We show that small numbers of electrons, including a single electron, can be held in a novel electrostatic trap above the surface of superfluid helium. A potential well is created using microfabricated electrodes in a 5 micron diameter pool of helium. Electrons are injected into the trap from an electron reservoir on a helium microchannel. They are individually detected using a superconducting single-electron transistor (SET) as an electrometer. A Coulomb staircase is observed as electrons leave the trap one-by-one until the trap is empty. A design for a scalable quantum information processor using arrays of electron traps is presented
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0405084,
title = {Counting Individual Electrons on Liquid Helium},
author = {G. Papageorgiou and P. Glasson and K. Harrabi and V. Antonov and E. Collin and P. Fozooni and P. G. Frayne and M. J. Lea and Y. Mukharsky and D. G. Rees and .},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0405084},
year = {2009}
}