arXiv subjects

I. A. Yugova

Publications and source records attributed to I. A. Yugova.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Optical coherence storage in dark exciton states using spin-dependent three-pulse photon echo

Extension of coherent response time is a desired goal in the field of all-optical information processing implemented in classical and quantum ways. Here we demonstrate how spin-dependent stimulated photon echo can be used to extend decay time of coherent signal from exciton ensemble. We experimentally studied photon echoes from excitons in a model single InGaAs/GaAs quantum well subject to transverse magnetic field. Field-induced quantum beats lead to oscillation of exciton population between bright and long-lived dark excitons. As a result, photon echo decays much longer with decay time attaining dark exciton lifetime in case of non-oscillatory regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Mode locking of hole spin coherences in CsPb(Cl,Br)$_3$ perovskite nanocrystals

The spin physics of perovskite nanocrystals with confined electrons or holes is attracting increasing attention, both for fundamental studies and spintronic applications. Here, stable CsPb(Cl$_{0.5}$Br$_{0.5}$)$_3$ lead halide perovskite nanocrystals embedded in a fluorophosphate glass matrix are studied by time-resolved optical spectroscopy to unravel the coherent spin dynamics of holes and their interaction with nuclear spins of the $^{207}$Pb isotope. We demonstrate the spin mode locking effect provided by the synchronization of the Larmor precession of single hole spins in each nanocrystal in the ensemble that are excited periodically by a laser in an external magnetic field. The mode locking is enhanced by nuclei-induced frequency focusing. An ensemble spin dephasing time $T_2^*$ of a nanosecond and a single hole spin coherence time of $T_2=13\,$ns are measured. The developed theoretical model accounting for the mode locking and nuclear focusing for randomly oriented nanocrystals with perovskite band structure describes the experimental data very well.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Extending the time of coherent optical response in ensemble of singly-charged InGaAs quantum dots

The ability to extend the time scale of the coherent optical response from large ensembles of quantum emitters is highly appealing for applications in quantum information devices. In semiconductor nanostructures, spin degrees of freedom can be used as auxiliary, powerful tools to modify the coherent optical dynamics. Here, we apply this approach to negatively charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots which are considered as excellent quantum emitters with robust optical coherence and high bandwidth. We study 3-pulse spin-dependent photon echoes subject to moderate transverse magnetic fields up to 1 T. We demonstrate that the timescale of coherent optical response can be extended by at least an order of magnitude by the field. Without magnetic field, the photon echo decays with $T_ 2$ = 0.45 ns which is determined by the radiative lifetime of trions $T_1$ = 0.27 ns. In the presence of the transverse magnetic field, the decay of the photon echo signal is given by spin dephasing time of the ensemble of resident electrons $T_{2,e}$ ~ 4 ns. We demonstrate that the non-zero transverse g-factor of the heavy holes in the trion state plays a crucial role in the temporal evolution and magnetic field dependence of the long-lived photon echo signal.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Shielding of external magnetic field by dynamic nuclear polarization in (In,Ga)As quantum dots

The dynamics of the coupled electron-nuclear spin system is studied in an ensemble of singly-charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) using periodic optical excitation at 1 GHz repetition rate. In combination with the electron-nuclei interaction, the highly repetitive excitation allows us to lock the electron spins into magnetic resonance in a transverse external magnetic field. Sweeping the field to higher values, the locking leads to an effective "diamagnetic" response of significant strength due to dynamic nuclear polarization, which shields the QD electrons at least partly from the external field and can even keep the internal magnetic field constant up to 1.3 T field variation. We model the effect through a magnetic field-dependent polarization rate of the nuclei, from which we suggest a strategy for adjusting the nuclear polarization through the detuning between optical excitation and electronic transition, in addition to tuning the magnetic field.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Suppression of nuclear spin fluctuations in an InGaAs quantum dot ensemble by GHz-pulsed optical excitation

The coherent electron spin dynamics of an ensemble of singly charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots in a transverse magnetic field is driven by periodic optical excitation at 1 GHz repetition frequency. Despite the strong inhomogeneity of the electron $g$ factor, the spectral spread of optical transitions, and the broad distribution of nuclear spin fluctuations, we are able to push the whole ensemble of excited spins into a single Larmor precession mode that is commensurate with the laser repetition frequency. Furthermore, we demonstrate that an optical detuning of the pump pulses from the probed optical transitions induces a directed dynamic nuclear polarization and leads to a discretization of the total magnetic field acting on the electron ensemble. Finally, we show that the highly periodic optical excitation can be used as universal tool for strongly reducing the nuclear spin fluctuations and preparation of a robust nuclear environment for subsequent manipulation of the electron spins, also at varying operation frequencies.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Strong enhancement of heavy-hole Landé factor $q$ in InGaAs symmetric quantum dots revealed by coherent optical spectroscopy

We reveal the existence of a large in-plane heavy-hole $g$ factor in symmetric self-assembled (001) (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots due to warping of valence band states. This warping dominates over the well-established mechanism associated with a reduced symmetry of quantum dots and the corresponding mixing of heavy-hole and light-hole states. The effect of band warping is manifested in a unique angular dependence of a trion photon echo signal on the direction of external magnetic field with respect to the sample axes. It results in a uniform magnetic-field-induced optical anisotropy for the entire quantum dot ensemble which is a prerequisite for realization of spin quantum memories and spin-photon entanglement in the ensemble.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Long-living dark coherence brought to light by magnetic-field controlled photon echo

Larmor precession of the quasiparticle spin about a transverse magnetic field leads to the oscillations in the spontaneous photon echo signal due to the shuffling of the optical coherence between optically accessible (bright) and inaccessible (dark) states. Here we report on a new non-oscillating photon echo regime observed in the presence of non-equal dephasing rates of bright and dark states. This regime enables the observation of the long-living dark optical coherence. As a simple mechanical analogy, we suggest a charged particle moving in the magnetic field through the medium with anisotropic viscous friction. We demonstrate the dark coherence retrieval in the spontaneous photon echo from excitons in the InGaAs/GaAs quantum well.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Exciton energy oscillations induced by quantum beats

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate an oscillating energy shift of quantum-confined exciton levels in a semiconductor quantum well after excitation into a superposition of two quantum confined exciton states of different parity. Oscillations are observed at frequencies corresponding to the quantum beats between these states. We show that the observed effect is a manifestation of the exciton density oscillations in the real space similar to the dynamics of a Hertzian dipole. The effect is caused by the exciton-exciton exchange interaction and appears only if the excitons are in a superposition quantum state. Thus, we have found clear evidence for the incoherent exchange interaction in the coherent process of quantum beats. This effect may be harnessed for quantum technologies requiring the quantum coherence of states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

The in-plane anisotropy of the hole $g$ factor in CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum wells studied by spin-dependent photon echoes

We use the two-pulse spin-dependent photon echo technique to study the in-plane hole spin anisotropy in a 20~nm-thick CdTe/Cd$_{0.76}$Mg$_{0.24}$Te single quantum well by exciting the donor-bound exciton resonance. We take advantage of the photon echo sensitivity to the relative phase of the electron and hole spin precession and study various interactions contributing to the hole in-plane spin properties. The main contribution is found to arise from the crystal cubic symmetry described by the Luttinger parameter $q=0.095$, which is substantially larger than the one theoretically expected for CdTe or found in other quantum well structures. Another contribution is induced by the strain within the quantum well. These two contributions manifest as different harmonics of the spin precession frequencies in the photon echo experiment, when strength and orientation of the Voigt magnetic field are varied. The magnitude of the effective in-plane hole $g$ factor is found to vary in the range $|\tilde{g_h}|$=0.125--0.160 in the well plane.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Quantum beats in the polarization of the spin-dependent photon echo from donor-bound excitons in CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum wells

We study the quantum beats in the polarization of the photon echo from donor-bound exciton ensembles in semiconductor quantum wells. To induce these quantum beats, a sequence composed of a circularly polarized and a linearly polarized picosecond laser pulse in combination with an external transverse magnetic field is used. This results in an oscillatory behavior of the photon echo amplitude, detected in the $σ^+$ and $σ^-$ circular polarizations, occurring with opposite phases relative to each other. The beating frequency is the sum of the Larmor frequencies of the resident electron and the heavy hole when the second pulse is polarized along the magnetic field. The beating frequency is, on the other hand, the difference of these Larmor frequencies when the second pulse is polarized orthogonal to the magnetic field. The measurement of both beating frequencies serves as a method to determine precisely the in-plane hole $g$ factor, including its sign. We apply this technique to observe the quantum beats in the polarization of the photon echo from the donor-bound excitons in a 20-nm-thick CdTe/Cd$_{0.76}$Mg$_{0.24}$Te quantum well. From these quantum beats we obtain the in-plane heavy hole $g$ factor $g_h=-0.143\pm0.005$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Polarimetry of photon echo on charged and neutral excitons in CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum wells

Coherent optical spectroscopy such as four-wave mixing and photon echo generation deliver detailed information on the energy levels involved in optical transitions through the analysis of polarization of the coherent response. In semiconductors, it can be applied to distinguish between different exciton complexes, which is a highly non-trivial problem in optical spectroscopy. We develop a simple approach based on photon echo polarimetry, in which polar plots of the photon echo amplitude are measured as function of the angle $φ$ between the linear polarizations of the two exciting pulses. The rosette-like polar plots reveal a distinct difference between the neutral and charged exciton (trion) optical transitions in semiconductor nanostructures. We demonstrate this experimentally by photon echo polarimetry of a 20-nm-thick CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum well at temperature of 1.5~K. Applying narrow-band optical excitation we selectively excite different exciton complexes including the exciton, the trion, and the donor-bound exciton D$^0$X. We find that polarimetry of the photon echo on the trion and D$^0$X is substantially different from the exciton: The echoes of the trion and D$^0$X are linearly polarized at the angle $2φ$ with respect to the first pulse polarization and their amplitudes are weakly dependent on $φ$. While on the exciton the photon echo is co-polarized with the second exciting pulse and its amplitude scales as $\cosφ$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Decay and revival of electron spin polarization in an ensemble of (In,Ga)As quantum dots

The periodic optical orientation of electron spins in (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots leads to the formation of electron spin precession modes about an external magnetic field which are resonant with the pumping periodicity. As the electron spin is localized within a nuclear spin bath, its polarization imprints onto the spin polarization of the bath. The latter acts back on the electron spin polarization. We implement a pulse protocol where a train of laser pulses is followed by a long, dark gap. It allows us to obtain a high-resolution precession mode spectrum from the free evolution of the electron spin polarization. Additionally, we vary the number of pump pulses in a train to investigate the build-up of the precession modes. To separate out nuclear effects, we suppress the nuclear polarization by using a radio-frequency field. We find that a long-living nuclear spin polarization imprinted by the periodic excitation significantly speeds up the buildup of the electron spin polarization and induces the formation of additional electron spin precession modes. To interpret these findings, we extend an established dynamical nuclear polarization model to take into account optically detuned quantum dots for which nuclear spins activate additional electron spin precession modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Photon echo from localized excitons in semiconductor nanostructures

An overview on photon echo spectroscopy under resonant excitation of the exciton complexes in semiconductor nanostructures is presented. The use of four-wave-mixing technique with the pulsed excitation and heterodyne detection allowed us to measure the coherent response of the system with the picosecond time resolution. It is shown that, for resonant selective pulsed excitation of the localized exciton complexes, the coherent signal is represented by the photon echoes due to the inhomogeneous broadening of the optical transitions. In case of resonant excitation of the trions or donor-bound excitons, the Zeeman splitting of the resident electron ground state levels under the applied transverse magnetic field results in quantum beats of photon echo amplitude at the Larmor precession frequency. Application of magnetic field makes it possible to transfer coherently the optical excitation into the spin ensemble of the resident electrons and to observe a long-lived photon echo signal. The described technique can be used as a high-resolution spectroscopy of the energy splittings in the ground state of the system. Next, we consider the Rabi oscillations and their damping under excitation with intensive optical pulses for the excitons complexes with a different degree of localization. It is shown that damping of the echo signal with increase of the excitation pulse intensity is strongly manifested for excitons, while on trions and donor-bound excitons this effect is substantially weaker.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

High resolution two-dimensional optical spectroscopy of electron spins

Multidimensional coherent optical spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools for investigating complex quantum mechanical systems. While it was conceived decades ago in magnetic resonance spectroscopy using micro- and radio-waves, it has recently been extended into the visible and UV spectral range. However, resolving MHz energy splittings with ultrashort laser pulses has still remained a challenge. Here, we analyze two-dimensional Fourier spectra for resonant optical excitation of resident electrons to localized trions or donor-bound excitons in semiconductor nanostructures subject to a transverse magnetic field. Particular attention is devoted to Raman coherence spectra which allow one to accurately evaluate tiny splittings of the electron ground state and to determine the relaxation times in the electron spin ensemble. A stimulated step-like Raman process induced by a sequence of two laser pulses creates a coherent superposition of the ground state doublet which can be retrieved only optically due to selective excitation of the same sub-ensemble with a third pulse. This provides the unique opportunity to distinguish between different complexes that are closely spaced in energy in an ensemble. The related experimental demonstration is based on photon echo measurements in an n-type CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum well structure detected by a heterodyne technique. The difference in the sub-$μ$eV range between the Zeeman splittings of donor-bound electrons and electrons localized at potential fluctuations can be resolved even though the homogeneous linewidth of the optical transitions is larger by two orders of magnitude.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Photon echo transients from an inhomogeneous ensemble of semiconductor quantum dots

An ensemble of quantum dot excitons may be used for coherent information manipulation. Due to the ensemble inhomogeneity any optical information retrieval occurs in form of a photon echo. We show that the inhomogeneity can lead to a significant deviation from the conventional echo timing sequence. Variation of the area of the initial rotation pulse, which generates excitons in a dot sub-ensemble only, reveals this complex picture of photon echo formation. We observe a retarded echo for π/2 pulses, while for 3π/2 the echo is advanced in time as evidenced through monitoring the Rabi oscillations in the time-resolved photon echo amplitude from (In,Ga)As/GaAs self-assembled quantum dot structures and confirmed by detailed calculations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Inhomogeneous nuclear spin polarization induced by helicity-modulated optical excitation of fluorine-bound electron spins in ZnSe

Optically-induced nuclear spin polarization in a fluorine-doped ZnSe epilayer is studied by time-resolved Kerr rotation using resonant excitation of donor-bound excitons. Excitation with helicity-modulated laser pulses results in a transverse nuclear spin polarization, which is detected as a change of the Larmor precession frequency of the donor-bound electron spins. The frequency shift in dependence on the transverse magnetic field exhibits a pronounced dispersion-like shape with resonances at the fields of nuclear magnetic resonance of the constituent zinc and selenium isotopes. It is studied as a function of external parameters, particularly of constant and radio frequency external magnetic fields. The width of the resonance and its shape indicate a strong spatial inhomogeneity of the nuclear spin polarization in the vicinity of a fluorine donor. A mechanism of optically-induced nuclear spin polarization is suggested based on the concept of resonant nuclear spin cooling driven by the inhomogeneous Knight field of the donor-bound electron.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Multiple quantum beats of quantum confined exciton states in InGaAs/GaAs quantum well

Multiple quantum beats of a system of the coherently excited quantum confined exciton states in a high-quality heterostructure with a wide InGaAs/GaAs quantum well are experimentally detected by the spectrally resolved pump-probe method for the first time. The beat signal is observed as at positive as at negative delays between the pump and probe pulses. A theoretical model is developed, which allows one to attribute the QBs at negative delay to the four-wave mixing (FWM) signal detected at the non-standard direction. The beat signal is strongly enhanced by the interference of the FWM wave with the polarization created by the probe pulse. At positive delay, the QBs are due to the mutual interference of the quantum confined exciton states. Several QB frequencies are observed in the experiments, which coincide with the interlevel spacings in the exciton system. The decay time for QBs is of order of several picoseconds at both the positive and negative delays. They are close to the relaxation time of exciton population that allows one to consider the exciton depopulation as the main mechanism of the coherence relaxation in the system under study.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

All-optical NMR in semiconductors provided by resonant cooling of nuclear spins interacting with electrons in the resonant spin amplification regime

Resonant cooling of different nuclear isotopes manifested in optically-induced nuclear magnetic resonances (NMR) is observed in n-doped CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te and ZnSe/(Zn,Mg)Se quantum wells and for donor-bound electrons in ZnSe:F and GaAs epilayers. By time-resolved Kerr rotation used in the regime of resonant spin amplification we can expand the range of magnetic fields where the effect can be observed up to nuclear Larmor frequencies of 170 kHz. The mechanism of the resonant cooling of the nuclear spin system is analyzed theoretically. The developed approach allows us to model the resonant spin amplification signals with NMR resonances.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗