Single-electron tunnel junction array: an electrostatic analog of the Josephson transmission line

The authors carried out static and dynamic analyses of uniform one-dimensional arrays of ultrasmall tunnel junctions. The correlated single-electron tunneling in the junctions of the array results in a behavior qualitatively similar to that of the Josephson transmission line. In particular, external electric fields applied to the array edges can inject single-electron-charged solitons into the array interior. The shape of such a soliton and the character of its interactions with other solitons and the array edge are very similar to those of Josephson vortices (sine-Gordon solitons) in the Josephson transmission line. Under certain conditions, a coherent motion of the soliton train along the array is possible, resulting in generation of narrowband SET (single-electron tunneling) oscillations with frequency f=< I>/e, where <I> is the DC current flowing along the array