AWhat changed
Lafarge and colleagues used a capacitively coupled single-electron-transistor electrometer to measure charge changes in a small metallic electron box. Varying the gate voltage produced the sawtooth response expected when the island exchanges electrons in discrete units, with thermal rounding that agreed with a charging-energy model above about 100 mK. The experiment resolved charge quantization in an equilibrium solid-state circuit, including an electron-periodic response when its aluminium electrodes were superconducting.
Scientific scope
Lafarge and colleagues used a capacitively coupled single-electron-transistor electrometer to measure charge changes in a small metallic electron box. Varying the gate voltage produced the sawtooth response expected when the island exchanges electrons in discrete units, with thermal rounding that agreed with a charging-energy model above about 100 mK. The experiment resolved charge quantization in an equilibrium solid-state circuit, including an electron-periodic response when its aluminium electrodes were superconducting. The measurement reconstructs mean island charging through a calibrated electrometer; it is not a time-resolved count of every tunnelling event or a new determination of the elementary charge. Excess rounding at the lowest temperatures was not explained in the reported manuscript. Electron-periodic superconducting data do not demonstrate two-electron transfer. The complete source is the author’s manuscript reproduced with an acknowledged figure-caption correction in a1993 thesis, rather than the untouched1991 publisher version.
Evidence
The linked original works support the scoped statement and contribution attribution. WRS has not independently replayed experiments or reconstructed a full mathematical proof. The measurement reconstructs mean island charging through a calibrated electrometer; it is not a time-resolved count of every tunnelling event or a new determination of the elementary charge. Excess rounding at the lowest temperatures was not explained in the reported manuscript. Electron-periodic superconducting data do not demonstrate two-electron transfer. The complete source is the author’s manuscript reproduced with an acknowledged figure-caption correction in a1993 thesis, rather than the untouched1991 publisher version.
Contributors
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