We report on the electron analog of the single photon gun. On demand single electron injection in a quantum conductor was obtained using a quantum dot connected to the conductor via a tunnel barrier. Electron emission is triggered by application of a potential step which compensates the dot charging energy. Depending on the barrier transparency the quantum emission time ranges from 0.1 to 10 nanoseconds. The single electron source should prove useful for the implementation of quantum bits in ballistic conductors. Additionally periodic sequences of single electron emission and absorption generate a quantized AC-current.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0705.4394,
title = {An On-Demand Coherent Single Electron Source},
author = {Gwendal Fève and Adrien Mahé and Jean-Marc Berroir and Takis Kontos and Bernard Plaçais and Christian Glattli and A. Cavanna and Bernard Etienne and Yong Jin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0705.4394},
year = {2009}
}