arXiv subjects

Thilo Hahn

Publications and source records attributed to Thilo Hahn.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Fundamentals of heterodyne wave mixing spectroscopy: a tutorial

This tutorial provides a joint theoretical and experimental overview of heterodyne wave mixing spectroscopy, focusing mainly on four-wave mixing (FWM). This powerful and versatile time-resolved nonlinear optical spectroscopy technique enables the investigation of individual localized single photon emitters, as well as microscopy of extended samples, e.g., two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. Starting with the fundamental theory of optically driven two-level systems, we motivate the utility of wave mixing spectroscopy via a discussion on homogeneous and inhomogeneous linewidths which can be independently measured using FWM. We then provide a detailed overview of the heterodyne wave mixing setup operated by one of the authors (JK) at Institut N\'eel in Grenoble, supported by theoretical modeling of the signal detection process. Throughout the paper we elaborate on important benefits of heterodyne wave mixing spectroscopy, e.g., background-free detection, measurement of the full signal field including amplitude and phase, and investigation of coupling mechanisms in few-level systems. Within the context of the latter point we discuss the significance of two-dimensional (2D) FWM spectra. This tutorial is dedicated to students, young researchers, as well as experts in the field of nonlinear spectroscopy in general and FWM in particular. It explains the fundamental concepts and building blocks required to operate a heterodyne wave mixing experiment both from the experimental and theoretical side. This joint approach is helpful for theoreticians who want to accurately and quantitatively model wave mixing signals, as well as for experimentalists who aim to interpret their recorded data.

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arXiv2024

Spin-dependent exciton-exciton interactions in a mixed lead halide perovskite crystal

We investigate the two-pulse photon echo response of excitons in the mixed lead halide perovskite crystal \sample in dependence on the excitation intensity and polarization of the incident laser pulses. Using spectrally narrow picosecond laser pulses, we address localized excitons with long coherence times $T_2 \approx 100\,$ps. This approach offers high sensitivity for the observation of excitation-induced changes in the homogeneous linewidth $\Gamma_2=2\hbar/T_2$ on the $\mu$eV scale. Through intensity-dependent measurements, we evaluate the increase of $\Gamma_2$ by 10~$\mu$eV at an exciton density of 10$^{17}$~cm$^{-3}$ being comparable with the intrinsic linewidth of 14$\,\mu$eV. We observe that the decay of the photon echo and its power dependence are sensitive to the polarization configuration of the excitation pulses, which indicates that spin-dependent exciton-exciton interactions contribute to excitation-induced dephasing. In cross-linear polarization, the decay is faster and its dependence on exciton density is stronger as compared to the co-polarized configuration. Using a two-exciton model accounting for different spin configurations we are able to reproduce the experimental results.

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arXiv2023

Controlled coherent-coupling and dynamics of exciton complexes in a MoSe$_2$ monolayer

Quantifying and controlling the coherent dynamics and couplings of optically active excitations in solids is of paramount importance in fundamental research in condensed matter optics and for their prospective optoelectronic applications in quantum technologies. Here, we perform ultrafast coherent nonlinear spectroscopy of a charge-tunable MoSe$_2$ monolayer. The experiments show that the homogeneous and inhomogeneous line width and the population decay of exciton complexes hosted by this material can be directly tuned by an applied gate bias, which governs the Fermi level and therefore the free carrier density. By performing two-dimensional spectroscopy, we also show that the same bias-tuning approach permits us to control the coherent coupling strength between charged and neutral exciton complexes.

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arXiv2022

Resonant and phonon-assisted ultrafast coherent control of a single hBN color center

Single-photon emitters in solid-state systems are important building blocks for scalable quantum technologies. Recently, quantum light emitters have been discovered in the wide-gap van der Waals insulator hBN. These color centers have attracted considerable attention due to their quantum performance at elevated temperatures and wide range of transition energies. Here, we demonstrate coherent state manipulation of a single hBN color center with ultrafast laser pulses and investigate in our joint experiment-theory study the coupling between the electronic system and phonons. We demonstrate that coherent control can not only be performed resonantly on the optical transition giving access to the decoherence but also phonon-assisted, which reveals the internal phonon quantum dynamics. In the case of optical phonons we measure their decoherence, stemming in part from their anharmonic decay. Dephasing induced by the creation of acoustic phonons manifests as a rapid decrease of the coherent control signal when traveling phonon wave packets are emitted. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the quantum superposition between a phonon-assisted process and the resonant excitation causes ultrafast oscillations of the coherent control signal. Our results pave the way for ultrafast phonon quantum state control on the nanoscale and open up a new promising perspective for hybrid quantum technologies.

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arXiv2022

Photon scattering from a quantum acoustically modulated two-level system

We calculate the resonance fluorescence signal of a two-level system coupled to a quantized phonon mode. By treating the phonons in the independent boson model and not performing any approximations in their description, we also have access to the state evolution of the phonons. We confirm the validity of our model by simulating the limit of an initial quasi-classical coherent phonon state, which can be compared to experimentally confirmed results in the semiclassical limit. In addition we predict photon scattering spectra in the limit of purely quantum mechanical phonon states by approaching the phononic vacuum. Our method further allows us to simulate the impact of the light scattering process on the phonon state by calculating Wigner functions. We show that the phonon mode is brought into characteristic quantum states by the optical excitation process.

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arXiv2022

Coherent dynamics of a single Mn-doped quantum dot revealed by four-wave mixing spectroscopy

For future quantum technologies the combination of a long quantum state lifetime and an efficient interface with external optical excitation are required. In solids, the former is for example achieved by individual spins, while the latter is found in semiconducting artificial atoms combined with modern photonic structures. One possible combination of the two aspects is reached by doping a single quantum dot, providing a strong excitonic dipole, with a magnetic ion, that incorporates a characteristic spin texture. Here, we perform four-wave mixing spectroscopy to study the system's quantum coherence properties. We characterize the optical properties of the undoped CdTe quantum dot and find a strong photon echo formation which demonstrates a significant inhomogeneous spectral broadening. Incorporating the Mn$^{2+}$ ion introduces its spin-5/2 texture to the optical spectra via the exchange interaction, manifesting as six individual spectral lines in the coherent response. The random flips of the Mn-spin result in a special type of spectral wandering between the six transition energies, which is fundamentally different from the quasi-continuous spectral wandering that results in the Gaussian inhomogeneous broadening. Here, the discrete spin-ensemble manifests in additional dephasing and oscillation dynamics.

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arXiv2021

Destructive photon echo formation in six-wave mixing signals of a MoSe$_2$ monolayer

Monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides display a strong excitonic optical response. Additionally encapsulating the monolayer with hexagonal boron nitride allows to reach the limit of a purely homogeneously broadened exciton system. On such a MoSe$_{2}$-based system we perform ultrafast six-wave mixing spectroscopy and find a novel destructive photon echo effect. This process manifests as a characteristic depression of the nonlinear signal dynamics when scanning the delay between the applied laser pulses. By theoretically describing the process within a local field model we reach an excellent agreement with the experiment. We develop an effective Bloch vector representation and thereby demonstrate that the destructive photon echo stems from a destructive interference of successive repetitions of the heterodyning experiment.

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arXiv2021

Local field effects in ultrafast light-matter interaction measured by pump-probe spectroscopy of monolayer MoSe$_{\boldsymbol 2}$

Using a novel approach to ultrafast resonant pump-probe spectroscopy we investigate the spectral shape and dynamics of absorption features related to the A exciton in an hBN/MoSe$_2$/hBN van der Waals heterostructure. While in a pure two-level system a pump-probe experiment measures the occupation or the polarization dynamics, depending on the time ordering of the pulse pair, in the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) system both quantities get thoroughly mixed by strong exciton-exciton interaction. We find that for short positive delays the spectral lines experience pronounced changes in their shape and energy and they relax to the original situation on a picosecond time scale. For negative delays distinctive spectral oscillations appear indicating the first-time observation of perturbed free induction decay for a TMD system. The comparison between co-circular and cross-circular excitation schemes further allows us to investigate the rapid inter-valley scattering. By considering a three-level system as a minimal model including the local field effect, excitation induced dephasing and scattering between the excited states we explain all phenomena observed in the experiment with excellent consistency. Our handy model can be even further reduced to two levels in the case of a co-circular excitation, for which we derive analytic expressions to describe the detected signals. This allows us to trace back the spectral shapes and shifts to the impact of local field effect and excitation induced dephasing thus fully reproducing the complex behavior of the observed effects.

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arXiv2021

Influence of local fields on the dynamics of four-wave mixing signals from 2D semiconductor systems

In recent years the physics of two-dimensional semiconductors was revived by the discovery of the class of transition metal dichalcogenides. In these systems excitons dominate the optical response in the visible range and open many perspectives for nonlinear spectroscopy. To describe the coherence and polarization dynamics of excitons after ultrafast excitation in these systems, we employ the Bloch equation model of a two-level system extended by a local field describing the exciton-exciton interaction. We calculate four-wave mixing signals and analyze the dependence of the temporal and spectral signals as a function of the delay between the exciting pulses. Exact analytical results obtained for the case of ultrafast ($\delta$-shaped) pulses are compared to numerical solutions obtained for finite pulse durations. If two pulses are used to generate the nonlinear signal, characteristic spectral line splittings are restricted to short delays. When considering a three-pulse excitation the line splittings, induced by the local field effect, persist for long delays. All of the found features are instructively explained within the Bloch vector picture and we show how the exciton occupation dynamics govern the different four-wave mixing signals.

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arXiv2020

Controlling Photoluminescence Spectra of hBN Color Centers by Selective Phonon-Assisted Excitation: A Theoretical Proposal

Color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) show stable single photon emission even at room temperature, making these systems a promising candidate for quantum information applications. Besides this remarkable property, also their interaction with longitudinal optical (LO) phonons is quite unique because they lead to dominant phonon sidebands (PSBs), well separated from the zero phonon line (ZPL). In this work we utilize this clear spectral separation to theoretically investigate the influence of phonon decay dynamics on time-dependent photoluminescence (PL) signals. Our simulations show, that by using tailored optical excitation schemes it is possible to create a superposition between the two LO modes, leading to a phonon quantum beat that manifests in the time-dependent PL signal.

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arXiv2020

Four-wave mixing dynamics of a strongly coupled quantum-dot--microcavity system driven by up to 20 photons

The Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model represents one of the simplest ways in which single qubits can interact with single photon modes, leading to profound quantum phenomena like superpositions of light and matter states. One system, that can be described with the JC model, is a single quantum dot embedded in a micropillar cavity. In this joint experimental and theoretical study we investigate such a system using four-wave mixing (FWM) micro-spectroscopy. Special emphasis is laid on the dependence of the FWM signals on the number of photons injected into the microcavity. By comparing simulation and experiment, which are in excellent agreement with each other, we infer that up to ~20 photons take part in the observed FWM dynamics. Thus we verify the validity of the JC model for the system under consideration in this non-trivial regime. We find that the inevitable coupling between the quantum dot exciton and longitudinal acoustic phonons of the host lattice influences the real time FWM dynamics and has to be taken into account for a sufficient description of the quantum dot-microcavity system. Performing additional simulations in an idealized dissipation-less regime, we observe that the FWM signal exhibits quasi-periodic dynamics, analog to the collapse and revival phenomenon of the JC model. In these simulations we also see that the FWM spectrum has a triplet structure, if a large number of photons is injected into the cavity.

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arXiv2020

Entropy Dynamics of Phonon Quantum States Generated by Optical Excitation of a Two-Level System

In quantum physics, two prototypical model systems stand out due to their wide range of applications. These are the two-level system (TLS) and the harmonic oscillator. The former is often an ideal model for confined charge or spin systems and the latter for lattice vibrations, i.e., phonons. Here, we couple these two systems, which leads to numerous fascinating physical phenomena. Practically, we consider different optical excitations and decay scenarios of a TLS, focusing on the generated dynamics of a single phonon mode that couples to the TLS. Special emphasis is placed on the entropy of the different parts of the system, predominantly the phonons. While, without any decay, the entire system is always in a pure state, resulting in a vanishing entropy, the complex interplay between the single parts results in non-vanishing respective entanglement entropies and non-trivial dynamics of them. Taking a decay of the TLS into account leads to a non-vanishing entropy of the full system and additional aspects in its dynamics. We demonstrate that all aspects of the entropy's behavior can be traced back to the purity of the states and are illustrated by phonon Wigner functions in phase space.

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arXiv2019

Influence of excited state decay and dephasing on phonon quantum state preparation

The coupling between single-photon emitters and phonons opens many possibilities to store and transmit quantum properties. In this paper we apply the independent boson model to describe the coupling between an optically driven two-level system and a discrete phonon mode. Tailored optical driving allows not only to generate coherent phonon states, but also to generate coherent superpositions in the form of Schr\"odinger cat states in the phonon system. We analyze the influence of decay and dephasing of the two-level system on these phonon preparation protocols. We find that the decay transforms the coherent phonon state into a circular distribution in phase space. Although the dephasing between two exciting laser pulses leads to a reduction of the interference ability in the phonon system, the decay conserves it during the transition into the ground state. This allows to store the phonon quantum state properties in the ground state of the single-photon emitter.

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