arXiv subjects

V. Umansky

Publications and source records attributed to V. Umansky.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

An Electronic Quantum Eraser

Complementarity, the incomplete nature of a quantum measurement - a core concept in quantum mechanics - stems from the choice of the measurement apparatus. The notion of complementarity is closely related to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, but the exact relation between the two remains a source of debate. For example, knowledge of a particle's position in a double slit interference experiment will quench its wave-like nature and, vice versa, observing the wave property via interference implies lack of knowledge of the particle's path. A canonical system for exploring complementarity is the quantum eraser (QE), predominantly studied thus far in photonic systems. A QE is an interference experiment consisting of two stages. First, one of the interfering paths is coupled to a 'which path' (WP) detector - demonstrating loss of interference due to acquisition of WP information. Second, the WP information is being 'erased' by projecting the detector's wavefunction on a particular basis; this renders the WP information inaccessible, thus allowing reconstruction of the interference pattern. In this work, we present a first implementation of a QE in an electronic system. Our system consists of two identical electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) entangled via Coulomb interactions. Such novel setup has already attracted a considerable theoretical attention. With one MZI serving as a path detector and the other as the system interferometer, the visibility of the Aharonov-Bohm oscillation in the System can be controlled by the Detector. We demonstrate how a continuous change of the measurement basis, followed by post selection (via cross correlation of current fluctuations), allows a smooth transition between keeping and erasing the WP information.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Electrometry Using Coherent Exchange Oscillations in a Singlet-Triplet-Qubit

Two level systems that can be reliably controlled and measured hold promise in both metrology and as qubits for quantum information science (QIS). When prepared in a superposition of two states and allowed to evolve freely, the state of the system precesses with a frequency proportional to the splitting between the states. In QIS,this precession forms the basis for universal control of the qubit,and in metrology the frequency of the precession provides a sensitive measurement of the splitting. However, on a timescale of the coherence time, $T_2$, the qubit loses its quantum information due to interactions with its noisy environment, causing qubit oscillations to decay and setting a limit on the fidelity of quantum control and the precision of qubit-based measurements. Understanding how the qubit couples to its environment and the dynamics of the noise in the environment are therefore key to effective QIS experiments and metrology. Here we show measurements of the level splitting and dephasing due to voltage noise of a GaAs singlet-triplet qubit during exchange oscillations. Using free evolution and Hahn echo experiments we probe the low frequency and high frequency environmental fluctuations, respectively. The measured fluctuations at high frequencies are small, allowing the qubit to be used as a charge sensor with a sensitivity of $2 \times 10^{-8} e/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, two orders of magnitude better than the quantum limit for an RF single electron transistor (RF-SET). We find that the dephasing is due to non-Markovian voltage fluctuations in both regimes and exhibits an unexpected temperature dependence. Based on these measurements we provide recommendations for improving $T_2$ in future experiments, allowing for higher fidelity operations and improved charge sensitivity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Controlled dephasing of an electron interferometer with a path detector at equilibrium

Controlled dephasing of electrons, via 'which path' detection, involves, in general, coupling a coherent system to a current driven noise source. However, here, we present a case in which a nearly isolated electron puddle at thermal equilibrium strongly affects the coherence of a nearby electronic interferometer. Moreover, for certain average electron occupations of the puddle, the interferometer exhibits complete dephasing. This robust phenomenon stems from the Friedel Sum Rule, which relates a system's occupation with its scattering phases. The interferometer opens a peeping window into physics of the isolated electron puddle, which cannot be accessed otherwise.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Current Induced Nuclear Spin Depolarization at Landau Level Filling Factor nu=1/2

Hyperfine interactions between electron and nuclear spins in the quantum Hall regime provide powerful means for manipulation and detection of nuclear spins. In this work we demonstrate that significant changes in nuclear spin polarization can be created by applying an electric current in a 2-dimensional electron system at Landau level filling factor nu=1/2. Electron spin transitions at nu= 2/3 and 1/2 are utilized for the measurement of the nuclear spin polarization. Consistent results are obtained from these two different methods of nuclear magnetometry. The finite thickness of the electron wavefunction is found to be important even for a narrow quantum well. The current induced effect on nuclear spins can be attributed to electron heating and the efficient coupling between the nuclear and electron spin systems at nu=1/2. The electron temperature, elevated by the current, can be measured with a thermometer based on the measurement of the nuclear spin relaxation rate. The nuclear spin polarization follows a Curie law dependence on the electron temperature. This work also allows us to evaluate the electron g-factor in high magnetic fields as well as the polarization mass of composite fermions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

How branching can change the conductance of ballistic semiconductor devices

We demonstrate that branching of the electron flow in semiconductor nanostructures can strongly affect macroscopic transport quantities and can significantly change their dependence on external parameters compared to the ideal ballistic case even when the system size is much smaller than the mean free path. In a corner-shaped ballistic device based on a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas we observe a splitting of the commensurability peaks in the magnetoresistance curve. We show that a model which includes a random disorder potential of the two-dimensional electron gas can account for the random splitting of the peaks that result from the collimation of the electron beam. The shape of the splitting depends on the particular realization of the disorder potential. At the same time magnetic focusing peaks are largely unaffected by the disorder potential.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

NMR probing of the spin polarization of the nu=5/2 quantum Hall state

Resistively detected nuclear magnetic resonance is used to measure the Knight shift of the As nuclei and determine the electron spin polarization of the fractional quantum Hall states of the second Landau level. We show that the 5/2 state is fully polarized within experimental error, thus confirming a fundamental assumption of the Moore-Read theory. We measure the electron heating under radio frequency excitation, and show that we are able to detect NMR at electron temperatures down to 30 mK.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Upstream neutral modes in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime: heat waves or coherent dipoles

Counter propagating (upstream) chiral neutral edge modes, which were predicted to be present in hole-conjugate states, were observed recently in a variety of fractional quantum Hall states (v=2/3,v=3/5,v=8/3 & v=5/2), by measuring charge noise that resulted after partitioning the neutral mode by a constriction (denoted, as N\rightarrowC). Particularly noticeable was the observation of such modes in the v=5/2 fractional state - as it sheds light on the non-abelian nature of the state's wavefunction. Yet, the nature of these unique, upstream, chargeless modes and the microscopic process in which they generate shot noise, are not understood. Here, we study the ubiquitous v=2/3 state and report of two main observations: First, the nature of the neutral modes was tested by 'colliding' two modes, emanating from two opposing sources, in a narrow constriction. The resultant charge noise was consistent with local heating of the partitioned quasiparticles. Second, partitioning of a downstream charge mode by a constriction gave birth to a dual process, namely, the appearance of an upstream neutral mode (C\rightarrowN). In other words, splitting 'hole conjugated' type quasiparticles will lead to an energy loss and decoherence, with energy carried away by neutral modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

A Quantized $ν=5/2$ State in a Two-Subband Quantum Hall System

The evolution of the fractional quantum Hall state at filling 5/2 is studied in density tunable two-dimensional electron systems formed in wide wells in which it is possible to induce a transition from single to two subband occupancy. In 80 and 60 nm wells, the quantum Hall state at 5/2 filling of the lowest subband is observed even when the second subband is occupied. In a 50 nm well the 5/2 state vanishes upon second subband population. We attribute this distinct behavior to the width dependence of the capacitive energy for intersubband charge transfer and of the overlap of the subband probability densities.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Characterizing Neutral Modes of Fractional States in the Second Landau Level

Quasiparticles, which obey non abelian statistics, were predicted to exist in different physical systems, but are yet to be observed directly. Possible candidate states, which are expected to support such quasiparticles, are the ν=8/3, ν=5/2 and ν=7/3 fractional quantum Hall states (in the second Landau level). The non abelian quasiparticles are expected to carry charge and a unique form of a chiral neutral edge mode. Recent measurements in the ν=5/2 state detected quasiparticle charge e/4 and an upstream (opposite to charge transport) chiral neutral mode; both agreeing with a non abelian anti-Pfaffian state; although not excluding the possibility of edge reconstruction as the source for the detected upstream neutral mode and a different type of state. Here we present results of detailed measurements of charge and neutral modes in the main three quantum Hall states of the second Landau level. For the ν=8/3 state we found a quasiparticle charge e/3 and an upstream neutral mode - excluding the possibility of a non abelian Read-Rezayi state and supporting a Laughlin-like state. Such exclusion holds for the hole-conjugate ν=7/3 state as well, in which no upstream neutral mode was detected. This also proves that edge reconstruction was not present in the ν=7/3 state, suggesting its absence also in ν=5/2 state and thus supporting further the non abelian anti Pfaffian state.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Nonlinear growth with the microwave intensity in radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations

We report the observation of inverse-magnetic-field-periodic, radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures prepared in W. Wegscheider's group, compare their characteristics with similar oscillations in V. Umansky's material, and describe the lineshape variation vs. the radiation power, $P$, in the two systems. We find that the radiation-induced oscillatory $ΔR_{xx}$, in both materials, can be described by $ΔR_{xx} = -A exp(-λ/B)sin(2 πF/B)$, where $A$ is the amplitude, $λ$ is the damping parameter, and $F$ is the oscillation frequency. Both $λ$ and $F$ turn out to be insensitive to $P$. On the other hand, $A$ grows nonlinearly with $P$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Optical Probing of the Spin Polarization of the nu=5/2 Quantum Hall State

We apply polarization resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy to measure the spin polarization of a two dimensional electron gas in perpendicular magnetic field. In the vicinity of filling factor nu=5/2, we observe a sharp discontinuity in the energy of the zero Landau level emission line. We find that the splitting between the two circular polarizations exhibits a sharp drop at nu=5/2 and is equal to the bare Zeeman energy, which resembles the behavior at even filling factors. We show that this behavior is consistent with filling factor nu=5/2 being unpolarized.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Is the charge determined via shot noise measurements unique?

Charged excitations in the fractional quantum Hall effect are known to carry fractional charges, as theoretically predicted and experimentally verified. Here we report on the dependence of the tunneling quasiparticle charge, as determined via highly sensitive shot noise measurements, on the measurement conditions, in the odd denominators states v=1/3 and v=7/3 and in the even denominator state v=5/2. In particular, for very weak backscattering probability and sufficiently small excitation energies (temperature and applied voltage), tunneling charges across a constriction were found to be significantly higher than the theoretically predicted fundamental quasiparticle charges.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Phase study of oscillatory resistances in microwave-irradiated- and dark- GaAs/AlGaAs devices: Indications of a new class of integral quantum Hall effect

We report the experimental results from a dark study and a photo-excited study of the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs system at large filling factors, $ν$. At large-$ν$, the dark study indicates several distinct phase relations ("Type-1", "Type-2", and "Type-3") between the oscillatory diagonal- and Hall- resistances, as the canonical Integral Quantum Hall Effect (IQHE) is manifested in the "Type-1" case of approximately orthogonal diagonal- and Hall resistance- oscillations. Surprisingly, the investigation indicates quantum Hall plateaus also in the "Type-3" case characterized by approximately "anti-phase" Hall- and diagonal- resistance oscillations, suggesting a new class of IQHE. Transport studies under microwave photo-excitation exhibit radiation-induced magneto-resistance oscillations in both the diagonal, $R_{xx}$, and off-diagonal, $R_{xy}$, resistances. Further, when the radiation-induced magneto-resistance oscillations extend into the quantum Hall regime, there occurs a radiation-induced non-monotonic variation in the amplitude of Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations in $R_{xx}$ \textit{vs}. B, and a non-monotonic variation in the width of the quantum Hall plateaus in $R_{xy}$. The latter effect leads into the vanishing of IQHE at the minima of the radiation-induced $R_{xx}$ oscillations with increased photo-excitation. We reason that the mechanism which is responsible for producing the non-monotonic variation in the amplitude of SdH oscillations in $R_{xx}$ under photo-excitation is also responsible for eliminating, under photo-excitation, the novel "Type-3" IQHE in the high mobility specimen.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Spin incoherent transport in density-modulated quantum wires

Density, temperature and magnetic field dependences on electron transport in a quantum wire were studied. Decrease of carrier density gives a negative conductance correction on the first plateau at low temperatures. The prominent and mysterious "0.7 structure" is more clearly resolved at low densities. The thermal behavior of the conductance follows the predictions of the spin-incoherent transport. The 0.7 structure at a low density drops to $e^2/h$ in a smaller in-plane magnetic field. The features are qualitatively consistent with the theoretical predictions and provide evidence for the existence of Wigner Crystal in low density quantum wires.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Optical absorption to probe the quantum Hall ferromagnet at filling factor $ν=1$

Optical absorption measurements are used to probe the spin polarization in the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect regimes. The system is fully spin polarized only at filling factor $ν=1$ and at very low temperatures($\sim40$ mK). A small change in filling factor ($δν\approx\pm0.01$) leads to a significant depolarization. This suggests that the itinerant quantum Hall ferromagnet at $ν=1$ is surprisingly fragile against increasing temperature, or against small changes in filling factor.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Effect of Ka-band Microwave on the spin dynamics of electrons in a GaAs/Al0.35Ga0.65As heterostructure

We report experimental results of the effect of Ka-band microwave on the spin dynamics of electrons in a 2D electron system in a GaAs/Al0.35Ga0.65As heterostructure, via time-resolved Kerr rotation measurements. While the microwave reduces the transverse spin lifetime of the bulk GaAs when its frequency is close to the Zeeman splitting of the electrons in the magnetic field, it significantly increases that of electrons in the 2D electron system, from 745 ps to 1213 ps. Such a microwave-enhanced spin lifetime is ascribed to the microwave-induced electron scattering which leads to a motional narrowing of spins via DP mechanism.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Photo-current and photo-voltage oscillations in the two-dimensional electron system: screening and "anti-screening" of a potential profile

We observe in state-of-the-art GaAs based 2D electron systems microwave induced photo-current and photo-voltage oscillations around zero as a function of the applied magnetic field. The photo-signals pass zero whenever the microwave frequency is close to a multiple of the cyclotron resonance frequency. They originate from built-in electric fields due to for instance band bending at contacts. The oscillations correspond to a suppression (screening) or an enhancement ("anti-screening") of these fields by the photo-excited electrons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Tunable 0.7 conductance plateau in quantum dots

A consistent approach in forming the 0.7 structure by using a quantum dot rather than a quantum point contact is demonstrated. With this scheme, it was possible to tune on and off the 0.7 structure. The 0.7 structure continuously evolved into a normal integer conductance plateau by varying the tuning condition. Unlike the conventional 0.7 plateau, the new 0.7 structure was observed even at low electron temperatures down to 100 mK, with unprecedented flatness. From our results, it is concluded that electron interference should be taken into consideration to explain the 0.7 structure.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗