arXiv subjects

Christian Reichl

Publications and source records attributed to Christian Reichl.

71 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Single-Spin CCD

Spin-based electronics or spintronics relies on the ability to store, transport and manipulate electron spin polarization with great precision. In its ultimate limit, information is stored in the spin state of a single electron, at which point also quantum information processing becomes a possibility. Here we demonstrate the manipulation, transport and read-out of individual electron spins in a linear array of three semiconductor quantum dots. First, we demonstrate single-shot read-out of three spins with fidelities of 97% on average, using an approach analogous to the operation of a charge-coupled-device (CCD). Next, we perform site-selective control of the three spins thereby writing the content of each pixel of this "Single-Spin CCD". Finally, we show that shuttling an electron back and forth in the array hundreds of times, covering a cumulative distance of 80 $μ$m, has negligible influence on its spin projection. Extrapolating these results to the case of much larger arrays, points at a diverse range of potential applications, from quantum information to imaging and sensing.

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arXiv2015

Capacitive coupling in hybrid Graphene-GaAs nanostructures

Coupled hybrid nanostructures are demonstrated using the combination of lithographically patterned graphene on top of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) buried in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. The graphene forms Schottky barriers at the surface of the heterostructure and therefore allows tuning the electronic density of the 2DEG. Conversely, the 2DEG potential can tune the graphene Fermi energy. Graphene-defined quantum point contacts in the 2DEG show half-plateaus of quantized conductance in finite bias spectroscopy and display the 0.7 anomaly for a large range of densities in the constriction, testifying to their good electronic properties. Finally, we demonstrate that the GaAs nanostructure can detect charges in the vicinity of the heterostructure's surface. This confirms the strong coupling of the hybrid device: localized states in the graphene ribbon could in principle be probed by the underlying confined channel. The present hybrid graphene/GaAs nanostructures are promising for the investigation of strong interactions and coherent coupling between the two fundamentally different materials.

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arXiv2015

Equilibrium free energy measurement of a confined electron driven out of equilibrium

We study out-of equilibrium properties of a quantum dot in a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas. By means of single electron counting experiments, we measure the distribution of work and dissipated heat of the driven quantum dot and relate these quantities to the equilibrium free energy change, as it has been proposed by C. Jarzynski [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf78}, 2690 (1997)]. We discuss the influence of the degeneracy of the quantized energy state on the free energy change as well as its relation to the tunnel rates between the dot and the reservoir.

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arXiv2014

Scanning Gate Imaging of quantum point contacts and the origin of the 0.7 Anomaly

The origin of the anomalous transport feature appearing at conductance G \approx 0.7 x (2e2/h) in quasi-1D ballistic devices - the so-called 0.7 anomaly - represents a long standing puzzle. Several mechanisms were proposed to explain it, but a general consensus has not been achieved. Proposed explanations are based on quantum interference, Kondo effect, Wigner crystallization, and more. A key open issue is whether point defects that can occur in these low-dimensional devices are the physical cause behind this conductance anomaly. Here we adopt a scanning gate microscopy technique to map individual impurity positions in several quasi-1D constrictions and correlate these with conductance characteristics. Our data demonstrate that the 0.7 anomaly can be observed irrespective of the presence of localized defects, and we conclude that the 0.7 anomaly is a fundamental property of low-dimensional systems.

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arXiv2014

Experimental probe of topological orders and edge excitations in the second Landau level

We measure weak quasiparticle tunneling across a constriction in the second Landau level. At $ν$ = 7/3, 8/3 and 5/2, comparison of temperature and DC bias dependence to weak tunneling theory allows extracting parameters that describe the edges' quasiparticle excitations. At $ν$ = 8/3, our results are well described by a particle-hole conjugate Laughlin state, but not compatible with proposed non-Abelian quasiparticle excitations. For $ν$ = 5/2, our measurements are in good agreement with previous experiments and favor the Abelian (3,3,1) or (1,1,3)-states. At these filling factors, we further investigate the influence of the backscattering strength on the extracted scaling parameters. For $ν$ = 7/3, the backscattering strength strongly affects the scaling parameters, whereas quasiparticle tunneling at $ν$ = 8/3 and 5/2 appears more robust. Our results provide important additional insight about the physics in the second Landau level and contribute to the understanding of the physics underlying the fractional quantum Hall states at $ν$ = 7/3, 8/3 and 5/2.

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arXiv2014

Spectroscopy of Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Charge Transfer in Semiconductor Quantum Structures

We investigate equilibrium and non-equilibrium charge-transfer processes by performing high-resolution transport spectroscopy. Using electrostatically defined quantum dots for energy-selective emission and detection, we achieved unprecedented spectral resolution and a high degree of tunability of relevant experimental parameters. Most importantly, we observe that the spectral width of elastically transferred electrons can be substantially smaller than the linewidth of a thermally broadened Coulomb peak. This finding indicates that the charge-transfer process is fast compared to the electron--phonon interaction time. By drawing an analogy to double quantum dots, we argue that the spectral width of the elastic resonance is determined by the lifetime broadening $h\itΓ$ of the emitter and detector states. Good agreement with the model is found also in an experiment in which the charge transfer is in the regime $h\itΓ\gg k_{\rm{B}}T$. By performing spectroscopy below the Fermi energy, we furthermore observe elastic and inelastic transfer of holes.

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arXiv2014

Ultrastrong Coupling in the Near-field of Complementary Split Ring Resonators

The ultrastrong light-matter interaction regime was investigated in metallic and superconducting complementary split ring resonators coupled to the cyclotron transition of two dimensional electron gases. The sub-wavelength light confinement and the large optical dipole moment of the cyclotron transition yield record high normalized coupling rates of up to $\frac{Ω_R}{ω_c}=$ 0.87. We observed a blue-shift of both polaritons due to the diamagnetic term of the interaction Hamiltonian.

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arXiv2014

Evaluating charge noise acting on semiconductor quantum dots in the circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture

We evaluate the charge noise acting on a GaAs/GaAlAs based semiconductor double quantum dot dipole-coupled to the voltage oscillations of a superconducting transmission line resonator. The in-phase ($I$) and the quadrature ($Q$) components of the microwave tone transmitted through the resonator are sensitive to charging events in the surrounding environment of the double dot with an optimum sensitivity of $8.5\times10^{-5} \mbox{e}/\sqrt{\mbox{Hz}}$. A low frequency $1/f$ type noise spectrum combined with a white noise level of $6.6\times10^{-6}$ $\mbox{e}^2/\mbox{Hz}$ above $1$ Hz is extracted, consistent with previous results obtained with quantum point contact charge detectors on similar heterostructures. The slope of the $1/f$ noise allows to extract a lower bound for the double-dot charge qubit dephasing rate which we compare to the one extracted from a Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian approach. The two rates are found to be similar emphasizing that charge noise is the main source of dephasing in our system.

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arXiv2014

Increasing the ν = 5 / 2 gap energy: an analysis of MBE growth parameters

The fractional quantized Hall state (FQHS) at the filling factor ν = 5/2 is of special interest due to its possible application for quantum computing. Here we report on the optimization of growth parameters that allowed us to produce two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) with a 5/2 gap energy up to 135 mK. We concentrated on optimizing the MBE growth to provide high 5/2 gap energies in "as-grown" samples, without the need to enhance the 2DEGs properties by illumination or gating techniques. Our findings allow us to analyse the impact of doping in narrow quantum wells with respect to conventional DX-doping in AlxGa1-xAs. The impact of the setback distance between doping layer and 2DEG was investigated as well. Additionally, we found a considerable increase in gap energy by reducing the amount of background impurities. To this end growth techniques like temperature reductions for substrate and effusion cells and the reduction of the Al mole fraction in the 2DEG region were applied.

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arXiv2013

Single-electron Double Quantum Dot Dipole-coupled to a Single Photonic Mode

We have realized a hybrid solid-state quantum device in which a single-electron semiconductor double quantum dot is dipole coupled to a superconducting microwave frequency transmission line resonator. The dipolar interaction between the two entities manifests itself via dispersive and dissipative effects observed as frequency shifts and linewidth broadenings of the photonic mode respectively. A Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian master equation calculation is used to model the combined system response and allows for determining both the coherence properties of the double quantum dot and its interdot tunnel coupling with high accuracy. The value and uncertainty of the tunnel coupling extracted from the microwave read-out technique are compared to a standard quantum point contact charge detection analysis. The two techniques are found to be consistent with a superior precision for the microwave experiment when tunneling rates approach the resonator eigenfrequency. Decoherence properties of the double dot are further investigated as a function of the number of electrons inside the dots. They are found to be similar in the single-electron and many-electron regimes suggesting that the density of the confinement energy spectrum plays a minor role in the decoherence rate of the system under investigation.

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arXiv2013

Imaging the Conductance of Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall Edge States

We measure the conductance of a quantum point contact (QPC) while the biased tip of a scanning probe microscope induces a depleted region in the electron gas underneath. At finite magnetic field we find plateaus in the real-space maps of the conductance as a function of tip position at integer (ν=1,2,3,4,6,8) and fractional (ν=1/3,2/3,5/3,4/5) values of transmission. They resemble theoretically predicted compressible and incompressible stripes of quantum Hall edge states. The scanning tip allows us to shift the constriction limiting the conductance in real space over distances of many microns. The resulting stripes of integer and fractional filling factors are rugged on the micron scale, i.e. on a scale much smaller than the zero-field elastic mean free path of the electrons. Our experiments demonstrate that microscopic inhomogeneities are relevant even in high-quality samples and lead to locally strongly fluctuating widths of incompressible regions even down to their complete suppression for certain tip positions. The macroscopic quantization of the Hall resistance measured experimentally in a non-local contact configuration survives in the presence of these inhomogeneities, and the relevant local energy scale for the ν=2 state turns out to be independent of tip position.

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arXiv2013

Suppression of bulk conductivity in InAs/GaSb broken gap composite quantum wells

The two-dimensional topological insulator state in InAs/GaSb quantum wells manifests itself by topologically protected helical edge channel transport relying on an insulating bulk. This work investigates a way of suppressing bulk conductivity by using gallium source materials of different degrees of impurity concentrations. While highest-purity gallium is accompanied by clear conduction through the sample bulk, intentional impurity incorporation lead to a bulk resistance over 1 MΩ. This resistance was found to be independent of applied magnetic fields. Ultra high electron mobilities for GaAs/AlGaAs structures fabricated in a molecular beam epitaxy system used for the growth of Sb-based samples are reported.

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arXiv2013

Cyclic Depopulation of Edge States in a large Quantum Dot

We investigate magneto-transport through a 1.6 μm wide quantum dot (QD) with adjacent charge detector, for different integer filling factors in the QD and constrictions. When this system is operated as a Fabry-Pérot interferometer, transport is governed by a Coulomb blockade mechanism. In the tunneling regime, we can directly measure the charge stability diagram of two capacitively and tunnel coupled Landau levels. This situation has been investigated in direct transport, as well as in single electron counting. The edge states within the dot are non-cyclically depopulated, which can be explained by a simple capacitive model and allows to draw conclusions about the edge state geometry within the quantum dot.

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arXiv2013

Photon- and phonon-assisted tunneling in the three-dimensional charge stability diagram of a triple quantum dot array

We report both photon- and phonon-assisted tunneling transitions in a linear array of three quantum dots, which can only be understood by considering the full three-dimensionality of the charge stability diagram. Such tunneling transitions potentially contribute to leakage of qubits defined in this system. A detailed understanding of these transitions is important as they become more abundant and complex to analyze as quantum dot arrays are scaled up.

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arXiv2013

Long-range coherent coupling in a quantum dot array

Controlling long-range quantum correlations is central to quantum computation and simulation. In quantum dot arrays, experiments so far rely on nearest-neighbour couplings only, and inducing long-range correlations requires sequential local operations. Here we show that two distant sites can be tunnel coupled directly. The coupling is mediated by virtual occupation of an intermediate site, with a strength that is controlled via the energy detuning of this site. It permits a single charge to oscillate coherently between the outer sites of a triple dot array without passing through the middle, as demonstrated through the observation of Landau-Zener-Stückelberg interference. The long-range coupling significantly improves the prospects of fault-tolerant quantum computation using quantum dot arrays and opens up new avenues for performing quantum simulations in nanoscale devices.

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arXiv2013

Tunable Charge Detectors for Semiconductor Quantum Circuits

Nanostructures defined in high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems offer a unique way of controlling the microscopic details of the investigated device. Quantum point contacts play a key role in these investigations, since they are not only a research topic themselves, but turn out to serve as convenient and powerful detectors for their electrostatic environment. We investigate how the sensitivity of charge detectors can be further improved by reducing screening, increasing the capacitive coupling between charge and detector and by tuning the quantum point contacts' confinement potential into the shape of a localized state. We demonstrate the benefits of utilizing a localized state by performing fast and well-resolved charge detection of a large quantum dot in the quantum Hall regime.

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arXiv2012

Ultrastrong coupling of the cyclotron transition of a two-dimensional electron gas to a THz metamaterial

Artificial cavity photon resonators with ultrastrong light-matter interactions are attracting interest both in semiconductor and superconducting systems, due to the possibility of manipulating the cavity quantum electrodynamic ground state with controllable physical properties. We report here experiments showing ultrastrong light-matter coupling in a terahertz metamaterial where the cyclotron transition of a high mobility two-dimensional electron gas is coupled to the photonic modes of an array of electronic split-ring resonators. We observe a normalized coupling ratio $\fracΩ{ω_c}=0.58$ between the vacuum Rabi frequency $Ω$ and the cyclotron frequency $ω_c$. Our system appears to be scalable in frequency and could be brought to the microwave spectral range with the potential of strongly controlling the magnetotransport properties of a high-mobility 2DEG.

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