Intrinsic noise of a micro-mechanical displacement detector based on the radio-frequency single-electron transistor

We present the fabrication and measurement of a radio frequency single electron transistor (rf-SET), that displays a very high charge sensitivity of 1.9 microlectrons/sqrt(Hz) at 4.2 K. At 40 mK, the charge sensitivity is 0.9 and 1.0 microlectrons/sqrt(Hz) in the superconducting and normal state respectively. The sensitivity was measured as a function of radio frequency amplitude at three different temperatures: 40 mK, 1.8 K and 4.2 K.

We analyze the dynamics of a nano-mechanical resonator coupled to a single-electron transistor (SET) in the regime where the resonator behaves classically. A master equation is derived describing the dynamics of the coupled system which is then used to obtain equations of motion for the average charge state of the SET and the average position of the resonator. We show that the action of the SET on the resonator is very similar to that of a thermal bath, as it leads to a stead...

Electron transport in nano-scale structures is strongly influenced by the Coulomb interaction which gives rise to correlations in the stream of charges and leaves clear fingerprints in the fluctuations of the electrical current. A complete understanding of the underlying physical processes requires measurements of the electrical fluctuations on all time and frequency scales, but experiments have so far been restricted to fixed frequency ranges as broadband detection of curren...

By operating the radio frequency single electron transistor (rf-SET) as a mixer we present measurements in which the RC roll-off of the tunnel junctions is observed at high frequencies. Our technique makes use of the non-linear rf-SET transconductance to mix high frequency gate signals and produce difference-frequency components that fall within the bandwidth of the rf-SET. At gate frequencies >15GHz the induced charge on the rf-SET island is altered on time-scales faster tha...

We calculate the full frequency spectral density of voltage fluctuations in a Single Electron Transistor (SET), used as an electrometer biased above the Coulomb threshold so that the current through the SET is carried by sequential tunnel events. We consider both a normal state SET and a superconducting SET. The whole spectrum from low frequency telegraph noise to quantum noise at frequencies comparable to the SET charging energy $(E_{C}/\hbar)$, and high frequency Nyquist no...

We report here direct measurements of the destruction of charge quantization in a single electron box, the first over the full range of box-to-lead conductance values from G ~ 0 to the conductance quantum G_q = 2e^2/h, using a sensitive single-electron transistor (SET) electrometer. The sensitivity of the electrometer is measured to be dq ~ 6 x 10^-5 e/sqrt{Hz} and its superiority to conductance measurements of charge fluctuations is clearly demonstrated. As the rate of quant...

Single Electron Transistors (SETs) are nanoscale electrometers of unprecedented sensitivity, and as such have been proposed as read-out devices in a number of quantum computer architectures. We show that the functionality of a standard SET can be multiplexed so as to operate as both read-out device and control gate for a solid-state qubit. Multiplexing in this way may be critical in lowering overall gate densities in scalable quantum computer architectures.

We have analyzed the response and noise-limited sensitivity of the radio-frequency single-electron transistor (RF-SET), extending the previously developed theory to the case of arbitrary large quality factor Q of the RF-SET tank circuit. It is shown that while the RF-SET response reaches the maximum at Q roughly corresponding to the impedance matching condition, the RF-SET sensitivity monotonically worsens with the increase of Q. Also, we propose a novel operation mode of the...

We propose an electromechanical transducer based on a resonant-tunneling configuration that, with respect to the standard tunneling transducers, allows larger tunneling currents while using the same bias voltage. The increased current leads to an increase of the shot noise and an increase of the momentum noise which determine the quantum limit in the system under monitoring. Experiments with micromachined masses at 4.2 K could show dominance of the momentum noise over the Bro...

We have suspended an Al based single-electron transistor whose island can resonate freely between the source and drain leads forming the clamps. In addition to the regular side gate, a bottom gate with a larger capacitance to the SET island is placed underneath to increase the SET coupling to mechanical motion. The device can be considered as a doubly clamped Al beam that can transduce mechanical vibrations into variations of the SET current. Our simulations based on the orth...