Public exhibit for demonstrating the quantum of electrical conductance
Popular Physics
2015-05-27 v2 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Abstract
We present a new robust setup that explains and demonstrates the quantum of electrical conductance for a general audience and which is continuously available in a public space. The setup allows users to manually thin a gold wire of several atoms in diameter while monitoring its conductance in real time. During the experiment, a characteristic step-like conductance decrease due to rearrangements of atoms in the cross-section of the wire is observed. Just before the wire breaks, a contact consisting of a single atom with a characteristic conductance close to the quantum of conductance can be maintained up to several seconds. The setup is operated full-time, needs practically no maintenance and is used on different educational levels.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1103.3739,
title = {Public exhibit for demonstrating the quantum of electrical conductance},
author = {E. H. Huisman and F. L. Bakker and J. P. van der Pal and R. M. de Jonge and C. H. van der Wal},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.3739},
year = {2015}
}