Non-adiabatic single-electron pump in a dopant-free GaAs/AlGaAs 2DEG

Abstract

We have realized quantized charge pumping using non-adiabatic single-electron pumps in dopant-free GaAs two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs). The dopant-free III-V platform allows for ambipolar devices, such as p-i-n junctions, that could be combined with such pumps to form electrically-driven single photon sources. Our pumps operate at up to 0.95 GHz and achieve remarkable performance considering the relaxed experimental conditions: one-gate pumping in zero magnetic field and temperatures up to 5K, driven by a simple RF sine waveform. Fitting to a universal decay cascade model yields values for the figure of merit $\hat{I}´$ that compare favorably to reported modulation-doped GaAs pumps operating under similar conditions. The devices reported here are already suitable for optoelectronics applications, and with further improvement could offer a route to a current standard that does not require sub-Kelvin temperatures and high magnetic fields.

4 pages + references, 4 figures. Version 3: Updated Figure 2 with higher resolution data. Minor revisions in main text. Conclusions and arguments unchanged. Added Supplementary Material file. Version 2: Main results and analysis unchanged, minor revisions in presentation. Included new figure about fabrication details and expanded relevance of results to quantum optoelectronic applications