Standards Development

Scope

This document defines a set of metrics and a common terminology for single-electron sources taking into account different realization schemes. Based on this foundation, the main parameters of interest are specified and experimental procedures for measuring these parameters are identified. Characterization methods, including the minimal requirements for the reporting of the experimental setup, the operation conditions, and the data analysis are given.

Purpose

A single-electron source is an on-demand quantum source which emits a well-defined number of n electrons per cycle. For an ideal single-electron source this number is perfectly controlled for every cycle of operation. With the re-definition of the SI-System 2019, single-electron sources gained a lot of interest as first principal realization of the unit ampere. Being a universal building block as a QT component, single-electron sources can be used in a wide variety of applications like precision current sources for currents < 1 nA, quantum state metrology, electro-magnetic sensing or for quantum state transfer. Especially shuttling of electrons as a quantum link between qubits is a recently investigated research topic with a high demand for the transfer from science to a future, well-established technology.

Out of the variety of technical realizations one of the most mature approaches is based on semiconductor quantum dots, utilizing the advanced manufacturing technology of modern semiconductor platforms. Being part of different world-wide research activities during the last decade, this technology is now taking the steps up from lab-use to small-scale series production. Therefore, standardization in the fields of terminology, metrics and characterization procedures are an upcoming demand to enable comparability between devices as well as between different technical realizations, and to build up a root of trust for enabling a wider usage of this technology as a universal building block in modern quantum technology.