Engineering Research Equipment: Superconducting Magnet for Electron Waveguide Device Research

这项工程研究设备赠款将使麻省理工学院的电气工程和计算机科学系能够购买一种用于支持工程研究的超导磁体。该设备将主要用于加强正在进行的新型电子波导器件的研究。最近关于电子在一维(1D)半导体异质结中的波导性的演示开辟了一个全新的领域构思先进电子器件的可能性。就像光波导中的光子一样，在电子波导中，电子的传播模式由限制静电势的几何形状决定。与光子不同，如果使用分裂门技术，电子波导模式可以通过金属门的场效应作用很容易地进行调谐。在这种方法中，可以综合耦合的一维系统。这代表了一种全新的电子相互作用几何结构，这是以前从未研究过的。我们的研究计划的目标是演示两个紧密间隔的电子波导之间的电子定向耦合。到目前为止，在国家科学基金会的赞助下，包括第一个应答器双电子波导器件的制作和第一个隧穿的实现电子波导的光谱学。详细的磁场研究将有助于阐明电子在这些双电子波导器件中传输和隧穿的物理过程。

This Engineering Research Equipment Grant will enable the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to purchase a superconducting magnet to be dedicated to support research in engineering. The equipment will be used primarily to strengthen on- going research on novel electron waveguide devices. The recent demonstration of electron waveguiding in one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor heterostructures has opened up entirely new possibilities for conceiving advanced electron devices. Much like photons in optical waveguides, in an electron waveguide the modes of electron propagation are determined by the geometry of the confining electrostatic potential. Unlike photons, if a split-gate technology is used, the electron waveguide modes can be easily tuned through the field-effect action of metal gates. In this approach, coupled 1D systems can be synthesized. This represents an entirely novel geometry for electron interaction never before examined. The goal of our research program is the demonstration of electron directional coupling between two closely spaced electron waveguides. Progress to date, under the sponsorship of NSF, include the fabrication of the first balistic dual electron waveguide device and the realization of the first tunneling spectroscopy of an electron waveguide. Detailed magnetic field studies will be instrumental in clarifying the physics of transport and tunneling of electrons in these dual electron waveguide devices.