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Cooling low-dimensional electron systems into the microkelvin regime.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

van der Vliet, Harriet 
Dimitriadis, Stefanos  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7328-7223
Lucas, Marijn 

Abstract

Two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) with high mobility, engineered in semiconductor heterostructures host a variety of ordered phases arising from strong correlations, which emerge at sufficiently low temperatures. The 2DEG can be further controlled by surface gates to create quasi-one dimensional systems, with potential spintronic applications. Here we address the long-standing challenge of cooling such electrons to below 1 mK, potentially important for identification of topological phases and spin correlated states. The 2DEG device was immersed in liquid 3He, cooled by the nuclear adiabatic demagnetization of copper. The temperature of the 2D electrons was inferred from the electronic noise in a gold wire, connected to the 2DEG by a metallic ohmic contact. With effective screening and filtering, we demonstrate a temperature of 0.9 ± 0.1 mK, with scope for significant further improvement. This platform is a key technological step, paving the way to observing new quantum phenomena, and developing new generations of nanoelectronic devices exploiting correlated electron states.

Description

Keywords

5108 Quantum Physics, 51 Physical Sciences, 5104 Condensed Matter Physics

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

13

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K004077/1)