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Medientyp:
E-Artikel
Titel:
Sensing the quantum limit in scanning tunnelling spectroscopy
Beteiligte:
Ast, Christian R.;
Jäck, Berthold;
Senkpiel, Jacob;
Eltschka, Matthias;
Etzkorn, Markus;
Ankerhold, Joachim;
Kern, Klaus
Erschienen:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2016
Erschienen in:
Nature Communications, 7 (2016) 1
Sprache:
Englisch
DOI:
10.1038/ncomms13009
ISSN:
2041-1723
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Beschreibung:
AbstractThe tunnelling current in scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) is typically and often implicitly modelled by a continuous and homogeneous charge flow. If the charging energy of a single-charge quantum sufficiently exceeds the thermal energy, however, the granularity of the current becomes non-negligible. In this quantum limit, the capacitance of the tunnel junction mediates an interaction of the tunnelling electrons with the surrounding electromagnetic environment and becomes a source of noise itself, which cannot be neglected in STS. Using a scanning tunnelling microscope operating at 15 mK, we show that we operate in this quantum limit, which determines the ultimate energy resolution in STS. The P(E)-theory describes the probability for a tunnelling electron to exchange energy with the environment and can be regarded as the energy resolution function. We experimentally demonstrate this effect with a superconducting aluminium tip and a superconducting aluminium sample, where it is most pronounced.