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A. Greilich

Publications and source records attributed to A. Greilich.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Ultrafast optical rotations of electron spins in quantum dots

Coherent manipulation of quantum bits (qubits) on time scales much shorter than the coherence time is a key prerequisite for quantum information processing. Electron spins in quantum dots (QDs) are particularly attractive for implementations of qubits. Efficient optical methods for initialization and readout of spins have been developed in recent years. Spin coherence times in the microsecond range have been demonstrated, so that spin control by picosecond optical pulses would be highly desirable. Then a large number of spin rotations could be performed while coherence is maintained. A major remaining challenge is demonstration of such rotations with high fidelity. Here we use an ensemble of QD electron spins focused into a small number of precession modes about a magnetic field by periodic optical pumping. We demonstrate ultrafast optical rotations of spins about arbitrary axes on a picosecond time scale using laser pulses as control fields.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Spin noise of electrons and holes in self-assembled quantum dots

We measure the frequency spectra of random spin fluctuations, or "spin noise", in ensembles of (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) at low temperatures. We employ a spin noise spectrometer based on a sensitive optical Faraday rotation magnetometer that is coupled to a digitizer and field-programmable gate array, to measure and average noise spectra from 0-1 GHz continuously in real time with sub-nanoradian/root-Hz sensitivity. Both electron and hole spin fluctuations generate distinct noise peaks, whose shift and broadening with magnetic field directly reveal their g-factors and dephasing rates within the ensemble. A large, energy-dependent anisotropy of the in-plane hole g-factor is clearly exposed, reflecting systematic variations in the average QD confinement potential.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Hole Spin Mixing in InAs Quantum Dot Molecules

Holes confined in single InAs quantum dots have recently emerged as a promising system for the storage or manipulation of quantum information. These holes are often assumed to have only heavy-hole character and further assumed to have no mixing between orthogonal heavy hole spin projections (in the absence of a transverse magnetic field). The same assumption has been applied to InAs quantum dot molecules formed by two stacked InAs quantum dots that are coupled by coherent tunneling of the hole between the two dots. We present experimental evidence of the existence of a hole spin mixing term obtained with magneto-photoluminescence spectroscopy on such InAs quantum dot molecules. We use a Luttinger spinor model to explain the physical origin of this hole spin mixing term: misalignment of the dots along the stacking direction breaks the angular symmetry and allows mixing through the light-hole component of the spinor. We discuss how this novel spin mixing mechanism may offer new spin manipulation opportunities that are unique to holes.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Collective single mode precession of electron spins in a quantum dot ensemble

We show that the spins of all electrons, each confined in a quantum dot of an (In,Ga)As/GaAs dot ensemble, can be driven into a single mode of precession about a magnetic field. This regime is achieved by allowing only a single mode within the electron spin precession spectrum of the ensemble to be synchronized with a train of periodic optical excitation pulses. Under this condition a nuclei induced frequency focusing leads to a shift of all spin precession frequencies into the synchronized mode. The macroscopic magnetic moment of the electron spins that is created in this regime precesses without dephasing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Temperature induced spin coherence dissipation in quantum dots

The temperature dependence of electron spin coherence in singly negatively charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots is studied by time-resolved Faraday rotation. The decoherence time T2 is constant on a microsecond scale for temperatures below 20 K, for higher temperatures it shows a surprisingly sharp drop into the nanoseconds range. The decrease cannot be explained through inelastic scattering with phonons, and may be related with elastic scattering due to phonon-mediated fluctuations of the hyperfine interaction.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Effect of annealing on the hyperfine interaction in InAs/GaAs quantum dots

The hyperfine interaction of an electron with nuclei in the annealed self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots is theoretically analyzed. For this purpose, the annealing process, and energy structure of the quantum dots are numerically modeled. The modeling is verified by comparison of the calculated optical transitions and of the experimental data on photoluminescence for set of the annealed quantum dots. The localization volume of the electron in the ground state and the partial contributions of In, Ga, and As nuclei to the hyperfine interaction are calculated as functions of the annealing temperature. It is established that the contribution of indium nuclei into the hyperfine interaction becomes predominant up to high annealing temperatures (T = 980 C) when the In content in the quantum dots does not exceed 25%. Effect of the nuclear spin fluctuations on the electron spin polarization is numerically modeled. Effective field of the fluctuations is found to be in good agreement with experimental data available.

cond-mat.other↗

Spin coherence of holes in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The carrier spin coherence in a p-doped GaAs/(Al,Ga)As quantum well with a diluted hole gas has been studied by picosecond pump-probe Kerr rotation with an in-plane magnetic field. For resonant optical excitation of the positively charged exciton the spin precession shows two types of oscillations. Fast oscillating electron spin beats decay with the radiative lifetime of the charged exciton of 50 ps. Long lived spin coherence of the holes with dephasing times up to 650 ps. The spin dephasing time as well as the in-plane hole g factor show strong temperature dependence, underlining the importance of hole localization at cryogenic temperatures.

cond-mat.other↗

Robust manipulation of electron spin coherence in an ensemble of singly charged quantum dots

Using the recently reported mode locking effect we demonstrate a highly robust control of electron spin coherence in an ensemble of (In,Ga)As quantum dots during the single spin coherence time. The spin precession in a transverse magnetic field can be fully controlled up to 25 K by the parameters of the exciting pulsed laser protocol such as the pulse train sequence, leading to adjustable quantum beat bursts in Faraday rotation. Flipping of the electron spin precession phase was demonstrated by inverting the polarization within a pulse doublet sequence.

physics.optics↗

Universal behavior of the electron g-factor in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The Zeeman splitting and the underlying value of the g-factor for conduction band electrons in GaAs/Al_xGa_{1-x}As quantum wells have been measured by spin-beat spectroscopy based on a time-resolved Kerr rotation technique. The experimental data are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. The model accurately accounts for the large electron energies above the GaAs conduction band bottom, resulting from the strong quantum confinement. In the tracked range of optical transition energies E from 1.52 to 2.0eV, the electron g-factor along the growth axis follows closely the universal dependence g_||(E)= -0.445 + 3.38(E-1.519)-2.21(E-1.519)^2 (with E measured in eV); and this universality also embraces Al_xGa_{1-x}As alloys. The in-plane g-factor component deviates notably from the universal curve, with the degree of deviation controlled by the structural anisotropy.

physics.optics↗

Millisecond spin lifetimes in quantum dots at zero applied magnetic field due to strong electron-nuclear interaction

A key to achieving ultra-long electron spin memory in quantum dots (QDs) at 0~$T$ is the polarization of the nuclei, such that the electron spin is stabilized along the nuclear magnetic field. We demonstrate that spin-polarized electrons in n-doped QDs align the nuclear field via the hyperfine interaction. A feedback onto the electrons occurs, leading to stabilization of electron polarization. We suggest that the coupled electron-nuclear system forms a rigid nuclear spin polaron state as predicted by I.A.~Merkulov, for which spin memory is retained over millisecond lifetimes.

cond-mat.other↗

Optical control of spin coherence in singly charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots

Electron spin coherence has been generated optically in n-type modulation doped (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) which contain on average a single electron per dot. The coherence arises from resonant excitation of the QDs by circularly-polarized laser pulses, creating a coherent superposition of an electron and a trion state. Time dependent Faraday rotation is used to probe the spin precession of the optically oriented electrons about a transverse magnetic field. Spin coherence generation can be controlled by pulse intensity, being most efficient for (2n+1)pi-pulses.

physics.optics↗

Tailored quantum dots for entangled photon pair creation

We compare the asymmetry-induced exchange splitting delta_1 of the bright-exciton ground-state doublet in self-assembled (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots, determined by Faraday rotation, with its homogeneous linewidth gamma, obtained from the radiative decay in time-resolved photoluminescence. Post-growth thermal annealing of the dot structures leads to a considerable increase of the homogeneous linewidth, while a strong reduction of the exchange splitting is simultaneously observed. The annealing can be tailored such that delta_1 and gamma become comparable, whereupon the carriers are still well confined. This opens the possibility to observe polarization entangled photon pairs through the biexciton decay cascade.

physics.optics↗