Abstract
The control of electrons at the level of the elementary
charge e was demonstrated experimentally already in the
1980s. Ever since, the production of an electrical
current ef, or its integer multiple, at a drive frequency
f has been a focus of research for metrological purposes.
This review discusses the generic physical phenomena and
technical constraints that influence single-electron
charge transport and presents a broad variety of proposed
realizations. Some of them have already proven
experimentally to nearly fulfill the demanding needs, in
terms of transfer errors and transfer rate, of quantum
metrology of electrical quantities, whereas some others
are currently “just” wild ideas, still often potentially
competitive if technical constraints can be lifted. The
important issues of readout of single-electron events and
potential error correction schemes based on them are also
discussed. Finally, an account is given of the status of
single-electron current sources in the bigger framework
of electric quantum standards and of the future
international SI system of units, and applications and
uses of single-electron devices outside the metrological
context are briefly discussed.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 1421 |
Journal | Reviews of Modern Physics |
Volume | 85 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |