When assembling individual quantum components into a mesoscopic circuit, the interplay between Coulomb interaction and charge granularity breaks down the classical laws of electrical impedance composition. Here we explore experimentally the thermal c
onsequences, and observe an additional quantum mechanism of electronic heat transport. The investigated, broadly tunable test-bed circuit is composed of a micron-scale metallic node connected to one electronic channel and a resistance. Heating up the node with Joule dissipation, we separately determine, from complementary noise measurements, both its temperature and the thermal shot noise induced by the temperature difference across the channel (`delta-$T$ noise). The thermal shot noise predictions are thereby directly validated, and the electronic heat flow is revealed. The latter exhibits a contribution from the channel involving the electrons partitioning together with the Coulomb interaction. Expanding heat current predictions to include the thermal shot noise, we find a quantitative agreement with experiments.
We review the intriguing many-body physics resulting out of the interplay of a single, local impurity and the two-particle interaction in a one-dimensional Fermi system. Even if the underlying homogeneous correlated system is taken to be metallic, th
is interplay leads to an emergent quantum phase transition between metallic and insulating states. We show that the zero temperature critical point and the universal low-energy physics associated to it, is realized in two different models, the field theoretical local sine-Gordon model and spinless fermions on a lattice with nearest-neighbor hopping and two-particle interaction, as well as in an experimental setup consisting of a highly tunable quantum circuit. Despite the different high-energy physics of the three systems the universal low-energy scaling curves of the conductance as a function of temperature agree up to a very high precision without any free parameter. Overall this provides a convincing example of how emergent universality in complex systems originating from a common underlying quantum critical point establishes a bridge between different fields of physics. In our case between field theory, quantum many-body theory of correlated Fermi systems, and experimental circuit quantum electrodynamics.
The quantum coherence of electronic quasiparticles underpins many of the emerging transport properties of conductors at small scales. Novel electronic implementations of quantum optics devices are now available with perspectives such as flying qubit
manipulations. However, electronic quantum interferences in conductors remained up to now limited to propagation paths shorter than $30,mu$m, independently of the material. Here we demonstrate strong electronic quantum interferences after a propagation along two $0.1,$mm long pathways in a circuit. Interferences of visibility as high as $80%$ and $40%$ are observed on electronic analogues of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer of, respectively, $24,mu$m and $0.1,$mm arm length, consistently corresponding to a $0.25,$mm electronic phase coherence length. While such devices perform best in the integer quantum Hall regime at filling factor 2, the electronic interferences are restricted by the Coulomb interaction between copropagating edge channels. We overcome this limitation by closing the inner channel in micron-scale loops of frozen internal degrees of freedom, combined with a loop-closing strategy providing an essential isolation from the environment.
The Coulomb interaction generally limits the quantum propagation of electrons. However, it can also provide a mechanism to transfer their quantum state over larger distances. Here, we demonstrate such a form of teleportation, across a metallic island
within which the electrons are trapped much longer than their quantum lifetime. This effect originates from the low temperature freezing of the islands charge $Q$ which, in the presence of a single connected electronic channel, enforces a one-to-one correspondence between incoming and outgoing electrons. Such high-fidelity quantum state imprinting is established between well-separated injection and emission locations, through two-path interferences in the integer quantum Hall regime. The added electron quantum phase of $2pi Q/e$ can allow for strong and decoherence-free entanglement of propagating electrons, and notably of flying qubits.
The Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) concept is believed to generically describe the strongly-correlated physics of one-dimensional systems at low temperatures. A hallmark signature in 1D conductors is the quantum phase transition between metallic and
insulating states induced by a single impurity. However, this transition impedes experimental explorations of real-world TLLs. Furthermore, its theoretical treatment, explaining the universal energy rescaling of the conductance at low temperatures, has so far been achieved exactly only for specific interaction strengths. Quantum simulation can provide a powerful workaround. Here, a hybrid metal-semiconductor dissipative quantum circuit is shown to implement the analogue of a TLL of adjustable electronic interactions comprising a single, fully tunable scattering impurity. Measurements reveal the renormalization group `beta-function for the conductance that completely determines the TLL universal crossover to an insulating state upon cooling. Moreover, the characteristic scaling energy locating at a given temperature the position within this conductance renormalization flow is established over nine decades versus circuit parameters, and the out-of-equilibrium regime is explored. With the quantum simulator quality demonstrated from the precise parameter-free validation of existing and novel TLL predictions, quantum simulation is achieved in a strong sense, by elucidating interaction regimes which resist theoretical solutions.
Quantum mechanics and Coulomb interaction dictate the behavior of small circuits. The thermal implications cover fundamental topics from quantum control of heat to quantum thermodynamics, with prospects of novel thermal machines and an ineluctably gr
owing influence on nanocircuit engineering. Experimentally, the rare observations thus far include the universal thermal conductance quantum and heat interferometry. However, evidences for many-body thermal effects paving the way to markedly different heat and electrical behaviors in quantum circuits remain wanting. Here we report on the observation of the Coulomb blockade of electronic heat flow from a small metallic circuit node, beyond the widespread Wiedemann-Franz law paradigm. We demonstrate this thermal many-body phenomenon for perfect (ballistic) conduction channels to the node, where it amounts to the universal suppression of precisely one quantum of conductance for the transport of heat, but none for electricity. The inter-channel correlations that give rise to such selective heat current reduction emerge from local charge conservation, in the floating node over the full thermal frequency range ($lesssim$temperature$times k_mathrm{B}/h$). This observation establishes the different nature of the quantum laws for thermal transport in nanocircuits.
Quantum phase transitions are ubiquitous in many exotic behaviors of strongly-correlated materials. However the microscopic complexity impedes their quantitative understanding. Here, we observe thoroughly and comprehend the rich strongly-correlated p
hysics in two profoundly dissimilar regimes of quantum criticality. With a circuit implementing a quantum simulator for the three-channel Kondo model, we reveal the universal scalings toward different low-temperature fixed points and along the multiple crossovers from quantum criticality. Notably, an unanticipated violation of the maximum conductance for ballistic free electrons is uncovered. The present charge pseudospin implementation of a Kondo impurity opens access to a broad variety of strongly-correlated phenomena.
Quantum physics emerge and develop as temperature is reduced. Although mesoscopic electrical circuits constitute an outstanding platform to explore quantum behavior, the challenge in cooling the electrons impedes their potential. The strong coupling
of such micrometer-scale devices with the measurement lines, combined with the weak coupling to the substrate, makes them extremely difficult to thermalize below 10 mK and imposes in-situ thermometers. Here we demonstrate electronic quantum transport at 6 mK in micrometer-scale mesoscopic circuits. The thermometry methods are established by the comparison of three in-situ primary thermometers, each involving a different underlying physics. The employed combination of quantum shot noise, quantum back-action of a resistive circuit and conductance oscillations of a single-electron transistor covers a remarkably broad spectrum of mesoscopic phenomena. The experiment, performed in vacuum using a standard cryogen-free dilution refrigerator, paves the way toward the sub-millikelvin range with additional thermalization and refrigeration techniques.
In 1909, Millikan showed that the charge of electrically isolated systems is quantized in units of the elementary electron charge e. Today, the persistence of charge quantization in small, weakly connected conductors allows for circuits where single
electrons are manipulated, with applications in e.g. metrology, detectors and thermometry. However, quantum fluctuations progressively reduce the discreteness of charge as the connection strength is increased. Here we report on the full quantum control and characterization of charge quantization. By using semiconductor-based tunable elemental conduction channels to connect a micrometer-scale metallic island, the complete evolution is explored while scanning the entire range of connection strengths, from tunnel barrier to ballistic contact. We observe a robust scaling of charge quantization as the square root of the residual electron reflection probability across a quantum channel when approaching the ballistic critical point, which also applies beyond the regimes yet accessible to theory. At increased temperatures, the thermal fluctuations result in an exponential suppression of charge quantization as well as in a universal square root scaling, for arbitrary connection strengths, in agreement with expectations. Besides direct applications to improve single-electron functionalities and for the metal-semiconductor hybrids emerging in the quest toward topological quantum computing, the knowledge of the quantum laws of electricity will be essential for the quantum engineering of future nanoelectronic devices.
Many-body correlations and macroscopic quantum behaviors are fascinating condensed matter problems. A powerful test-bed for the many-body concepts and methods is the Kondo model which entails the coupling of a quantum impurity to a continuum of state
s. It is central in highly correlated systems and can be explored with tunable nanostructures. Although Kondo physics is usually associated with the hybridization of itinerant electrons with microscopic magnetic moments, theory predicts that it can arise whenever degenerate quantum states are coupled to a continuum. Here we demonstrate the previously elusive `charge Kondo effect in a hybrid metal-semiconductor implementation of a single-electron transistor, with a quantum pseudospin-1/2 constituted by two degenerate macroscopic charge states of a metallic island. In contrast to other Kondo nanostructures, each conduction channel connecting the island to an electrode constitutes a distinct and fully tunable Kondo channel, thereby providing an unprecedented access to the two-channel Kondo effect and a clear path to multi-channel Kondo physics. Using a weakly coupled probe, we reveal the renormalization flow, as temperature is reduced, of two Kondo channels competing to screen the charge pseudospin. This provides a direct view of how the predicted quantum phase transition develops across the symmetric quantum critical point. Detuning the pseudospin away from degeneracy, we demonstrate, on a fully characterized device, quantitative agreement with the predictions for the finite-temperature crossover from quantum criticality.
