Spatially resolved manipulation of single electrons in quantum dots using a scanned probe

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Nov 19;93(21):216801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.216801. Epub 2004 Nov 15.

Abstract

The scanning metallic tip of a scanning force microscope was coupled capacitively to electrons confined in a lithographically defined gate-tunable quantum dot at a temperature of 300 mK. Single electrons were made to hop on or off the dot by moving the tip or by changing the tip bias voltage owing to the Coulomb-blockade effect. Spatial images of conductance resonances map the interaction potential between the tip and individual electronic quantum dot states. Under certain conditions this interaction is found to contain a tip-voltage induced and a tip-voltage-independent contribution.