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Experiment Signals a New Phase of Quantum Dot Measurements

JAN 01, 1997
Asophisticated experiment has measured the phase change in the electronic wavefunction as a charge crosses a quantum dot, a tiny, nearly isolated bit of conducting material. The phase change gives new information about the electronic interactions, previously studied only through measurements of the magnitude of the transmission.

The study of electron transport through minuscule conducting regions known as quantum dots has revealed a variety of fascinating phenomena, in which one can see the effects of individual electrons. The plots of current versus voltage, for example, are no longer the straight lines so characteristic of macroscopic wires, but rather discrete staircases, with each successive plateau representing the presence of one additional electron on the dot.

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Volume 50, Number 1

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