Stochastic resonance in a single electron turnstile

Abstract

In this paper, we report stochastic resonance (SR) in a single electron turnstile. It has been known that SR emerges by the cooperation of a weak periodic signal and noise in a bistable system. A periodic signal produces switching between two stable states by lowering the potential barrier. Even if the amplitude of the signal is not large enough to make the potential barrier disappear, the switching can occur with the help of noise. As a result, an output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which shows how much the switching is synchronized with the signal, can be enhanced by increasing the noise. We have formulated the SR in a single electron turnstile into the adiabatic two-state theory of McNamara-Wiesenfeld and confirmed its manifestation by numerical simulation. These results could be applied to detection of the periodic motion of very small electric charge under noisy environment.