Current suppression in a double-island single-electron transistor for detection of degenerate charge configurations of a floating double-dot

We have investigated a double-island single-electron transistor (DISET) coupled to a floating metal double-dot (DD). Low-temperature transport measurements were used to map out the charge configurations of both the DISET and the DD. A suppression of the current through the DISET was observed whenever the charge configurations of the DISET and the DD were energetically codegenerate. This effect was used to distinguish between degenerate and nondegenerate charge configurations of the DD. We also show that this detection scheme reduces the susceptibility of the DISET to interference from random charge noise. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.