arXiv subjects

I. A. Yugova

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

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Photon echoes retrieved from semiconductor spins: access to basis for long-term optical memories

The possibility to store optical information is important for classical and quantum communication. Atoms or ions as well as color centers in crystals offer suitable two-level systems for absorbing incoming photons. To obtain a reliable transfer of coherence, strong enough light-matter interaction is required, which may enforce use of ensembles of absorbers, but has the disadvantage of unavoidable inhomogeneities leading to fast dephasing. This obstacle can be overcome by echo techniques that allow recovery of the information as long as the coherence is preserved. Albeit semiconductor quantum structures appear appealing for information storage due to the large oscillator strength of optical transitions, inhomogeneity typically is even more pronounced for them and most importantly the optical coherence is limited to nanoseconds or shorter. Here we show that by transferring the information to electron spins the storage times for the optical coherence can be extended by orders of magnitude up to the spin relaxation time. From the spin reservoir it can be retrieved on purpose by inducing a stimulated photon echo. We demonstrate this for an n-doped CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum well for which the storage time thereby could be increased by more than three orders of magnitude from the picosecond-range up to tens of nanoseconds.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Magnetic field control of photon echo in the electron-trion system: Shuffling of coherences between optically accessible and inaccessible states

We report on magnetic field induced oscillations of the photon echo signal from negatively charged excitons in a CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te semiconductor quantum well. The oscillatory signal is due to Larmor precession of the electron spin about a transverse magnetic field and depends sensitively on the polarization configuration of the exciting and refocusing pulses. The echo amplitude can be fully tuned from maximum down to zero depending on the time delay between the two pulses and the magnetic field strength. The results are explained in terms of the optical Bloch equations accounting for the spin level structure of electron and trion.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Electron spin synchronization induced by optical nuclear magnetic resonance feedback

We predict a new physical mechanism explaining the electron spin precession frequency focusing effect observed recently in singly charged quantum dots exposed to a periodic train of resonant circularly polarized short optical pulses [A. Greilich et al, Science 317, 1896 (2007), Ref. 1]. We show that electron spin precession in an external magnetic field and a field of nuclei creates a Knight field oscillating at the frequency of nuclear spin resonance. This field drives the projection of the nuclear spin onto magnetic field to the value that makes the electron spin precession frequency a multiple of the train cyclic repetition frequency, which is the condition at which the Knight field vanishes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Coherent spin dynamics of electrons and holes in semiconductor quantum wells and quantum dots under periodical optical excitation: resonant spin amplification versus spin mode-locking

The coherent spin dynamics of resident carriers, electrons and holes, in semiconductor quantum structures is studied by periodical optical excitation using short laser pulses and in an external magnetic field. The generation and dephasing of spin polarization in an ensemble of carrier spins, for which the relaxation time of individual spins exceeds the repetition period of the laser pulses, are analyzed theoretically. Spin polarization accumulation is manifested either as resonant spin amplification or as mode-locking of carrier spin coherences. It is shown that both regimes have the same origin, while their appearance is determined by the optical pump power and the spread of spin precession frequencies in the ensemble.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Long-lived electron spin coherence in CdSe/ZnSSe self-assembled quantum dots

The electron spin coherence in n-doped and undoped, self-assembled CdSe/Zn(S,Se) quantum dots has been studied by time-resolved pump-probe Kerr rotation. Long-lived spin coherence persisting up to 13 ns after spin orientation has been found in the n-doped quantum dots, outlasting significantly the lifetimes of charge neutral and negatively charged excitons of 350 - 530 ps. The electron spin dephasing time as long as 5.6 ns has been measured in a magnetic field of 0.25 T. Hyperfine interaction of resident electrons with a nuclear spin fluctuations is suggested as the main limiting factor for the dephasing time. The efficiency of this mechanism in II-VI and III-V quantum dots is analyzed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Generation and detection of mode-locked spin coherence in (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots by laser pulses of long duration

Using optical pulses of variable duration up to 80 ps, we report on spin coherence initialization and its subsequent detection in n-type singly-charged quantum dots, subject to a transverse magnetic field, by pump-probe techniques. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the spin coherence generation and readout efficiencies are determined by the ratio of laser pulse duration to spin precession period: An increasing magnetic field suppresses the spin coherence signals for a fixed duration of pump and/or probe pulses, and this suppression occurs for smaller fields the longer the pulse duration is. The reason for suppression is the varying spin orientation due to precession during pulse action.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Effect of pump-probe detuning on the Faraday rotation and ellipticity signals of mode-locked spins in InGaAs quantum dots

We have studied the Faraday rotation and ellipticity signals in ensembles of singly-charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots by pump-probe spectroscopy. For degenerate pump and probe we observe that the Faraday rotation signal amplitude first grows with increasing the time separation between pump and probe before a decay is observed for large temporal separations. The temporal behavior of the ellipticity signal, on the other hand, is regular: its amplitude decays with the separation. By contrast, for detuned pump and probe the Faraday rotation and ellipticty signals both exhibit similar and conventional behavior. The experimental results are well described in the frame of a recently developed microscopic theory [Phys. Rev. B 80, 104436 (2009)]. The comparison between calculations and experimental data allows us to provide insight into the spectral dependence of the electron spin precession frequencies and extract the electron g-factor dependence on energy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Spin dynamics of electrons and holes in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells at milliKelvin temperatures

The carrier spin dynamics in a n-doped (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum well has been studied by time-resolved Faraday rotation and ellipticity techniques in the temperature range down to 430 milliKelvin. These techniques give data with very different spectral dependencies, from which nonetheless consistent information on the spin dynamics can be obtained, in agreement with theoretical predictions. The mechanisms of long-lived spin coherence generation are discussed for the cases of trion and exciton resonant excitation. We demonstrate that carrier localization leads to a saturation of spin relaxation times at 45 ns for electrons below 4.5 K and at 2 ns for holes below 2.3 K. The underlying spin relaxation mechanisms are discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Pump-Probe Faraday Rotation and Ellipticity in an Ensemble of Singly Charged Quantum Dots

A description of spin Faraday rotation, Kerr rotation and ellipticity signals for single- and multi-layer ensembles of singly charged quantum dots (QDs) is developed. The microscopic theory considers both the single pump-pulse excitation and the effect of a train of such pulses, which in the case of long resident-electron spin coherence time leads to a stationary distribution of the electron spin polarization. The calculations performed for single-color and two-color pump-probe setups show that the three experimental techniques: Faraday rotation, Kerr rotation and ellipticity measurements provide complementary information about an inhomogeneous ensemble of QDs. The microscopic theory developed for a three-dimensional ensemble of QDs is shown to agree with the phenomenological description of these effects. The typical time-dependent traces of pump-probe Faraday rotation, Kerr rotation and ellipticity signals are calculated for various experimental conditions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Collective single mode precession of electron spins in a quantum dot ensemble

We show that the spins of all electrons, each confined in a quantum dot of an (In,Ga)As/GaAs dot ensemble, can be driven into a single mode of precession about a magnetic field. This regime is achieved by allowing only a single mode within the electron spin precession spectrum of the ensemble to be synchronized with a train of periodic optical excitation pulses. Under this condition a nuclei induced frequency focusing leads to a shift of all spin precession frequencies into the synchronized mode. The macroscopic magnetic moment of the electron spins that is created in this regime precesses without dephasing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Robust manipulation of electron spin coherence in an ensemble of singly charged quantum dots

Using the recently reported mode locking effect we demonstrate a highly robust control of electron spin coherence in an ensemble of (In,Ga)As quantum dots during the single spin coherence time. The spin precession in a transverse magnetic field can be fully controlled up to 25 K by the parameters of the exciting pulsed laser protocol such as the pulse train sequence, leading to adjustable quantum beat bursts in Faraday rotation. Flipping of the electron spin precession phase was demonstrated by inverting the polarization within a pulse doublet sequence.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2006

Universal behavior of the electron g-factor in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

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.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2006

Optical control of spin coherence in singly charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots

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.

physics.optics↗