Single-electron emission from degenerate quantum levels

Abstract

Single-electron sources on-demand are requisite for a promising fully electronic platform for solid-state quantum information processing. Most of the experimentally realized sources use the fact that only one electron can be taken from a singly occupied quantum level. Here I take the next step and discuss emission from orbitally degenerate quantum levels that arise, for example, in quantum dots with a nontrivial ring topology. I show that degeneracy provides additional flexibility for single- and two-electron emission. Indeed, the small Aharonov-Bohm flux, which slightly lifts the degeneracy, is a powerful tool for changing the relative width of the emitted wave packets over a wide range. In a ring with one lead, even electrons emitted from completely degenerate levels can be separated in time if the driving potential changes at the appropriate rate. In a ring with two leads, electrons can be emitted to different leads if one of the leads has a bound state with Fermi energy at its end.