Principles of an atomtronic transistor

A semiclassical formalism is used to investigate the transistor-like behavior of ultracold atoms in a triple-well potential. Atom current flows from the source well, held at fixed chemical potential and temperature, into an empty drain well. In steady-state, the gate well located between the source...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New journal of physics 2016-01, Vol.18 (1), p.15012
Main Authors: Caliga, Seth C, Straatsma, Cameron J E, Zozulya, Alex A, Anderson, Dana Z
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
atomtronics
Chemical potential
current gain
negative transconductance
Organic chemistry
Physics
Semiconductor devices
transistor
Transistors
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Summary:A semiclassical formalism is used to investigate the transistor-like behavior of ultracold atoms in a triple-well potential. Atom current flows from the source well, held at fixed chemical potential and temperature, into an empty drain well. In steady-state, the gate well located between the source and drain is shown to acquire a well-defined chemical potential and temperature, which are controlled by the relative height of the barriers separating the three wells. It is shown that the gate chemical potential can exceed that of the source and have a lower temperature. In electronics terminology, the source-gate junction can be reverse-biased. As a result, the device exhibits regimes of negative resistance and transresistance, indicating the presence of gain. Given an external current input to the gate, transistor-like behavior is characterized both in terms of the current gain, which can be greater than unity, and the power output of the device.
ISSN:1367-2630
1367-2630
DOI:10.1088/1367-2630/18/1/015012