnetic field. At low temperatures, the evolution of the charge-stability diagram as a function of B-field is investigated up to 10 Tesla. Our results indicate that the charging energy of quantum dot is reduced, and hence the size of the dot increases, at high magnetic field. We provide an explanation of our results using a tight-binding model, which describes the charge redistribution in a disordered graphene quantum dot via the formation of Landau levels and edge states. Our model suggests that the tunnel barriers separating different electron/hole puddles in a dot become transparent at high B-fields, resulting in the charge delocalization and reduced charging energy observed experimentally.