Coulomb Charging at Large Conduction

Abstract

We discuss the suppression of Coulomb charging effects on a small metallic island coupled to an electrode by a tunnel junction. At high temperatures the quantum corrections to the classical charging energy $E_c=e^2/2C$, where $C$ is the island capacitance, are evaluated. At low temperatures the large quantum fluctuations of the island charge cause a strong reduction of the effective $E_c$ which is determined explicitly in the limit of a large tunneling conductance.