Ultimate accuracy of frequency to power conversion by single-electron injection

Abstract

We analyze theoretically the properties of the recently introduced and experimentally demonstrated converter of frequency to power. The system is composed of a hybrid single-electron box with normal island and superconducting lead, and the detector of the energy flow using a thermometer on a normal metal bolometer. Here we consider its potential for metrology. The errors in power arise mainly from inaccuracy of injecting electrons at the precise energy equal to the energy gap of the superconductor. We calculate the main systematic error in form of the excess average energy of the injected electrons and its cumulants, and due to sub-gap leakage. We demonstrate by analytic and numerical calculations that the systematic error in detection can, in principle, be made much smaller than the injection errors, which also, with proper choice of system parameters, can be very small, < 1 %, at low enough temperature. Finally we propose a simplified configuration for metrological purposes.