arXiv subjects

Robson Ferreira

Publications and source records attributed to Robson Ferreira.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

The optical absorption in indirect semiconductor to semimetal PtSe2 arises from direct transitions

$\rm{PtSe_2}$ is a van der Waals material transitioning from an indirect bandgap semiconductor to a semimetal with increasing thickness. Its absorption threshold has been conjectured to originate from interband indirect transitions. By quantitative comparison between broadband ($0.8 - 3.0\,\rm{eV}$) optical absorption of high-quality exfoliated crystals and DFT ab-initio simulations, we prove instead that the optical absorption arises only from direct transitions. This understanding allows us to shed light on the semiconductor to semimetal transition and to explore the effect of stacking and excitons on the optical absorption.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Quantum transport signature of strain-induced scalar and pseudo-vector potentials in a crenellated hBN-graphene heterostructure

The sharp Dirac cone of the electronic dispersion confers to graphene a remarkable sensitivity to strain. It is usually encoded in scalar and pseudo-vector potentials, induced by the modification of hopping parameters, which have given rise to new phenomena at the nanoscale such as giant pseudomagnetic fields and valley polarization. Here, we unveil the effect of these potentials on the quantum transport across a succession of strain-induced barriers. We use high-mobility, hBN-encapsulated graphene, transferred over a large (10x10 $μ$m$^{2}$) crenellated hBN substrate. We show the emergence of a broad resistance ancillary peak at positive energy that arises from Klein tunneling barriers induced by the tensile strain at the trench edges. Our theoretical study, in quantitative agreement with experiment, highlights the balanced contributions of strain-induced scalar and pseudo-vector potentials on ballistic transport. Our results establish crenellated van der Waals heterostructures as a promising platform for strain engineering in view of applications and basic physics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Atomic Layer-controlled Nonlinear Terahertz Valleytronics in Dirac Semi-metal and Semiconductor PtSe2

Platinum diselenide (PtSe2) is a promising two-dimensional (2D) material for the terahertz (THz) range as, unlike other transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), its bandgap can be uniquely tuned from a semiconductor in the near-infrared to a semimetal with the number of atomic layers. This gives the material unique THz photonic properties that can be layer-engineered. Here, we demonstrate that a controlled THz nonlinearity - tuned from monolayer to bulk PtSe2 - can be realised in wafer size polycrystalline PtSe2 through the generation of ultrafast photocurrents and the engineering of the bandstructure valleys. This is combined with the PtSe2 layer interaction with the substrate for a broken material centro-symmetry permitting a second order nonlinearity. Further, we show layer-dependent circular dichroism, where the sign of the ultrafast currents and hence the phase of the emitted THz pulse can be controlled through the excitation of different bandstructure valleys. In particular, we show that a semimetal has a strong dichroism that is absent in the monolayer and few layer semiconducting limit. The microscopic origins of this TMD bandstructure engineering is highlighted through detailed DFT simulations and show that circular dichroism can be controlled when PtSe2 becomes a semimetal and when the K-valleys can be excited. As well as showing that PtSe2 is a promising material for THz generation through layer controlled optical nonlinearities, this work opens up new class of circular dichroism materials beyond the monolayer limit that has been the case of traditional TMDs, and impacting a range of domains from THz valleytronics, THz spintronics to harmonic generation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Interaction between interface and massive states in multivalley topological heterostructures

Topological interface states in multivalley systems are studied to unravel their valley sensitivity. For this purpose, multivalley IV-VI topological crystalline insulator (TCI) heterostructures are explored using magneto-optical Landau level spectroscopy up to 34 teslas. We characterize the topological interface states emerging from the distinct L-valleys in Pb1-xSnxSe multi quantum wells grown along the [111] direction. It is shown that the shape of the 2D Fermi surfaces of topological interface states residing at the TCI/trivial insulator interfaces are strongly affected by the valley anisotropy of topologically trivial Pb1-yEuySe barriers. This phenomenon is shown to be due to the deep penetration of the topological interface states into the barriers. For the valleys tilted with respect to the confinement direction, a significant interaction between topological states and the conventional massive quantum well states is observed, evidenced by the resulting large anti-crossings between Landau levels. These are theoretically well-described by a k.p model that takes into account tilt and anisotropy of the valleys in two dimensions. Therefore, our work provides a precise characterization of the topological interface state valley splitting, as well as an accurate determination of the anisotropy of their Dirac cone dispersion.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Phonon-assisted exciton and trion conversion efficiency in transition metal Dichalcogenides

Photoluminescence spectra, shows that monolayer Transition-metal dichalcogenides (MLTMDCs), possess charged exciton binding energies, conspicuously similar to the energy of optical phonons. This enigmatic coincidence has offered opportunities to investigate many-body interactions between trion, exciton and phonon and led to efficient excitonic anti-Stokes processes with the potential for laser refrigeration and energy harvesting. In this study, we show that in WSe2 materials, the trion binding energy matches two phonon modes, the outofplane HP and the in-plane LO mode. In this respect, using the Fermi golden rule together with the effective mass approximation, we investigate the rate of the population transfers between exciton and trion, mediated by a single phonon. We demonstrate that, while the absolute importance of the two phonon modes on the upconversion process strongly depend on the experimental conditions such as the temperature and the dielectric environment (substrate), both modes lead to an up-conversion process on time scales in the range of few picoseconds to sub-nanosecond, consistent with recents experimental findings. The conjugate process is also investigated in our study, as a function of temperature and electron density . We prove that exciton to trion down-conversion process is very unlikely at low electron density and high temperature while it increases dramatically to reach few picoseconds time scale at low temperature and for electron density . Finally, our results show that conversion process occurs more rapidly in exemplary monolayer molybdenum-based dichalcogenides (MoSe2 and MoTe2) than tungsten dichalcogenides .

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Terahertz emission from multiple-microcavity exciton-polariton lasers

Terahertz emission between exciton-polariton branches in semiconductor microcavities is expected to be strongly stimulated in the polariton laser regime, due to the high density of particles in the lower state (final state stimulation effect). However, non-radiative scattering processes depopulate the upper state and greatly hinder the efficiency of such terahertz sources. In this work, we suggest a new scheme using multiple microcavities and exploiting the transition between two interband polariton branches located below the exciton level. We compare the non-radiative processes loss rates in single and double cavity devices and we show that a dramatic reduction can be achieved in the latter, enhancing the efficiency of the terahertz emission.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Disorder-perturbed Landau levels in high electron mobility epitaxial graphene

We show that the Landau levels in epitaxial graphene in presence of localized defects are significantly modified compared to those of an ideal system. We report on magneto-spectroscopy experiments performed on high quality samples. Besides typical interband magneto-optical transitions, we clearly observe additional transitions that involve perturbed states associated to short-range impurities such as vacancies. Their intensity is found to decrease with an annealing process and a partial self-healing over time is observed. Calculations of the perturbed Landau levels by using a delta-like potential show electronic states both between and at the same energies of the Laudau levels of ideal graphene. The calculated absorption spectra involving all perturbed and unperturbed states are in very good agreement with the experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Unifying the low-temperature photoluminescence spectra of carbon nanotubes: the role of acoustic phonon confinement

At low temperature the photoluminescence of single-wall carbon nanotubes show a large variety of spectral profiles ranging from ultra narrow lines in suspended nanotubes to broad and asymmetrical line-shapes that puzzle the current interpretation in terms of exciton-phonon coupling. Here, we present a complete set of photoluminescence profiles in matrix embedded nanotubes including unprecedented narrow emission lines. We demonstrate that the diversity of the low-temperature luminescence profiles in nanotubes originates in tiny modifications of their low-energy acoustic phonon modes. When low energy modes are locally suppressed, a sharp photoluminescence line as narrow as 0.7 meV is restored. Furthermore, multi-peak luminescence profiles with specific temperature dependence show the presence of confined phonon modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

One dimensional massless Dirac bands in semiconductor superlattices

Semiconductor superlattices may display dispersions that are degenerate either at the zone center or zone boundary. We show that they are linear upon the wave-vector in the vicinity of the crossing point. This establishes a realisation of massless Dirac bands within semiconductor materials. We show that the eigenstates and the corresponding Wannier functions of these superlattices have peculiar symmetry properties. We discuss the stability of the properties of such superlattices versus the electron in-plane motion. As a distinct fingerprint, the inter-subband magneto-absorption spectrum for such superlattices is discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Free carrier absorption in cascade structures due to static scatterers in the in-plane polarization

We report on the computation of the free carrier absorption induced by static scatterers in cascade structures when the electromagnetic wave propagates along the growth axis. We find that a Drude-like tail exists for this polarization. The absorption is found larger than when the wave propagates in the layer plane. Also intra-subband scattering is found more efficient than inter-subband scattering. The alloy scattering is found to be particularly efficient.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Photo-draining and slow capture of carriers in quantum dots probed by resonant excitation spectroscopy

We investigate experimentally and theoretically the resonant emission of single InAs/GaAs quantum dots in a planar microcavity. Due to the presence of at least one residual charge in the quantum dots, the resonant excitation of the neutral exciton is blocked. The influence of the residual doping on the initial quantum dots charge state is analyzed, and the resonant emission quenching is interpreted as a Coulomb blockade effect. The use of an additional non-resonant laser in a specific low power regime leads to the carrier draining in quantum dots and allows an efficient optical gating of the exciton resonant emission. A detailed population evolution model, developed to describe the carrier draining and the optical gate effect, perfectly fits the experimental results in the steady state and dynamical regimes of the optical gate with a single set of parameters. We deduce that ultra-slow Auger- and phonon-assisted capture processes govern the carrier draining in quantum dots with relaxation times in the 1 - 100 microsecond range. We conclude that the optical gate acts as a very sensitive probe of the quantum dots population relaxation in an unprecedented slow-capture regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Relevance of intra- and inter-subband scattering on the absorption in heterostructures

We analyze the absorption lineshape for inter-subband transitions in disordered quasi 2D heterostructures by an exact calculation. The intra-subband scatterings control the central peak while the tails of the absorption line are dominated by the inter-subband scattering terms. Our numerical study quantitatively assesses the magnitude of the free carrier absorption. The accuracy of different models currently used for gain/absorption is discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Unraveling of free carrier absorption for terahertz radiation in heterostructures

The relation between free carrier absorption and intersubband transitions in semiconductor heterostructures is resolved by comparing a sequence of structures. Our numerical and analytical results show how free carrier absorption evolves from the intersubband transitions in the limit of an infinite number of wells with vanishing barrier width. It is explicitly shown that the integral of the absorption over frequency matches the value obtained by the f-sum rule. This shows that a proper treatment of intersubband transitions is fully sufficient to simulate the entire electronic absorption in heterostructure THz devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Magnetic field control of intersubband polaritons in narrow-gap semiconductors

We investigate theoretically the polariton coupling between the light confined in a planar cavity and the intersubband transitions of a two-dimensional electron gas confined in semiconductor quantum wells in the presence of a vertical magnetic field. We show that in heterostructures made of non-parabolic semiconductors, the polaritons do not fit a two-level problem, since the cavity photons couple to a non-degenerate ensemble of intersubband transitions. As a consequence, the stationary polariton eigenstates become very sensitive to the vertical magnetic field, which thus plays the role of an external parameter that controls the regime of light-matter interactions. At intermediate field strength we predict that the magneto-polaritons have energy dispersions ideally suited to parametric amplification.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Magneto-Stark polaron states in semiconductor quantum wells

We study theoretically the effect of a lateral electric field on the magneto-polaron states in a quantum cascade laser under a quantizing magnetic field. We show that this problem fits the original Fano model of a discrete state coupled to a continuum, present a detailed analysis of magneto-Stark polaron resonances, and finally discuss the strong consequences on the optical characteristics of an operating structure.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Unconventional motional narrowing in the optical spectrum of a semiconductor quantum dot

Motional narrowing refers to the striking phenomenon where the resonance line of a system coupled to a reservoir becomes narrower when increasing the reservoir fluctuation. A textbook example is found in nuclear magnetic resonance, where the fluctuating local magnetic fields created by randomly oriented nuclear spins are averaged when the motion of the nuclei is thermally activated. The existence of a motional narrowing effect in the optical response of semiconductor quantum dots remains so far unexplored. This effect may be important in this instance since the decoherence dynamics is a central issue for the implementation of quantum information processing based on quantum dots. Here we report on the experimental evidence of motional narrowing in the optical spectrum of a semiconductor quantum dot broadened by the spectral diffusion phenomenon. Surprisingly, motional narrowing is achieved when decreasing incident power or temperature, in contrast with the standard phenomenology observed for nuclear magnetic resonance.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Evidence for excitonic polarons in InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We investigate the interband transitions in several ensembles of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots by using photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy under strong magnetic field. Well defined resonances are observed in the spectra. A strong anticrossing between two transitions is observed in all samples, which cannot be accounted for by a purely excitonic model. The coupling between the mixed exciton-LO phonon states is calculated using the Fröhlich Hamiltonian. The excitonic polaron energies as well as the oscillator strengths of the interband transitions are determined. An anticrossing is predicted when two exciton-LO phonon states have close enough energies with phonon occupations which differ by one. A good agreement is found between the calculations and the experimental data evidencing the existence of excitonic polarons.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Hole-LO phonon interaction in InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We investigate the valence intraband transitions in p-doped self-assembled InAs quantum dots using far-infrared magneto-optical technique with polarized radiation. We show that a purely electronic model is unable to account for the experimental data. We calculate the coupling between the mixed hole LO-phonon states using the Fröhlich Hamiltonian, from which we determine the polaron states as well as the energies and oscillator strengths of the valence intraband transitions. The good agreement between the experiments and calculations provides strong evidence for the existence of hole-polarons and demonstrates that the intraband magneto-optical transitions occur between polaron states.

cond-mat.other↗