Quantum Transport

By Prof. Madhu Thalakulam | IISER Thiruvananthapuram

Learners enrolled: 479

Conventional transport theory though uses parameters derived from quantum mechanical principles such as energy gap and effective mass, mostly utilizes classical or semi-classical approach. Contrarily, electrical transport in mesoscopic systems is enriched by a number of exotic phenomena driven by the quantum nature of the charge carriers such as quantum tunneling, quantum Hall effects, conductance quantization, flux-quantization, Aharanov-Bohm effect, single-electron charging, Kondo effect and Josephson effects. This course is aimed at giving a comprehensive introduction to many of these phenomena and equipping the prospective students to understand the physical concept and follow the latest developments in this field. The content and lectures are aimed to cater to the senior undergraduate and graduate students aspiring to do their advanced research in area such as solid-state quantum computing technologies, quantum electrical sensing and metrology.

INTENDED AUDIENCE : Final year M.Sc. or integrated BS-MS students and Ph. D students
PREREQUISITES : Introductory Quantum Mechanics & Introductory Solid State Physics
INDUSTRIES SUPPORT : IBM, Philips Semiconductor, NTT Japan, SQC Sydney, D-Wave systems

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Physics
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	24 Jan 2022
End Date :	15 Apr 2022
Enrollment Ends :	07 Feb 2022
Exam Date :	23 Apr 2022 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1:Introduction, Quantum confinement effects in transport, Density of states

Week 2:Surface states & band bending, Metal semiconductor contacts Semiconductor heterostructures

Week 3: 2D electron systems, Quantum confinement by electrostatic shaping, Overview of device fabrication techniques.

Week 4:2D systems: Flux quantization, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations & Quantum Hall effect

Week 5:2D systems: Weak-localization, Universal conductance fluctuations, Aharonov-Bohm effect

Week 6:2D layered systems, Spin-Orbit coupling, topological insulators

Week 7: 1D systems: Quantum point contacts, Nanowires

Week 8:1D systems: atomic point contacts, charge sensing techniques

Week 9:0D systems: Gated Quantum dots, artificial atoms, Coulomb blockade, Single electron charging

Week 10:0D systems: Shell filling, single electron states, Coupled quantum dots, spin-qubits

Week 11: Mesoscopic superconductivity: Josephson junctions, AC and DC Josephson effects, SQUID

Week 12:Quantum electrical Metrology, quantum electrical amplifiers

Books and references

(i) Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems, Supriyo Datta

(ii) Quantum Transport: Introduction to Nanoscience, Blanter & Nazarov.

Instructor bio

Prof. Madhu Thalakulam

IISER Thiruvananthapuram

Madhu Thalakulam (Associate Professor, School of Physics, IISER Thiruvananthapuram)

2012-2019: Assistant Professor, School of Physics, IISER Thiruvananthapuram
2007: Ph.D. Applied Physics, Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, USA
2007-2010: Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
2010-2012: Post-doctoral Researcher, Quantum Phenomena Dept., Sandia National Laboratory, USA

Research Interests:

(i)Transport in nanoscale devices such as QPCs, quantum dots, superconducting tunnel junction systems.

(ii) Quantum dot spin qubits: Single spin manipulation and detection in quantum dot qubits.

(iii) Quantum electrical measurement and back action in nanoscale devices.

(iv) Devices on van der Waals materials and heterostructures

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 23 April 2022 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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