No Arabic abstract
The electron-phonon coupling in self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots is relatively weak at low light intensities, which means that the zero-phonon line in emission is strong compared to the phonon sideband. However, the coupling to acoustic phonons can be dynamically enhanced in the presence of an intense optical pulse tuned within the phonon sideband. Recent experiments have shown that this dynamic vibronic coupling can enable population inversion to be achieved when pumping with a blue-shifted laser and for rapid de-excitation of an inverted state with red detuning. In this paper we confirm the incoherent nature of the phonon-assisted pumping process and explore the temperature dependence of the mechanism. We also show that a combination of blue- and red-shifted pulses can create and destroy an exciton within a timescale ~20 ps determined by the pulse duration and ultimately limited by the phonon thermalisation time.
We investigated optical spin orientation and dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) in individual self-assembled InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) doped by a single Mn atom, a magnetic impurity providing a neutral acceptor A$^0$ with an effective spin $J=1$. We find that the spin of an electron photo-created in such a quantum dot can be efficiently oriented by a quasi-resonant circularly-polarized excitation. For the electron spin levels which are made quasi-degenerate by a magnetic field compensating the exchange interaction $Delta_e$ with A$^0$, there is however a full depolarization due the anisotropic part of the exchange. Still, in most studied QDs, the spin polarized photo-electrons give rise to a pronounced DNP which grows with a longitudinal magnetic field until a critical field where it abruptly vanishes. For some QDs, several replica of such DNP sequence are observed at different magnetic fields. This striking behavior is qualitatively discussed as a consequence of different exchange interactions experienced by the electron, driving the DNP rate via the energy cost of electron-nucleus spin flip-flops.
Photoluminescence polarization is experimentally studied for samples with (In,Ga)As/GaAs selfassembled quantum dots in transverse magnetic field (Hanle effect) under slow modulation of the excitation light polarization from fractions of Hz to tens of kHz. The polarization reflects the evolution of strongly coupled electron-nuclear spin system in the quantum dots. Strong modification of the Hanle curves under variation of the modulation period is attributed to the peculiarities of the spin dynamics of quadrupole nuclei, which states are split due to deformation of the crystal lattice in the quantum dots. Analysis of the Hanle curves is fulfilled in the framework of a phenomenological model considering a separate dynamics of a nuclear field BNd determined by the +/- 12 nuclear spin states and of a nuclear field BNq determined by the split-off states +/- 3/2, +/- 5/2, etc. It is found that the characteristic relaxation time for the nuclear field BNd is of order of 0.5 s, while the relaxation of the field BNq is faster by three orders of magnitude.
Quantum dots are arguably one of the best platforms for optically accessible spin based qubits. The paramount demand of extended qubit storage time can be met by using quantum-dot-confined dark exciton: a longlived electron-hole pair with parallel spins. Despite its name the dark exciton reveals weak luminescence that can be directly measured. The origins of this optical activity remain largely unexplored. In this work, using the atomistic tight-binding method combined with configuration-interaction approach, we demonstrate that atomic-scale randomness strongly affects oscillator strength of dark excitons confined in self-assembled cylindrical InGaAs quantum dots with no need for faceting or shape-elongation. We show that this process is mediated by two mechanisms: mixing dark and bright configurations by exchange interaction, and equally important appearance of non-vanishing optical transition matrix elements that otherwise correspond to nominally forbidden transitions in a non-alloyed case. The alloy randomness has essential impact on both bright and dark exciton states, including their energy, emission intensity, and polarization angle. We conclude that, due to the atomic-scale alloy randomness, finding dots with desired dark exciton properties may require exploration of a large ensemble, similarly to how dots with low bright exciton splitting are selected for entanglement generation.
The central-spin problem, in which an electron spin interacts with a nuclear spin bath, is a widely studied model of quantum decoherence. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) occurs in central spin systems when electronic angular momentum is transferred to nuclear spins and is exploited in spin-based quantum information processing for coherent electron and nuclear spin control. However, the mechanisms limiting DNP remain only partially understood. Here, we show that spin-orbit coupling quenches DNP in a GaAs double quantum dot, even though spin-orbit coupling in GaAs is weak. Using Landau-Zener sweeps, we measure the dependence of the electron spin-flip probability on the strength and direction of in-plane magnetic field, allowing us to distinguish effects of the spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions. To confirm our interpretation, we measure high-bandwidth correlations in the electron spin-flip probability and attain results consistent with a significant spin-orbit contribution. We observe that DNP is quenched when the spin-orbit component exceeds the hyperfine, in agreement with a theoretical model. Our results shed new light on the surprising competition between the spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions in central-spin systems.
We theoretically investigate the controlled dynamic polarization of lattice nuclear spins in GaAs double quantum dots containing two electrons. Three regimes of long-term dynamics are identified, including the build up of a large difference in the Overhauser fields across the dots, the saturation of the nuclear polarization process associated with formation of so-called dark states, and the elimination of the difference field. We show that in the case of unequal dots, build up of difference fields generally accompanies the nuclear polarization process, whereas for nearly identical dots, build up of difference fields competes with polarization saturation in dark states. The elimination of the difference field does not, in general, correspond to a stable steady state of the polarization process.