Skip to main content

This summer, under the mentorship of Dr. Danielle Bassett and Dr. Evelyn Tang, I worked on a project investigating the network topology of quantum transport in antidots. An antidot is a potential hill created by voltage gates in a two-dimensional electron gas in a strong magnetic field at a low temperature. When metallic leads carrying current are close enough to an antidot, electrons from the metallic leads can tunnel into the antidot, and electrons in the antidot can tunnel out of the antidot back to the metallic leads. Antidots can be considered artificial atoms because when electrons tunnel into an antidot, they occupy discrete energy levels in a similar way that electrons in an atom occupy atomic orbitals. The goal of this project was to create a network representation for the way in which antidots transition from one energy state to another as electrons tunnel in and out. Then, we wanted to apply network theoretic metrics to see whether network characterizations of this physical system could yield any new insights.

In addition to learning about network science and the quantum mechanics of mesoscopic systems, I learned how to use MATLAB to analyze large data sets and how to use Bash scripting to access remote computing cluster resources. Working on this project increased my interest in the fields of physics, computer science, and network theory. This upcoming school year, I am excited both to continue working on this project and to pursue coursework that will enable me to deepen my understanding of the system we are studying.

This summer, under the mentorship of Dr. Danielle Bassett and Dr. Evelyn Tang, I worked on a project investigating the network topology of quantum transport in antidots. An antidot is a potential hill created by voltage gates in a two-dimensional electron gas in a strong magnetic field at a low temperature. When metallic leads carrying current are close enough to an antidot, electrons from the metallic leads can tunnel into the antidot, and electrons in the antidot can tunnel out of the antidot back to the metallic leads. Antidots can be considered artificial atoms because when electrons tunnel into an antidot, they occupy discrete energy levels in a similar way that electrons in an atom occupy atomic orbitals. The goal of this project was to create a network representation for the way in which antidots transition from one energy state to another as electrons tunnel in and out. Then, we wanted to apply network theoretic metrics to see whether network characterizations of this physical system could yield any new insights.

In addition to learning about network science and the quantum mechanics of mesoscopic systems, I learned how to use MATLAB to analyze large data sets and how to use Bash scripting to access remote computing cluster resources. Working on this project increased my interest in the fields of physics, computer science, and network theory. This upcoming school year, I am excited both to continue working on this project and to pursue coursework that will enable me to deepen my understanding of the system we are studying.