Transport of hot electrons on helium over an energy barrier in a micro-channel device.

Electronic surface states above superfluid helium exhibit unprecedented isolation. This isolation is expected to result in remarkably long coherence times for both spin and orbital quantum states making this system attractive for the manipulation of quantum information. Nonetheless, the lack of interactions with the surrounding environment can prevent effective electron thermalization allowing small electric fields to heat electrons significantly above the bath temperature. Poor electron thermalization can lead to a reduction in coherence times and gate fidelity. In order to gain a greater understanding of physics governing hot electrons and energy relaxation processes, we study transport of hot electrons above an energy barrier in a micro-channel device. Maintaining temperatures greater than 1.5K, above the Wigner crystal regime we find that the current across the barrier varies with barrier height as expected for different bath temperatures. Additionally, we have evidence that externally heating the electron system increases the current across the barrier.