Nanoelectromechanics and single-charge tunneling

The coupling of electronic and mechanical degrees of freedom has important consequences in nanoscale systems, as emphasized in recent theoretical and experimental work. In particular, the electrical properties of composite nanosystems containing elements with quite different abilities to conduct electricity and with different mechanical properties have been found to be strongly affected. Here we briefly review some of our recent work on the nanoelectromechanics of “heteroconducting” and “heteroelastic” Coulomb blockade systems, where single charge tunneling is the dominant conduction mechanism. We examplify nanoelectromechanical effects both in normal and superconducting systems by discussing (i) a self-assembled single-electron tunneling device exhibiting a dynamical instability leading to “shuttling” of electrons by a movable Coulomb dot and (ii) shuttling of Cooper pairs by a movable single-Cooper-pair box.