arXiv subjects

P. Samuelsson

Publications and source records attributed to P. Samuelsson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

A superconductor free of quasiparticles for seconds

Superconducting devices, based on the Cooper pairing of electrons, play an important role in existing and emergent technologies, ranging from radiation detectors to quantum computers. Their performance is limited by spurious quasiparticle excitations formed from broken Cooper pairs. Efforts to achieve ultra-low quasiparticle densities have reached time-averaged numbers of excitations on the order of one in state-of-the-art devices. However, the dynamics of the quasiparticle population as well as the time scales for adding and removing individual excitations remain largely unexplored. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a superconductor completely free of quasiparticles for periods lasting up to seconds. We monitor the quasiparticle number on a mesoscopic superconductor in real time by measuring the charge tunneling to a normal metal contact. Quiet, excitation-free periods are interrupted by random-in-time Cooper pair breaking events, followed by a burst of charge tunneling within a millisecond. Our results demonstrate the possibility of operating devices without quasiparticles with potentially improved performance. In addition, our experiment probes the origins of nonequilibrium quasiparticles in our device; the decay of the Cooper pair breaking rate over several weeks following the initial cooldown rules out processes arising from cosmic or long-lived radioactive sources.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Charge-photon transport statistics and short-time correlations in a single quantum dot-resonator system with arbitrarily large coupling parameter

Electrical quantum conductors coupled to microwave resonators have in the last decade emerged as a versatile testbed for controllable light-matter interaction on the nanometer scale. Recent experimental progress with high impedance resonators has resulted in conductor-resonator systems with a large, dimensionless coupling parameter $\lambda \gtrsim 0.1$, well beyond the small coupling regime $\lambda \ll 1$. Motivated by this progress, we here analyse theoretically the joint statistics of transported electrons and emitted photons in a single level quantum dot coupled to a microwave resonator, for arbitrarily large $\lambda$. Describing the electron-photon dynamics via a number-resolved master equation, we evaluate the joint long-time probability distribution as well as joint short-time, $g^{(2)}(t)$, correlation functions. Considering the high-bias regime, with sequential electron tunneling and working in the damping basis, allows us to obtain analytical results for both transport cumulants and $g^{(2)}(t)$ functions. It is found that the photons emitted out of the resonator are bunched and display a super-Poissonian statistics, for all system parameters. However, the electron transport properties are found to be unaffected by the coupling to the resonator, anti-bunched and with sub-Poissonian statistics. From the joint distribution we identify regimes of electron tunneling induced photon cascades and very large $g^{(2)}(t)$ functions. All $g^{(2)}(t)$-functions are found to be independent of $\lambda$. We also identify conditions for and transport signatures of a thermal resonator photon state.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Nanoscale Quantum Calorimetry with Electronic Temperature Fluctuations

Motivated by the recent development of fast and ultra-sensitive thermometry in nanoscale systems, we investigate quantum calorimetric detection of individual heat pulses in the sub-meV energy range. We propose a hybrid superconducting injector-calorimeter set-up, with the energy of injected pulses carried by tunneling electrons. Treating all heat transfer events microscopically, we analyse the statistics of the calorimeter temperature fluctuations and derive conditions for an accurate measurement of the heat pulse energies. Our results pave the way for novel, fundamental quantum thermodynamics experiments, including calorimetric detection of single microwave photons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Minimal Entanglement Witness From Electrical Current Correlations

Despite great efforts, an unambiguous demonstration of entanglement of mobile electrons in solid state conductors is still lacking. Investigating theoretically a generic entangler-detector setup, we here show that a witness of entanglement between two flying electron qubits can be constructed from only two current cross correlation measurements, for any nonzero detector efficiencies and non-collinear polarization vectors. We find that all entangled pure states, but not all mixed ones, can be detected with only two measurements, except the maximally entangled states, which require three. Moreover, detector settings for optimal entanglement witnessing are presented.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Sub Decoherence Time Generation and Detection of Orbital Entanglement

Recent experiments have demonstrated sub decoherence time control of individual single-electron orbital qubits. Here we propose a quantum dot based scheme for generation and detection of pairs of orbitally entangled electrons on a timescale much shorter than the decoherence time. The electrons are entangled, via two-particle interference, and transferred to the detectors during a single cotunneling event, making the scheme insensitive to charge noise. For sufficiently long detector dot lifetimes, cross-correlation detection of the dot charges can be performed with real-time counting techniques, opening up for an unambiguous short-time Bell inequality test of orbital entanglement.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Experimental verification of reciprocity relations in quantum thermoelectric transport

Symmetry relations are manifestations of fundamental principles and constitute cornerstones of modern physics. An example are the Onsager relations between coefficients connecting thermodynamic fluxes and forces, central to transport theory and experiments. Initially formulated for classical systems, these reciprocity relations are also fulfilled in quantum conductors. Surprisingly, novel relations have been predicted specifically for thermoelectric transport. However, whereas these thermoelectric reciprocity relations have to date not been verified, they have been predicted to be sensitive to inelastic scattering, always present at finite temperature. The question whether the relations exist in practice is important for thermoelectricity: whereas their existence may simplify the theory of complex thermoelectric materials, their absence has been shown to enable, in principle, higher thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency for a given material quality. Here we experimentally verify the thermoelectric reciprocity relations in a four-terminal mesoscopic device where each terminal can be electrically and thermally biased, individually. The linear response thermoelectric coefficients are found to be symmetric under simultaneous reversal of magnetic field and exchange of injection and emission contacts. Intriguingly, we also observe the breakdown of the reciprocity relations as a function of increasing thermal bias. Our measurements thus clearly establish the existence of the thermoelectric reciprocity relations, as well as the possibility to control their breakdown with the potential to enhance thermoelectric performance

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Pump-probe scheme for electron-photon dynamics in hybrid conductor-cavity systems

Recent experiments on nanoscale conductors coupled to microwave cavities put in prospect transport investigations of electron-photon interplay in the deep quantum regime. Here we propose a pump-probe scheme to investigate the transient dynamics of individual electron-photon excitations in a double quantum dot-cavity system. Excitations pumped into the system decay via charge tunneling at the double dot, probed in real time. We investigate theoretically the short-time charge transfer statistics at the dot, for periodic pumping, and show that this gives access to vacuum Rabi oscillations as well as excitation dynamics in the presence of double dot dephasing and relaxation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Full Counting Statistics of Generic Spin Entangler with Quantum Dot-Ferromagnet detectors

Entanglement between spatially separated electrons in nanoscale transport is a fundamental property, yet to be demonstrated experimentally. Here we propose and analyse theoretically the transport statistics of a generic spin entangler coupled to a hybrid quantum dot-ferromagnet detector system. We show that the full distribution of charges arriving at the ferromagnetic terminals provide complete information on the spin state of the particles emitted by the entangler. This provides means for spin entanglement detection via electrical current correlations, with optimal measurement strategies depending on the a priori knowledge of ferromagnet polarization and spin-flip rates in the detector dots. The scheme is exemplified by applying it to Andreev and triple dot entanglers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Non-local transport properties of nanoscale conductor-microwave cavity systems

Recent experimental progress in coupling nanoscale conductors to superconducting microwave cavities has opened up for transport investigations of the deep quantum limit of light-matter interactions, with tunneling electrons strongly coupled to individual cavity photons. We have investigated theoretically the most basic cavity-conductor system with strong, single photon induced non-local transport effects; two spatially separated double quantum dots (DQD:s) resonantly coupled to the fundamental cavity mode. The system, described by a generalized Tavis-Cummings model, is investigated within a quantum master equation formalism, allowing us to account for both the electronic transport properties through the DQD:s as well as the coherent, non-equilibrium cavity photon state. We find sizeable non-locally induced current and current cross-correlations mediated by individual photons. From a full statistical description of the electron transport we further reveal a dynamical channel blockade in one DQD lifted by photon emission due to tunneling through the other DQD. Moreover, large entanglement between the orbital states of electrons in the two DQD:s is found for small DQD-lead temperatures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

A diagrammatic description of the equations of motion, current, and noise within the second-order von Neumann approach

We investigate the second-order von Neumann approach from a diagrammatic point-of-view and demonstrate its equivalence with the resonant tunneling approximation. Investigation of higher-order diagrams shows that the method correctly reproduces the equation of motion for the single-particle reduced density matrix of an arbitrary non-interacting many-body system. This explains why the method reproduces the current exactly for such systems. We go on to show, however, that diagrams not included in the method are needed to calculate exactly higher cumulants of the charge transport. This thorough comparison sheds light on the validity of all these self consistent second-order approaches. We analyze the discrepancy between the noise calculated by our method and the exact Levitov formula for a simple non-interacting quantum dot model. Furthermore we study the noise of the canyon of current suppression in a two-level dot, a phenomenon that requires the inclusion of electron-electron interaction as well as higher-order tunneling processes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Quantum heat fluctuations of single particle sources

Optimal single electron sources emit regular streams of particles, displaying no low frequency charge current noise. Due to the wavepacket nature of the emitted particles, the energy is however fluctuating, giving rise to heat current noise. We investigate theoretically this quantum source of heat noise for an emitter coupled to an electronic probe in the hot-electron regime. The distribution of temperature and potential fluctuations induced in the probe is shown to provide direct information on the single particle wavefunction properties and display strong non-classical features.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Supercurrent and multiple Andreev reflections in an InSb nanowire Josephson junction

Epitaxially grown, high quality semiconductor InSb nanowires are emerging material systems for the development of high performance nanoelectronics and quantum information processing and communication devices, and for the studies of new physical phenomena in solid state systems. Here, we report on measurements of a superconductor-normal conductor-superconductor junction device fabricated from an InSb nanowire with aluminum based superconducting contacts. The measurements show a proximity induced supercurrent flowing through the InSb nanowire segment, with a critical current tunable by a gate, in the current bias configuration and multiple Andreev reflection characteristics in the voltage bias configuration. The temperature dependence and the magnetic field dependence of the critical current and the multiple Andreev reflection characteristics of the junction are also studied. Furthermore, we extract the excess current from the measurements and study its temperature and magnetic field dependences. The successful observation of the superconductivity in the InSb nanowire based Josephson junction device indicates that InSb nanowires provide an excellent material system for creating and observing novel physical phenomena such as Majorana fermions in solid state systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Optimal pumping of orbital entanglement with single particle emitters

We propose a method for the optimal time-controlled generation of entangled itinerant particles, using on-demand sources in a conductor in the quantum Hall regime. This entanglement pump is realized by applying periodic, tailored voltage pulses to pairs of quantum dots or quantum point contacts. We show that the pump can produce orbital Bell pairs of both electrons and holes at the optimal rate of half a pair per pumping cycle. The entanglement can be detected by a violation of a Bell inequality formulated in terms of low-frequency current cross correlations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Spectral distribution and wavefunction of electrons emitted from a single particle source in the quantum Hall regime

We investigate theoretically a scheme for spectroscopy of electrons emitted by an on-demand single particle source. The total system, with an electron turnstile source and a single level quantum dot spectrometer, is implemented with edge states in a conductor in the quantum Hall regime. Employing a Floquet scattering approach, the source and the spectrometer are analyzed within a single theoretical framework. The non-equilibrium distribution of the emitted electrons is analyzed via the direct current at the dot spectrometer. In the adiabatic and intermediate source frequency regimes, the distribution is found to be strongly peaked around the active resonant level of the turnstile. At high frequencies the distribution is split up into a set of fringes, resulting from the interplay of resonant transport through the turnstile and absorption or emission of individual Floquet quanta. For ideal source operation, with exactly one electron emitted per cycle, an expression for the single electron wavefunction is derived.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Microwave quantum optics and electron transport through a metallic dot strongly coupled to a transmission line cavity

We investigate theoretically the properties of the photon state and the electronic transport in a system consisting of a metallic quantum dot strongly coupled to a superconducting microwave transmission line cavity. Within the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics we derive a Hamiltonian for arbitrary strong capacitive coupling between the dot and the cavity. The dynamics of the system is described by a quantum master equation, accounting for the electronic transport as well as the coherent, non-equilibrium properties of the photon state. The photon state is investigated, focusing on, for a single active mode, signatures of microwave polaron formation and the effects of a non-equilibrium photon distribution. For two active photon modes, intra mode conversion and polaron coherences are investigated. For the electronic transport, electrical current and noise through the dot and the influence of the photon state on the transport properties are at the focus. We identify clear transport signatures due to the non-equilibrium photon population, in particular the emergence of superpoissonian shot-noise at ultrastrong dot-cavity couplings.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Canyon of Current Suppression in an interacting two-level Quantum Dot

Motivated by the recent discovery of a canyon of conductance suppression in a two-level equal spin quantum dot system [Phys. Rev. Lett. $\bf{104}$, 186804 (2010)] the transport through this system is studied in detail. At low bias and low temperature a strong current suppression is found around the electron-hole symmetry point independent of the couplings, in agreement with previous results. By means of a Schrieffer-Wolff transformation we are able to give an intuitive explanation to this suppression in the low-energy regime. In the general situation, numerical simulations are carried out using quantum rate equations. The simulations allow for the prediction of how the suppression is affected by the couplings, the charging energy, the position of the energy levels, the applied bias, and the temperature. We find that away from electron-hole symmetry, the parity of the couplings is essential for the current suppression. It is also shown how broadening, interference, and a finite interaction energy cause a shift of the current minimum away from degeneracy. Finally we see how an increased population of the upper level leads to current peaks on each side of the suppression line. At sufficiently high bias we discover a coherence-induced population inversion.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Proposal for non-local electron-hole turnstile in the Quantum Hall regime

We present a theory for a mesoscopic turnstile that produces spatially separated streams of electrons and holes along edge states in the quantum Hall regime. For a broad range of frequencies in the non-adiabatic regime the turnstile operation is found to be ideal, producing one electron and one hole per cycle. The accuracy of the turnstile operation is characterized by the fluctuations of the transferred charge per cycle. The fluctuations are found to be negligibly small in the ideal regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Multiple Andreev reflections in hybrid multiterminal junctions

We investigate theoretically charge transport in hybrid multiterminal junctions with superconducting leads kept at different voltages. It is found that multiple Andreev reflections involving several superconducting leads give rise to rich subharmonic gap structures in the current-voltage characteristics. The structures are evidenced numerically in junctions in the incoherent regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗