Radio-frequency electron cascade in semiconductor quantum dots
Abstract
Electron cotunneling in semiconductor quantum dots is a higher-order tunneling mechanism that connects initial and final charge states through energetically inaccessible virtual intermediate configurations. In quantum-dot arrays, such processes can produce simultaneous charge motion across multiple tunnel junctions and enable transitions that would otherwise be suppressed by Coulomb blockade. Here, building on an earlier proof-of-principle demonstration, we investigate radio-frequency (rf)-driven correlated cotunneling and its application to dispersive quantum-dot readout. Using both theoretical modeling and experimental measurements in two different foundry-fabricated silicon devices, we show that an external rf drive can induce correlated cyclic single-electron transitions, resulting in enhanced charge-polarization of the system. We develop a general theoretical framework for rf electron-cascade readout, which exploits cotunneling events in quantum-dot systems with three or more dots to produce a relative signal enhancement, and extend its experimental demonstration to a gate-sensed device architecture. Our results establish the operating principles of rf electron-cascade readout and provide a route to increased dispersive readout fidelity in semiconductor quantum computing architectures.
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BibTeX
@misc{murphy2026radiofrequency,
title = {{Radio-frequency electron cascade in semiconductor quantum dots}},
author = {Tara Murphy and Lorenzo Peri and Giovanni A. Oakes and Jacob F. Chittock-Wood and Ross C. C. Leon and Fabrizio Berritta and Amber Heskes and David Wise and Anasua Chatterjee and Ferdinand Kuemmeth and M. Fernando Gonzalez-Zalba},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.05206},
eprint = {2610.05206},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05206},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Radio-frequency electron cascade in semiconductor quantum dots
AU - Tara Murphy
AU - Lorenzo Peri
AU - Giovanni A. Oakes
AU - Jacob F. Chittock-Wood
AU - Ross C. C. Leon
AU - Fabrizio Berritta
AU - Amber Heskes
AU - David Wise
AU - Anasua Chatterjee
AU - Ferdinand Kuemmeth
AU - M. Fernando Gonzalez-Zalba
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.05206
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05206
AB - Electron cotunneling in semiconductor quantum dots is a higher-order tunneling mechanism that connects initial and final charge states through energetically inaccessible virtual intermediate configurations. In quantum-dot arrays, such processes can produce simultaneous charge motion across multiple tunnel junctions and enable transitions that would otherwise be suppressed by Coulomb blockade. Here, building on an earlier proof-of-principle demonstration, we investigate radio-frequency (rf)-driven correlated cotunneling and its application to dispersive quantum-dot readout. Using both theoretical modeling and experimental measurements in two different foundry-fabricated silicon devices, we show that an external rf drive can induce correlated cyclic single-electron transitions, resulting in enhanced charge-polarization of the system. We develop a general theoretical framework for rf electron-cascade readout, which exploits cotunneling events in quantum-dot systems with three or more dots to produce a relative signal enhancement, and extend its experimental demonstration to a gate-sensed device architecture. Our results establish the operating principles of rf electron-cascade readout and provide a route to increased dispersive readout fidelity in semiconductor quantum computing architectures.
ER -