Single-Electron Tunneling and the Fluctuation Theorem

Abstract

Experiments on the direction-resolved full-counting statistics of single-electron tunneling allow testing the fundamentally important Fluctuation Theorem (FT). At the same time, the FT provides a frame for analyzing such data. Here we consider tunneling through a double quantum dot system which is coupled capacitively to a quantum point contact (QPC) detector. Fluctuations of the environment, including the shot noise of the QPC, lead to an enhancement of the effective temperature in the FT. We provide a quantitative explanation of this effect; in addition we discuss the influence of the finite detector bandwidth on the measurements.

Prepared for "Perspectives of Mesoscopic Physics - Dedicated to Prof. Yoseph Imry's 70th Birthday"