We observe dynamic nuclear polarization in a GaAs double dot system using two electrons that are never exchanged with the reservoir. By periodically bringing the system to the mixing point where the singlet and the triplet T+ states are degenerate, we observe that an excess polarization is built up. Surprisingly, the pumping procedure is most effective when the total duty cycle equals a multiple of the Larmor precession time of the Ga and As nuclei. The induced polarization corresponds to cooling of the underlying nuclear system. The dependence on the dwell time at the mixing point is found to be non-monotonic.
We study nuclear spin polarization in the quantum Hall regime through the optically pumped electron spin polarization in the lowest Landau level. The nuclear spin polarization is measured as a nuclear magnetic field $B_N$ by means of the sensitive resistive detection. We find the dependence of $B_N$ on filling factor unmonotonous. The comprehensive measurements of $B_N$ with the help of the circularly polarized photoluminescence measurements indicate the participation of the photo-excited complexes i.e., the exciton and trion (charged exciton), in nuclear spin polarization. On the basis of a n…
Semiconductor quantum dots provide a spin-coupled system of an electron and nuclei via enhanced hyperfine interaction. We showed that the nuclear spin polarization in single quantum dots can have three stable branches under a longitudinal magnetic field. The states were accompanied by hysteresis loops around the boundaries of each branch with a change in the excitation condition. To explain these findings, we incorporated the electron spin relaxation caused by the nuclear spin fluctuation into the previously-studied dynamic nuclear spin polarization mechanism. The model reproduces the new feat…
The limiting nuclear polarization in a quantum dot under optical electron-spin orientation and applicability of the box-model of the electron-nuclear dynamics
We study the effect of bias voltage on the nuclear spin polarization of a ballistic wire, which contains electrons and nuclei interacting via hyperfine interaction. In equilibrium, the localized nuclear spins are helically polarized due to the electron-mediated Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction. Focusing here on non-equilibrium, we find that an applied bias voltage induces a uniform polarization, from both helically polarized and unpolarized spins available for spin flips. Once a macroscopic uniform polarization in the nuclei is established, the nuclear spin helix rotates with f…
The control of nuclear spins in quantum dots is essential to explore their many-body dynamics and exploit their prospects for quantum information processing. We present a unique combination of dynamic nuclear spin polarization and electric-dipole-induced spin resonance in an electrostatically defined double quantum dot (DQD) exposed to the strongly inhomogeneous field of two on-chip nanomagnets. Our experiments provide direct and unrivaled access to the nuclear spin polarization distribution and allow us to establish and characterize multiple fixed points. Further, we demonstrate polarization …
As the number of spins in an ensemble is reduced, the statistical uctuations in its polarization eventually exceed the mean thermal polarization. This transition has now been surpassed in a number of recent nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, which achieve nanometer-scale detection volumes. Here, we measure nanometer- scale ensembles of nuclear spins in a KPF6 sample using magnetic resonance force microscopy. In particular, we investigate the transition between regimes dominated by thermal and statistical nuclear polarization. The ratio between the two types of polarization provides a meas…
We theoretically investigate the dynamical nuclear spin polarization in a quantum point contact (QPC) at finite magnetic field. We find that when the QPC is tuned to be spin selective, at the conductance of e^2/h, a finite bias induces a dipole-like (spatially anti-symmetric) nuclear polarization: at the QPC center the polarization is zero, while, for GaAs parameters, the nuclear spins down (up) are induced on the source (drain) side. We predict that the dipole-like polarization pattern can be distinguished from a uniform polarization due to a qualitatively different response of the QPC conduc…
We numerically investigate the encoding and retrieval processes for a quantum memory realized in a semiconductor quantum dot, by focusing on the effect of inhomogeneously polarized nuclear spins whose polarization depends on the local hyperfine coupling strength. We find that the performance of the quantum memory is significantly improved by the inhomogeneous nuclear polarization, as compared to the homogeneous one. Moreover, the narrower the nuclear polarization distribution is, the better the performance of the quantum memory is. We ascribe the performance improvement to the full harnessing …
Nuclear spin polarization induced by hyperfine interaction and the Edelstein effect due to strong spin-orbit interaction is investigated by quantum transport in Bi(111) thin film samples. The Bi(111) films are deposited on mica by van der Waals epitaxial growth. The Bi(111) films show micrometer-sized triangular islands with 0.39 nm step height, corresponding to the Bi(111) bilayer height. At low temperatures a high current density is applied to generate a non-equilibrium carrier spin polarization by the Edelstein effect at the Bi(111) surface, which then induces dynamic nuclear polarization b…
We experimentally demonstrate how coherent population trapping (CPT) for donor-bound electron spins in GaAs results in autonomous feedback that prepares stabilized states for the spin polarization of nuclei around the electrons. CPT was realized by excitation with two lasers to a bound-exciton state. Transmission studies of the spectral CPT feature on an ensemble of electrons directly reveal the statistical distribution of prepared nuclear spin states. Tuning the laser driving from blue to red detuned drives a transition from one to two stable states. Our results have importance for ongoing re…
We theoretically study the interplay of spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions in dynamical nuclear polarization in two-electron semiconductor double quantum dots near the singlet $(S)$ - triplet $(T_+)$ anticrossing. The goal of the scheme under study is to extend the singlet $(S)$ - triplet $(T_0)$ qubit decoherence time $T_2^{*}$ by dynamically transferring the polarization from the electron spins to the nuclear spins. This polarization transfer is achieved by cycling the electron spins over the $S-T_+$ anticrossing. Here, we investigate, both quantitatively and qualitatively, how this hyper…
Repeated injection of spin polarized carriers in a quantum dot leads to the polarization of nuclear spins, a process known as dynamic nuclear spin polarization (DNP). Here, we report the first observation of p-shell carrier assisted DNP in single QDs at zero external magnetic field. The nuclear field - measured by using the Overhauser shift of the singly charged exciton state of the QDs - continues to increase, even after the carrier population in the s-shell saturates. This is also accompanied by an abrupt increase in nuclear spin buildup time as p-shell emission overtakes that of the s-shell…
Optical pump-probe techniques are used to generate and measure electron spin polarization in a gallium arsenide epilayer in which the electron spin coherence time exceeds the mode-locked laser repetition period. Resonant spin amplification occurs at magnetic fields at which the electron spin polarization excited by successive laser pulses add constructively. Measurements of Kerr rotation as a function of applied magnetic field reveal nuclear spin polarization that aligns either with or against the external magnetic field depending on whether the applied magnetic field is being decreased or inc…
Optical pump-probe time- and magnetic-field-resolved Kerr rotation measurements provide a window into the mechanisms that generate dynamic nuclear polarization in bulk gallium arsenide. Previously, we have reported an unexpected dependence of the direction of the nuclear polarization on the sweep direction of the applied external magnetic field. In this paper, we present numerical calculations based on a model for this nuclear polarization due to the optical orientation and optical Stark effect produced by a train of ultrafast optical pulses. We demonstrate the correspondence of the model to o…
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 studie…
Self-sustaining dynamical nuclear polarization oscillations in quantum dots
对自旋阻塞的双量子点的早期实验揭示了在存在静态（dc）源极-漏极偏置的情况下令人惊讶的鲁棒的大幅度电流振荡[参见例如K.奥诺，S. Tarucha，Phys. Rev. Lett. 92，256803（2004）]。实验证据有力地表明，动态核极化起着核心作用，但其机制仍然是一个谜。在这里，我们介绍了一个最小的，虽然现实的耦合电子和核自旋动力学模型，支持强大的自持振荡。我们的机制依赖于一个核自旋模拟的隧穿磁阻现象（自旋相关的隧穿率在一个不均匀的Overhauser场的存在下）和核自旋扩散，这支配核极化的空间分布的动力学。在实验中观察到的极长的振荡周期（高达数百秒），以及垂直和横向量子点结构之间的现象学差异，自然解释了所提出的框架。
Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) presently stands as the preferred strategy to enhance the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, but its application relies on the use of high-frequency microwave to manipulate electron spins, an increasingly demanding task as the applied magnetic field grows. Here we investigate the dynamics of a system hosting a polarizing agent formed by two distinct paramagnetic centers near a level anti-crossing. We theoretically show that nuclear spins polarize efficiently under a cyclic protocol that combines alternating thermal jumps and radio-frequen…
Nuclear spin coherence and relaxation dynamics of all constituent isotopes of an n-doped CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum well structure are studied employing optically detected nuclear magnetic resonance. Using time-resolved pump-probe Faraday ellipticity, we generate and detect the coherent spin dynamics of the resident electrons. The photogenerated electron spin polarization is transferred into the nuclear spin system, which becomes polarized and acts back on the electron spins as the Overhauser field. Under the influence of resonant radio frequency pulses, we trace the coherent spin dynamics of the …
We report on theoretical and experimental study of the spin polarization recovery and Hanle effect for the charge carriers interacting with the fluctuating nuclear spins in the semiconductor structures. We start the theoretical description from the simplest model of static and isotropic nuclear spin fluctuations. Then we describe the modification of the polarization recovery and Hanle curves due to the anisotropy of the hyperfine interaction, finite nuclear spin correlation time, and the strong pulsed spin excitation. For the latter case, we describe the resonance spin amplification effect in …
Comments on "Anomalous-Filling-Factor-Dependent Nuclear Spin Polarization in a 2D Electron System: Quantum Hall Effect" by J.H.Smet, K. von Klitzing et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 086802(2004)
Topological insulators are promising for spintronics and related technologies due to their spin-momentum-locked edge states, which are protected by time-reversal symmetry. In addition to the unique fundamental physics that arises in these systems, the potential technological applications of these protected states has also been driving TI research over the past decade. However, most known topological insulator materials naturally contain spinful nuclei, and their hyperfine coupling to helical edge states intrinsically breaks time-reversal symmetry, removing the topological protection and enabli…
We studied the zero-field dynamic nuclear spin polarization in a single In$_{0.75}$Al$_{0.25}$As/Al$_{0.3}$Ga$_{0.7}$As quantum dot. Even without any external magnetic field, the positive trion excited by the circularly-polarized light generated an Overhauser field of up to $\sim$0.8 T. From the excitation power dependences of the Overhauser field and degree of circular polarization of the photoluminescence spectra, the relation between the Overhauser field and Knight field under zero external magnetic field was revealed clearly. In addition, we found that the nuclear depolarization rate decre…
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 extern…
