arXiv subjects

C. A. Nicoll

Publications and source records attributed to C. A. Nicoll.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2013

High-contrast Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the acoustoelectric transport regime

Phase-coherent acoustoelectric transport is reported.Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the acoustoelectric current with visibility exceeding 100% were observed in mesoscopic GaAs rings as a function of an external magnetic field at cryogenic temperatures. A theoretical analysis of the acoustoelectric transport in ballistic devices is proposed to model experimental observations. Our findings highlight a close analogy between acoustoelectric transport and thermoelectric properties in ballistic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Electric-field-induced coherent coupling of the exciton states in a single quantum dot

The signature of coherent coupling between two quantum states is an anticrossing in their energies as one is swept through the other. In single semiconductor quantum dots containing an electron-hole pair the eigenstates form a two-level system that can be used to demonstrate quantum effects in the solid state, but in all previous work these states were independent. Here we describe a technique to control the energetic splitting of these states using a vertical electric field, facilitating the observation of coherent coupling between them. Near the minimum splitting the eigenstates rotate in the plane of the sample, being orientated at 45° when the splitting is smallest. Using this system we show direct control over the exciton states in one quantum dot, leading to the generation of entangled photon pairs.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Linear non-hysteretic gating of a very high density 2DEG in an undoped metal-semiconductor-metal sandwich structure

Modulation doped GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well based structures are usually used to achieve very high mobility 2-dimensional electron (or hole) gases. Usually high mobilities ($>10^{7}{\rm{cm}^{2}\rm{V}^{-1}\rm{s}^{-1}}$) are achieved at high densities. A loss of linear gateability is often associated with the highest mobilites, on account of a some residual hopping or parallel conduction in the doped regions. We have developed a method of using fully undoped GaAs-AlGaAs quantum wells, where densities $\approx{6\times10^{11}\rm{cm}^{-2}}$ can be achieved while maintaining fully linear and non-hysteretic gateability. We use these devices to understand the possible mobility limiting mechanisms at very high densities.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Coherent entangled light generated by quantum dots in the presence of nuclear magnetic fields

A practical source of high fidelity entangled photons is desirable for quantum information applications and exploring quantum physics. Semiconductor quantum dots have recently been shown to conveniently emit entangled light when driven electrically, however the fidelity was not optimal. Here we show that the fidelity is not limited by decoherence, but by coherent interaction with nuclei. Furthermore we predict that on 100μs timescales, strongly enhanced fidelities could be achieved. This insight could allow tailoring of quantum logic to operate using quantum dots in the fault tolerant regime.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Single- and few-electron dynamic quantum dots in a perpendicular magnetic field

We present experimental studies of the current pumped through a dynamic quantum dot over a wide range of magnetic fields. At low fields we observe repeatable structure indicating increased confinement of the electrons in the dynamic dot. At higher fields (B>3T), we observe structure which changes markedly from device to device suggesting that in this regime the transport is sensitive to local disorder. The results are significant for the development of dynamic quantum dot pumps as quantum standards of electrical current.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Interference of dissimilar photon sources

If identical photons meet at a semi-transparent mirror they appear to leave in the same direction, an effect called "two-photon interference". It has been known for some time that this effect should occur for photons generated by dissimilar sources with no common history, provided the easurement cannot distinguish between the photons. Here we report a technique to observe such interference with isolated, unsynchronized sources whose coherence times differ by several orders of magnitude. In an experiment we interfere photons generated via different physical processes, with different photon statistics. One source is stimulated emission from a tuneable laser, which has Poissonian statistics and a nano-eV bandwidth. The other is spontaneous emission from a quantum dot in a p-i-n diode with a micro-eV linewidth. We develop a theory to explain the visibility of interference, which is primarily limited by the timing resolution of our detectors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Accurate high speed single-electron quantum dot preparation

Using standard microfabrication techniques it is now possible to construct devices, which appear to reliably manipulate electrons one at a time. These devices have potential use as building blocks in quantum computing devices, or as a standard of electrical current derived only from a frequency and the fundamental charge. To date the error rate in semiconductor 'tuneable-barrier' pump devices, those which show most promise for high frequency operation, have not been tested in detail. We present high accuracy measurements of the current from an etched GaAs quantum dot pump, operated at zero source-drain bias voltage with a single AC-modulated gate driving the pump cycle. By comparison with a reference current derived from primary standards, we show that the electron transfer accuracy is better than 15 parts per million. High-resolution studies of the dependence of the pump current on the quantum dot tuning parameters also reveal possible deviations from a model used to describe the pumping cycle.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Tunable Indistinguishable Photons From Remote Quantum Dots

Single semiconductor quantum dots have been widely studied within devices that can apply an electric field. In the most common system, the low energy offset between the InGaAs quantum dot and the surrounding GaAs material limits the magnitude of field that can be applied to tens of kVcm^-1, before carriers tunnel out of the dot. The Stark shift experienced by the emission line is typically 1 meV. We report that by embedding the quantum dots in a quantum well heterostructure the vertical field that can be applied is increased by over an order of magnitude whilst preserving the narrow linewidths, high internal quantum efficiencies and familiar emission spectra. Individual dots can then be continuously tuned to the same energy allowing for two-photon interference between remote, independent, quantum dots.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Possible effect of collective modes in zero magnetic field transport in an electron-hole bilayer

We report single layer resistivities of 2-dimensional electron and hole gases in an electron-hole bilayer with a 10nm barrier. In a regime where the interlayer interaction is stronger than the intralayer interaction, we find that an insulating state ($dρ/dT < 0$) emerges at $T\sim1.5{\rm K}$ or lower, when both the layers are simultaneously present. This happens deep in the $"$metallic" regime, even in layers with $k_{F}l>500$, thus making conventional mechanisms of localisation due to disorder improbable. We suggest that this insulating state may be due to a charge density wave phase, as has been expected in electron-hole bilayers from the Singwi-Tosi-Land-Sjölander approximation based calculations of L. Liu {\it et al} [{\em Phys. Rev. B}, {\bf 53}, 7923 (1996)]. Our results are also in qualitative agreement with recent Path-Integral-Monte-Carlo simulations of a two component plasma in the low temperature regime [ P. Ludwig {\it et al}. {\em Contrib. Plasma Physics} {\bf 47}, No. 4-5, 335 (2007)]

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Anomalous Coulomb drag in electron-hole bilayers

We report Coulomb drag measurements on GaAs-AlGaAs electron-hole bilayers. The two layers are separated by a 10 or 25nm barrier. Below T$\approx$1K we find two features that a Fermi-liquid picture cannot explain. First, the drag on the hole layer shows an upturn, which may be followed by a downturn. Second, the effect is either absent or much weaker in the electron layer, even though the measurements are within the linear response regime. Correlated phases have been anticipated in these, but surprisingly, the experimental results appear to contradict Onsager's reciprocity theorem.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Parallel quantized charge pumping

Two quantized charge pumps are operated in parallel. The total current generated is shown to be far more accurate than the current produced with just one pump operating at a higher frequency. With the application of a perpendicular magnetic field the accuracy of quantization is shown to be $< $20 ppm for a current of $108.9 $pA. The scheme for parallel pumping presented in this work has applications in quantum information processing, the generation of single photons in pairs and bunches, neural networking and the development of a quantum standard for electrical current. All these applications will benefit greatly from the increase in output current without the characteristic decrease in accuracy as a result of high-frequency operation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Enhanced current quantization in high frequency electron pumps in a perpendicular magnetic field

We present experimental results of high frequency quantized charge pumping through a quantum dot formed by the electric field arising from applied voltages in a GaAs/AlGaAs system in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field B. Clear changes are observed in the quantized current plateaus as a function of applied magnetic field. We report on the robustness in the length of the quantized plateaus and improvements in the quantization as a result of the applied B field.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Patterned backgating using single-sided mask aligners: application to density-matched electron-hole bilayers

We report our work on fabricating lithographically aligned patterned backgates on thin (50-60$μ$m) \Roman{roman3}-\Roman{roman5} semiconductor samples using {\it single sided mask aligners only}. Along with this we also present a way to photograph both sides of a thin patterned chip using inexpensive infra-red light emitting diodes (LED) and an inexpensive (consumer) digital camera. A robust method of contacting both sides of a sample using an ultrasonic bonder is described. In addition we present a mathematical model to analyse the variation of the electrochemical potential through the doped layers and heterojunctions that are normally present in most GaAs based devices. We utilise the technique and the estimates from our model to fabricate an electron-hole bilayer device in which each layer is separately contacted and has tunable densities. The electron and hole layers are separated by barriers either 25 or 15nm wide. In both cases, the densities can be matched by using appropriate bias voltages.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Post-selective two-photon interference from a continuous non-classical stream of photons emitted by a quantum dot

We report an electrically driven semiconductor single photon source capable of emitting photons with a coherence time of up to 400 ps under fixed bias. It is shown that increasing the injection current causes the coherence time to reduce and this effect is well explained by the fast modulation of a fluctuating environment. Hong-Ou-Mandel type two-photon interference using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is demonstrated using this source to test the indistinguishability of individual photons by post-selecting events where two photons collide at a beamsplitter. Finally, we consider how improvements in our detection system can be used to achieve a higher interference visibility.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Bell-inequality violation with a triggered photon-pair source

Here we demonstrate, for the first time, violation of Bell's inequality using a triggered quantum dot photon-pair source without post-selection. Furthermore, the fidelity to the expected Bell state can be increased above 90% using temporal gating to reject photons emitted at times when collection of uncorrelated light is more probable. A direct measurement of a CHSH Bell inequality is made showing a clear violation, highlighting that a quantum dot entangled photon source is suitable for communication exploiting non-local quantum correlations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Indistinguishable photons from a diode

We generate indistinguishable photons from a semiconductor diode containing a InAs/GaAs quantum dot. Using an all-electrical technique to populate and control a single-photon emitting state we filter-out dephasing by Stark-shifting the emission energy on timescales below the dephasing time of the state. Mixing consecutive photons on a beam-splitter we observe two-photon interference with a visibility of 64%.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Coherence of an Entangled Exciton-Photon State

We study the effect of the exciton fine-structure splitting on the polarisation-entanglement of photon pairs produced by the biexciton cascade in a single quantum dot. The entanglement is found to persist despite separations between the intermediate energy levels of up to 4 micro-eV. Measurements demonstrate that entanglement of the photon pair is robust to the dephasing of the intermediate exciton state responsible for the first order coherence time of either single photon. We present a theoretical framework taking into account the effects of spin-scattering, background light and dephasing. We distinguish between the first-order coherence time, and a parameter which we measure for the first time and define as the cross-coherence time.

quant-ph↗