arXiv subjects

Francois Dubin

Publications and source records attributed to Francois Dubin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Bose-Hubbard simulator with long-range hopping

Enriching condensed-matter systems with quantum optical phenomena currently drives intense research efforts, particularly to introduce collective quantum correlations. Here we access this paradigm, by confining dipolar excitons in a nanoscopic lattice where long-range hopping, and nearest-neighbour dipolar repulsions, dress the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian. Long-range hopping is evidenced by the spontaneous buildup of many-body sub-radiance, signalled by an algebraic slowdown of excitons radiative dissipation. In addition, we observe a threshold increase of temporal coherence for dipolar quantum solids only. It suggests that excitons condense in a single sub-radiant state for Mott-like phases. These combine then spatial order and collectively extended coherence, in a single degree of freedom. Our study unveils that nanoscopic exciton arrays provide a unique platform to design new frontiers of strongly-correlated lattice models with long-range correlations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Superlattice quantum solid of dipolar excitons

We study dipolar excitons confined at 330 mK in a square electrostatic lattice of a GaAs double quantum well. In the dipolar occupation blockade regime, at 3/2 filling, we evidence that excitons form a face-centred superlattice quantum solid. This phase is realised with high purity across 36 lattice sites, in a regime where the excitons mean interaction energy exceeds the depth of the lattice confinement. The superlattice solid then closely relates to Wigner crystals.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Dual density waves with neutral and charged dipolar excitons of GaAs bilayers

Strongly correlated quantum particles in lattice potentials are the building blocks for a large variety of quantum insulators, for instance Mott phases and density waves breaking the lattice symmetry. Such collective states are accessible to bosonic and fermionic systems. To expand further the spectrum of accessible quantum matter phases, mixing both species is theoretically appealing, since density order then competes with phase separation. Here we manipulate such Bose-Fermi mixture by confining neutral (boson-like) and charged (fermion-like) dipolar excitons in an artificial square lattice of a GaAs bilayer. At unitary lattice filling, strong inter- and intra-species interactions stabilise insulating phases when the fraction of charged excitons is around (1/3, 1/2, 2/3). We evidence that dual Bose-Fermi density waves are then realised, with species ordered in alternating stripes. Our observations highlight that dipolar excitons allow for controlled implementations of Bose-Fermi Hubbard models extended by off-site interactions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Mott insulator of strongly interacting two-dimensional excitons

In condensed-matter physics, electronic Mott insulators have triggered considerable research due to their intricate relation with high-temperature superconductors. However, unlike atomic systems for which Mott phases were recently shown for both bosonic and fermionic species, in the solid-state the fingerprint of a Mott insulator implemented with bosons is yet to be found. Here we unveil such signature by exploring the Bose-Hubbard hamiltonian using semiconductor excitons confined in two-dimensional lattices. We emphasise the regime where on-site interactions are comparable to the energy separation between lattice confined states. We then observe that Mott phases are accessible, with at most two excitons uniformly filling lattice sites. The technology introduced here allows us to program on-demand the geometry of the lattice confining excitons. This versatility, combined with the long-range nature of dipolar interactions between excitons, provide a new route to explore many-body phases spontaneously breaking the lattice symmetry.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Key role of the moire potential for the quasi-condensation of interlayer excitons in van der Waals heterostructures

Interlayer excitons confined in bilayer heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) offer a promising route to implement two-dimensional dipolar superfluids. Here, we study the experimental conditions necessary for the realisation of such collective state. Particularly, we show that the moire potential inherent to TMD bilayers yields an exponential increase of the excitons effective mass. To allow for exciton superfluidity at sizeable temperatures it is then necessary to intercalate a high-$κ$ dielectric between the monolayers confining electrons and holes. Thus the moire lattice depth is sufficiently weak for a superfluid phase to theoretically emerge below a critical temperature of around 10 K. Importantly, for realistic experimental parameters interlayer excitons quasi-condense in a state with finite momentum, so that the superfluid is optically inactive and flows spontaneously.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

A Microscopic Lattice for Two-dimensional Dipolar Excitons

We report a two-dimensional artificial lattice for dipolar excitons confined in a GaAs double quantum well. Exploring the regime of large fillings per lattice site, we verify that the lattice depth competes with the magnitude of excitons repulsive dipolar interactions to control the degree of localisation in the lattice potential. Moreover, we show that dipolar excitons radiate a narrow-band photoluminescence, with a spectral width of a few hundreds of micro-eV at 340 mK, in both localised and delocalised regimes. This makes our device suitable for explorations of dipolar excitons quasi-condensation in a periodic potential.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Quasi-condensation of bilayer excitons in a periodic potential

We study two-dimensional excitons confined in a lattice potential, for high fillings of the lattice sites. We show that a quasi-condensate is possibly formed for small values of the lattice depth, but for larger ones the critical phase-space density for quasi-condensation rapidly exceeds our experimental reach, due to the increase of the excitons effective mass. On the other hand, in the regime of a deep lattice potential where excitons are strongly localised at the lattice sites, we show that an array of phase-independent quasi-condensates, different from a Mott insulating phase, is realised.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Temporal Coherence of Spatially Indirect Excitons across Bose-Einstein Condensation: the Role of Free Carriers

We study the time coherence of the photoluminescence radiated by spatially indirect excitons confined in a 10 $μ$m electrostatic trap. Above a critical temperature of 1 Kelvin, we show that the photoluminescence has a homogeneous spectral width of about 500 $μ$eV which weakly varies with the exciton density. By contrast, the spectral width reduces by two-fold below the critical temperature and for experimental parameters at which excitons undergo a gray Bose-Einstein condensation. In this regime, we find evidence showing that the excitons temporal coherence is limited by their interaction with a low-concentration of residual excess charges, leading to a minimum photoluminescence spectral width of around 300 $μ$eV.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Spectroscopic Signatures for the Dark Bose-Einstein Condensation of Spatially Indirect Excitons

We study semiconductor excitons confined in an electrostatic trap of a GaAs bilayer heterostructure. We evidence that optically bright excitonic states are strongly depleted while cooling to sub-Kelvin temperatures. In return, the other accessible and optically dark states become macroscopically occupied so that the overall exciton population in the trap is conserved. These combined behaviours constitute the spectroscopic signature for the mostly dark Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons, which in our experiments is restricted to a dilute regime within a narrow range of densities, below a critical temperature of about 1K.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Dynamical control over the confinement of spatially indirect excitons in electrostatic traps of GaAs coupled quantum wells

We study spatially indirect excitons confined in a 10 $μ$m wide electrostatic trap of a GaAs double quantum well. We introduce a technique to control the amplitude of the electric field interacting with the excitons electric dipole, with nanosecond precision. Our approach relies on electronic waveforms corrected for the distorsions occurring at highest frequencies so that impedance matching is not necessary. Thus, we manipulate the confinement of cold gases without inducing sizeable perturbations down to sub-Kelvin bath temperatures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Quantized Vortices and Four-Component Superfluidity of Semiconductor Excitons

We study spatially indirect excitons of GaAs quantum wells, confined in a 10 microns electrostatic trap. Below a critical temperature of about 1 Kelvin, we detect macroscopic spatial coherence and quantised vortices in the weak photoluminescence emitted from the trap. These quantum signatures are restricted to a narrow range of density, in a dilute regime. They manifest the formation of a four-component superfluid, made by a low population of optically bright excitons coherently coupled to a dominant fraction of optically dark excitons.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Evidence for a Bose-Einstein condensate of excitons

The demonstration of Bose-Einstein condensation in atomic gases at micro-Kelvin temperatures is a striking landmark while its evidence for semiconductor excitons still is a long-awaited milestone. This situation was not foreseen because excitons are light-mass boson-like particles with a condensation expected to occur around a few Kelvins. An explanation can be found in the underlying fermionic nature of excitons which rules their condensation. Precisely, it was recently predicted that, at accessible experimental conditions, the exciton condensate shall be "gray" with a dominant dark part coherently coupled to a weak bright component through fermion exchanges. This counter-intuitive quantum condensation, since excitons are mostly known for their optical activity, directly follows from the excitons internal structure which has an optically inactive, i.e., dark, ground state. Here, we report compelling evidence for such a "gray" condensate. We use an all-optical approach in order to produce microscopic traps which confine a dense exciton gas that yet exhibits an anomalously weak photo-emission at sub-Kelvin temperatures. This first fingerprint for a "gray" condensate is then confirmed by the macroscopic spatial coherence and the linear polarization of the weak excitonic photoluminescence emitted from the trap, as theoretically predicted.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2011

Quantum Signature Blurred by Disorder in Indirect Exciton Gases

The photoluminescence dynamics of a microscopic gas of indirect excitons trapped in coupled quantum wells is probed at very low bath temperature (approximately 350 mK). Our experiments reveal the non linear energy relaxation characteristics of indirect excitons. Particularly, we observe that the excitons dynamics is strongly correlated with the screening of structural disorder by repulsive exciton-exciton interactions. For our experiments where two-dimensional excitonic states are gradually defined, the distinctive enhancement of the exciton scattering rate towards lowest energy states with increasing density does not reveal unambiguously quantum statistical effects such as Bose stimulation.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Heralded single photon absorption by a single atom

The emission and absorption of single photons by single atomic particles is a fundamental limit of matter-light interaction, manifesting its quantum mechanical nature. At the same time, as a controlled process it is a key enabling tool for quantum technologies, such as quantum optical information technology [1, 2] and quantum metrology [3, 4, 5, 6]. Controlling both emission and absorption will allow implementing quantum networking scenarios [1, 7, 8, 9], where photonic communication of quantum information is interfaced with its local processing in atoms. In studies of single-photon emission, recent progress includes control of the shape, bandwidth, frequency, and polarization of single-photon sources [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17], and the demonstration of atom-photon entanglement [18, 19, 20]. Controlled absorption of a single photon by a single atom is much less investigated; proposals exist but only very preliminary steps have been taken experimentally such as detecting the attenuation and phase shift of a weak laser beam by a single atom [21, 22], and designing an optical system that covers a large fraction of the full solid angle [23, 24, 25]. Here we report the interaction of single heralded photons with a single trapped atom. We find strong correlations of the detection of a heralding photon with a change in the quantum state of the atom marking absorption of the quantum-correlated heralded photon. In coupling a single absorber with a quantum light source, our experiment demonstrates previously unexplored matter-light interaction, while opening up new avenues towards photon-atom entanglement conversion in quantum technology.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2006

Single qubit gates with a charged quantum dot using minimal resources

We investigate coherent control of a single electron trapped in a semiconductor quantum dot. Control is enabled with a strong laser field detuned with respect to the electron light-hole optical transitions. For a realistic experimental situation, i.e. with a weak magnetic field applied along the growth direction, high fidelity arbitrary rotations of the electron spin are possible using a single laser spatial mode. This makes viabile quantum gates with electron spins in systems with restricted optical resources.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Photon correlation vs interference of single-atom fluorescence in a half-cavity

Photon correlations are investigated for a single laser-excited ion trapped in front of a mirror. Varying the relative distance between the ion and the mirror, photon correlation statistics can be tuned smoothly from an antibunching minimum to a bunching-like maximum. Our analysis concerns the non-Markovian regime of the ion-mirror interaction and reveals the field establishment in a half-cavity interferometer.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Feedback cooling of a single trapped ion

Based on a real-time measurement of the motion of a single ion in a Paul trap, we demonstrate its electro-mechanical cooling below the Doppler limit by homodyne feedback control (cold damping). The feedback cooling results are well described by a model based on a quantum mechanical Master Equation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Binding energy of the Wannier exciton on an organic quantum wire

The exciton on a single polydiacetylene chain is considered in a Wannier approach, taking into account the surrounding polarizable medium. The electron-hole Coulomb interaction potential is explictly obtained for a quantum wire of circular cross-section, and numerically calculated for a rectangular one. The predicted binding energy and Bohr radius, starting from the chain conformation, are in good agreement with experimental values. This shows the importance of considering the monomer matrix embedding the chain, and the major role of confinement, together with electron correlations, for describing the exciton. The method is general and applicable to any quantum wire.

cond-mat.str-el↗