Universal scaling of adiabatic tunneling out of a shallow confinement potential

authored by: Austris Akmentinsh, David Reifert, Thomas Weimann, Klaus Pierz, Vyacheslavs Kashcheyevs, Niels Ubbelohde
Abstract: The ability to tune quantum tunneling is key for achieving selectivity in manipulation of individual particles in quantum technology applications. In this work we count electron escape events out of a time-dependent confinement potential, realized as a dynamic quantum dot in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. A universal scaling relation of the escape probability as a function of potential barrier rise time and depth is established and developed as a method to probe tunneling rates over many orders of magnitude reaching the limit of shallow anharmonic confinement. Crossover to thermally activated transport is used to estimate the single time-energy scale of the universal model. In application to metrological single-electron sources, in situ calibrated control signals greatly extend the accessible dynamical range for probing the quantization mechanism. Validation of the cubic potential approximation sets a foundation for microscopic modeling of quantum tunneling devices in the shallow confinement regime.
Type: Article
Journal: Physical review applied
Volume: 24
ISSN: 2331-7019
Publication date: 22.10.2025
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General Physics and Astronomy
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1103/p146-f4r8 (Access: Unknown)

BibTeX

@article{5eef88bdc5ea4499a7b910f2d59847db,
title = "Universal scaling of adiabatic tunneling out of a shallow confinement potential",
abstract = "The ability to tune quantum tunneling is key for achieving selectivity in manipulation of individual particles in quantum technology applications. In this work we count electron escape events out of a time-dependent confinement potential, realized as a dynamic quantum dot in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. A universal scaling relation of the escape probability as a function of potential barrier rise time and depth is established and developed as a method to probe tunneling rates over many orders of magnitude reaching the limit of shallow anharmonic confinement. Crossover to thermally activated transport is used to estimate the single time-energy scale of the universal model. In application to metrological single-electron sources, in situ calibrated control signals greatly extend the accessible dynamical range for probing the quantization mechanism. Validation of the cubic potential approximation sets a foundation for microscopic modeling of quantum tunneling devices in the shallow confinement regime.",
author = "Austris Akmentinsh and David Reifert and Thomas Weimann and Klaus Pierz and Vyacheslavs Kashcheyevs and Niels Ubbelohde",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the {"}https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/{"}Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.",
year = "2025",
month = oct,
day = "22",
doi = "10.1103/p146-f4r8",
language = "English",
volume = "24",
journal = "Physical review applied",
issn = "2331-7019",
publisher = "American Physical Society",
number = "4",
}