arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D. Reuter.
We report the observation of thermal rectification in a semiconductor quantum dot, as inferred from the asymmetric line shape of the thermopower oscillations. The asymmetry is observed at high in-plane magnetic fields and caused by the presence of a high orbital momentum state in the dot.
We experimentally study equilibration between edge states, co-propagating at the edge of the fractional quantum Hall liquid, at high initial imbalances. We find an anomalous increase of the conductance between the fractional edge states at the filling factor $ν=2/5$ in comparison with the expected one for the model of independent edge states. We conclude that the model of independent fractional edge states is not suitable to describe the experimental situation at $ν=2/5$.
We experimentally investigate transport across the incompressible stripe at the sample edge in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime at bulk filling factors $ν=2/3$ and $ν=2/5$. We obtain the dependence of the equilibration length, that is a phenomenological characteristics of the transport, on the voltage imbalance and the temperature, at high voltage imbalances. These dependencies are found to be of the power-law form, which is a strong evidence for the Luttigger liquid density of states.
Using a time-resolved phonon absorption technique, we have measured the specific heat of a two-dimensional electron system in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime. For filling factors $ν= 5/3, 4/3, 2/3, 3/5, 4/7, 2/5$ and 1/3 the specific heat displays a strong exponential temperature dependence in agreement with excitations across a quasi-particle gap. At filling factor $ν= 1/2$ we were able to measure the specific heat of a composite fermion system for the first time. The observed linear temperature dependence on temperature down to $T = 0.14$ K agrees well with early predictions for a Fermi liquid of composite fermions.
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.
We have studied the temperature dependent thermopower of gate-defined, lateral quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime using an electron heating technique. The line shape of the thermopower oscillations depends strongly on the contributing tunneling processes. Between 1.5 K and 40 mK a crossover from a pure sawtooth- to an intermitted sawtooth-like line shape is observed. The latter is attributed to the increasing dominance of cotunneling processes in the Coulomb blockade regime at low temperatures.
We present phase coherence time measurements in quasi-one-dimensional Ag wires doped with Fe Kondo impurities of different concentrations $n_s$. Due to the relatively high Kondo temperature $T_{K}\approx 4.3K$ of this system, we are able to explore a temperature range from above $T_{K}$ down to below $0.01 T_{K}$. We show that the magnetic contribution to the dephasing rate $γ_m$ per impurity is described by a single, universal curve when plotted as a function of $(T/T_K)$. For $T>0.1 T_K$, the dephasing rate is remarkably well described by recent numerical results for spin $S=1/2$ impurities. At lower temperature, we observe deviations from this theory. Based on a comparison with theoretical calculations for $S>1/2$, we discuss possible explanations for the observed deviations.
We investigate the ground state competition at the transition from the spin unpolarized to spin ordered phase at filling factor $ν=2/3$ in single layer heterostructure and at $ν=2$ in double layer quantum well. To trace the quantum Hall phase we use the minimum in the dissipative conductivity $σ_{xx}$. We observe two different transition scenarios in two investigated situations. For one of them we propose a qualitative explanation, based on the domain structure evolution in the vicinity of the transition point. The origin for the second scenario, corresponding to the experimental situation at $ν=2$ in double layer 2DES, still remains unclear.
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.
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.
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.
The thermopower of a Kondo-correlated gate-defined quantum dot is studied using a current heating technique. In the presence of spin correlations the thermopower shows a clear deviation from the semiclassical Mott relation between thermopower and conductivity. The strong thermopower signal indicates a significant asymmetry in the spectral density of states of the Kondo resonance with respect to the Fermi energies of the reservoirs. The observed behavior can be explained within the framework of an Anderson-impurity model. Keywords: Thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects, Coulomb blockade, single electron tunneling, Kondo-effect PACS Numbers: 72.20.Pa, 73.23.Hk
We utilize a time-periodic ratchet-like potential modulation imposed onto a two-dimensional electron system inside a GaAs/Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$As heterostructure to evoke a net dc pumping current. The modulation is induced by two sets of interdigitated gates, interlacing off center, which can be independently addressed. When the transducers are driven by two identical but phase-shifted ac signals, a lateral dc pumping current $I(ϕ)$ results, which strongly depends on both, the phase shift $ϕ$ and the waveform $V(t)$ of the imposed gate voltages. We find that for different periodic signals, the phase dependence $I(ϕ)$ closely resembles $V(t)$. A simple linear model of adiabatic pumping in two-dimensional electron systems is presented, which reproduces well our experimental findings.
It is demonstrated that the now well-established `flip-flop' mechanism of spin exchange between electrons and nuclei in the quantum Hall effect can be reversed. We use a sample geometry which utilizes separately contacted edge states to establish a local nuclear spin polarization --close to the maximum value achievable-- by driving a current between electron states of different spin orientation. When the externally applied current is switched off, the sample exhibits an output voltage of up to a few tenths of a meV, which decays with a time constant typical for the nuclear spin relaxation. The surprizing fact that a sample with a local nuclear spin polarization can act as a source of energy and that this energy is well above the nuclear Zeeman splitting is explained by a simple model which takes into account the effect of a local Overhauser shift on the edge state reconstruction.
We have studied the hole charging spectra of self-assembled InAs quantum dots in perpendicular magnetic fields by capacitance-voltage spectroscopy. From the magnetic field dependence of the individual peaks we conclude that the s-like ground state is completely filled with two holes but that the fourfold degenerate p-shell is only half filled with two holes before the filling of the d-shell starts. The resulting six-hole ground state is highly polarized. This incomplete shell filling can be explained by the large influence of the Coulomb interaction in this system.
We present a detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of the optical orientation of electron spins in GaAs/AlAs quantum wells. Using time and polarization resolved photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, the initial degree of electron spin polarization is measured as a function of excitation energy for a sequence of quantum wells with well widths between 63 Ang and 198 Ang. The experimental results are compared with an accurate theory of excitonic absorption taking fully into account electron-hole Coulomb correlations and heavy-hole light-hole coupling. We find in wide quantum wells that the measured initial degree of polarization of the luminescence follows closely the spin polarization of the optically excited electrons calculated as a function of energy. This implies that the orientation of the electron spins is essentially preserved when the electrons relax from the optically excited high-energy states to quasi-thermal equilibrium of their momenta. Due to initial spin relaxation, the measured polarization in narrow quantum wells is reduced by a constant factor that does not depend on the excitation energy.
High-quality C-doped p-type AlGaAs heterostructures with mobilities exceeding 150 000 cm$^2$/Vs are investigated by low-temperature magnetotransport experiments. We find features of the fractional quantum Hall effect as well as a highly resolved Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations at low magnetic fields. This allows us to determine the densities, effective masses and mobilities of the holes populating the spin-split subbands arising from the lack of inversion symmetry in these structures.
Phonon excitations of fractional quantum Hall states at filling factors nu = 1/3, 2/5, 4/7, 3/5, 4/3, and 5/3 are experimentally shown to be based on Landau level transitions of Composite Fermions. At filling factor nu = 2/3, however, a linear field dependence of the excitation energy in the high-field regime rather hints towards a spin transition excited by the phonons. We propose to explain this surprising observation by an only partially polarized 2/3-ground-state making the energetically lower lying spin transition also allowed for phonon excitations.