Time-Domain Spectroscopy of Mesoscopic Conductors Using Voltage Pulses

Abstract

The development of single-electron sources has paved the way for a novel type of experiments in which individual electrons are emitted into a quantum-coherent circuit. In one approach, single-electron excitations are generated by applying Lorentzian-shaped voltage pulses to a contact. Here, we propose to use such voltage pulses for electronic spectroscopy of mesoscopic devices. Specifically, we show how characteristic timescales of a quantum-coherent conductor can be extracted from the distribution of waiting times between charge pulses propagating through a mesoscopic circuit. To illustrate our idea, we employ Floquet scattering theory to evaluate the electron waiting times for an electronic Fabry-Pérot cavity and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We discuss the perspectives for an experimental realization of our proposal and identify possible avenues for further developments.

5 pages, 3 figures