We present a scheme of surface-sensitive nuclear magnetic resonance in optically pumped semiconductors, where an NMR signal from a part of the surface of a bulk compound semiconductor is detected apart from the bulk signal. It utilizes optically oriented nuclei with a long spin-lattice relaxation time as a polarization reservoir for the second (target) nuclei to be detected. It provides a basis for the nuclear spin polarizer [IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 14, 1635 (2004)], which is a polarization reservoir at a surface of the optically pumped semiconductor that polarizes nuclear spins in a target material in contact through the nanostructured interfaces.
The Knight shift and the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 of Ga-71 nuclei are measured in GaAs quantum wells at Landau level filling factor nu = 1/2 using optically pumped NMR. The temperature dependences of these data are compared with predictions of a weakly-interacting composite fermion model. Our measurements of the electron spin polarization and spin dynamics near the transition between fully and partially spin-polarized ground states provide new constraints on the theoretical description of nu = 1/2.
Optically pumped nuclear magnetic resonance (OPNMR) measurements were performed in two different electron-doped multiple quantum well samples near the fractional quantum Hall effect ground state nu=1/3. Below 0.5K, the spectra provide evidence that spin-reversed charged excitations of the nu=1/3 ground state are localized over the NMR time scale of ~40 microseconds. Furthermore, by varying NMR pulse parameters, the electron spin temperature (as measured by the Knight shift) could be driven above the lattice temperature, which shows that the value of the electron spin-lattice relaxation time li…
The origin of helicity asymmetries in the optically-pumped NMR signal and hyperfine shift in GaAs is derived analytically and tested experimentally. The ratio of the optically-pumped to the equilibrium electron polarizations is a key parameter in determining both asymmetries. Variations in asymmetry with photon energy and laser power reflect variations in the local temperature and the electron spin polarization, and these two quantities are extracted from the asymmetry through a simple methodology. Other contributions to the asymmetry are considered.
A multiple-graphene-layer (MGL) structure with a stack of GLs and a highly conducting bottom GL on SiC substrate pumped by optical radiation is considered as an active region of terahertz (THz) and far infrared (FIR) lasers with external metal mirrors. The dynamic conductivity of the MGL structure is calculated as a function of the signal frequency, the number of GLs, and the optical pumping intensity. The utilization of optically pumped MGL structures might provide the achievement of lasing with the frequencies of about 1 THz at room temperature due to a high efficiency.
The Knight shift of Ga-71 nuclei is measured in two different electron-doped multiple quantum well samples using optically pumped NMR. These data are the first direct measurements of the electron spin polarization, P(nu,T)=<Sz(nu,T)>/max<Sz>, near nu=1/3. The P(T) data at nu=1/3 probe the neutral spin-flip excitations of a fractional quantum Hall ferromagnet. In addition, the saturated P(nu) drops on either side of nu=1/3, even in a Btot=12 Tesla field. The observed depolarization is quite small, consistent with an average of about 0.1 spin-flips per quasihole (or quasiparticle), a value which…
Optical pumping of excited exciton states in semiconductor quantum wells is a tool for realisation of ultra-compact terahertz (THz) lasers based on stimulated optical transition between excited (2p) and ground (1s) exciton state. We show that the probability of two-photon absorption by a 2p-exciton is strongly dependent on the polarisation of both photons. Variation of the threshold power for THz lasing by a factor of 5 is predicted by switching from linear to circular pumping. We calculate the polarisation dependence of the THz emission and identify photon polarisation configurations for achi…
We evaluate recombination of electrons and holes in optically pumped graphene associated with the interband tunneling between electron-hole puddles and calculate the recombination rate and time. It is demonstrated that this mechanism can be dominant in a wide range of pumping intensities. We show that the tunneling recombination rate and time are nonmonotonic functions of the quasi-Fermi energies of electrons and holes and optical pumping intensity. This can result in hysteresis phenomena.
This paper has been updated by the author to: arXiv:1012.0060v1 [cond-mat.mes-hall], titled "Collective Nuclear Stabilization by Optically Excited Hole in Quantum Dot"
We study the characteristics of photogenerated electron-hole plasma in optically pumped graphene layers at elevated (room) temperatures when the interband and intraband processes of emission and absorption of optical phonons play a crucial role. The electron-hole plasma heating and cooling as well as the effect of nonequilibrium optical phonons are taken into account. % The dependences of the quasi-Fermi energy and effective temperature of optically pumped graphene layers on the intensity of pumping radiation are calculated. The variation of the frequency dependences dynamic conductivity with …
Terahertz (THz) lasers on optically pumped multiple-graphene-layer (MGL) structures as their active region are proposed and evaluated. The developed device model accounts for the interband and intraband transitions in the degenerate electron-hole plasma generated by optical radiation in the MGL structure and the losses in the slot or dielectric waveguide. The THz laser gain and the conditions of THz lasing are found. It is shown that the lasers under consideration can operate at frequencies > 1 THz at room temperatures.
We analyze the surface plasmons (SPs) propagating along the optically pumped single-graphene layer (SGL) and multiple-graphene layer (MGL) structures. It is shown that at sufficiently strong optical pumping when the real part of dynamic conductivity of SGL and MGL structures becomes negative in the terahertz (THz) range of frequencies due to the interband population inversion, the damping of the THz SPs can give way to their amplification. This effect can be used in graphene-based THz lasers and other devices. Due to relatively small SP group velocity, the absolute value of their absorption co…
We report bulk, room-temperature hyperpolarization of 13C nuclear spins observed via high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The hyperpolarization is achieved by optical pumping (OP) of nitrogen vacancy defect centers in diamond accompanied by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). The technique harnesses the large optically-induced spin polarization of NV- centers at room temperature, which is many orders of magnitude greater than thermal equilibrium polarization and typically achievable only at sub-Kelvin temperatures. Transfer of the spin polarization to the 13C nuclear spins is accomplis…
Recently it was suggested that transient excitonic instability can be realized in optically-pumped two-dimensional (2D) Dirac materials (DMs), such as graphene and topological insulator surface states. Here we discuss the possibility of achieving a transient excitonic condensate in optically-pumped three-dimensional (3D) DMs, such as Dirac and Weyl semimetals, described by non-equilibrium chemical potentials for photoexcited electrons and holes. Similar to the equilibrium case with long-range interactions, we find that for pumped 3D DMs with screened Coulomb potential two possible excitonic ph…
Driven and non-equilibrium quantum states of matter have attracted growing interest in both theoretical and experimental studies in condensed matter physics. We review recent progress in realizing transient collective states in driven or pumped Dirac materials (DMs). In particular, we focus on optically-pumped DMs which have been theoretically proposed as a promising platform for observation of a transient excitonic instability. Optical pumping combined with the linear (Dirac) dispersion of the electronic spectrum offers a knob for tuning the effective interaction between the photoexcited elec…
We report experimental evidence of longitudinal optical (LO) phonon-intersubband polariton scattering processes under resonant injection of light. The scattering process is resonant with both the initial (upper polariton) and final (lower polariton) states and is induced by the interaction of confined electrons with longitudinal optical phonons. The system is optically pumped with a mid-IR laser tuned between 1094 cm-1 and 1134 cm-1 (lambda=9.14 um and lambda=8.82 um). The demonstration is provided for both GaAs/AlGaAs and InGaAs/AlInAs doped quantum well systems whose intersubband plasmon lie…
Pauli blockade occurs when the excited electrons fill up the states near the conduction bands and block subsequent absorption in semiconductors, and has been widely applied in mode-locking for passively-pulsed-laser systems. In this letter, we report the first direct observation that the Pauli blockade is broken by ultrafast cooling of hot electrons in optically-pumped graphene. With femtosecond spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the time scale to excite an electron (~100 fs) is of the same order as that of the electron decay via electron-electron scattering, which allows the electron excitatio…
Highly polarized nuclear spins within a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) induce effective magnetic (Overhauser) fields of up to several Tesla acting on the electron spin or up to a few hundred mT for the hole spin. Recently this has been recognized as a resource for intrinsic control of QD-based spin quantum bits. However, only static long-lived Overhauser fields could be used. Here we demonstrate fast redirection on the microsecond time-scale of Overhauser fields of the order of 0.5 T experienced by a single electron spin in an optically pumped GaAs quantum dot. This has been achieved using ful…
We present an enhanced diffusion of nuclear spin polarization in fractional quantum Hall domain phases at $ν= 2/3$. Resistively-detected NMR mediated by electrically driven domain-wall motion is used as a probe of local nuclear polarization, manifesting pumping-dependent signal saturation behavior. This reveals that a relatively homogeneous polarization profile spreads even to places distant from pinning centers of the domain walls. We attribute this to the fact that the pumped nuclear polarization near the domain walls rapidly diffuses into the domains where nuclei experience Knight fields on…
The ability to optically initialize the electronic spin of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has long been considered a valuable resource to enhance the polarization of neighboring nuclei, but efficient polarization transfer to spin species outside the diamond crystal has proven challenging. Here we demonstrate variable-magnetic-field, microwave-enabled cross-polarization from the NV electronic spin to protons in a model viscous fluid in contact with the diamond surface. Slight changes in the cross-relaxation rate as a function of the wait time between successive repetitions of the t…
Recent demonstrations of optically pumped lasers based on GeSn alloys put forward the prospect of efficient laser sources monolithically integrated on a Si photonic platform. For instance, GeSn layers with 12.5% of Sn were reported to lase at 2.5 um wavelength up to 130 K. In this work, we report a longer emitted wavelength and a significant improvement in lasing temperature. The improvements resulted from the use of higher Sn content GeSn layers of optimized crystalline quality, grown on graded Sn content buffers using Reduced Pressure CVD. The fabricated GeSn micro-disks with 13% and 16% of …
High quality CdS nanowires suspended in air were optically pumped both below and above the lasing threshold. The polarization of the pump laser was varied while emission out of the end facet of the nanowire was monitored in a 'head-on' measurement geometry. Highest pump-efficiency and most efficient absorption of the pump radiation are demonstrated for an incident electric field being polarized parallel to the nanowire axis. This polarization dependence, which was observed both above the lasing threshold and in the regime of amplified spontaneous emission, is caused by an enhanced absorption f…
A tabletop Optically Pumped Magnetometer setup for the monitoring of magnetic nanoparticle clustering and immobilization using Thermal Noise Magnetometry
Here, we introduce and experimentally demonstrate optical amplification and stimulated emission from a single optically pumped molecular tunneling junction of a scanning tunneling microscope. The gap between a sharp gold tip and a flat gold substrate covered with a self-assembled monolayer of 5-chloro-2-mercaptobenzothiazole molecules forms an extremely small optical gain medium. When electrons tunnel from the molecules highest occupied molecular orbital to the tip, holes are left behind. These can be repopulated by hot electrons induced by the laser-driven plasmon oscillation on the metal sur…
We demonstrate the first optically pumped sub-300 nm UV laser structures grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on single-crystal bulk AlN. The edge-emitting laser structures fabricated with the AlN/AlGaN heterostructures exhibit multi-mode emission with peak gain at ~284 nm. Having the goal of electrically injected, continuous wave deep-UV AlGaN laser diodes in mind, with its intrinsic material challenges of achieving sufficient optical gain, the optical cavity loss of a laser diode should be minimized. We derive an expression to quantify the effect of mirror imperfections, including…
We theoretically investigate dynamic nuclear spin polarization in a self-assembled quantum dot pumped optically by two laser beams. With the assumption that a noncollinear interaction between the hole spin and nuclear spins leads to nuclear spin polarization, we find that both weak and strong nuclear spin polarizations can arise, depending on the intensities and central frequencies of the lasers. For weak nuclear spin polarization, we use a perturbation method to show that the distribution of the nuclear spin Overhauser field may become significantly narrower. Using Monte Carlo simulations to …
We observe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in the fractional quantum Hall regime at Landau level filling factor $ν=2/3$ from simultaneous measurement of longitudinal resistance and photoluminescence (PL). The dynamic nuclear spin polarization is induced by applying a huge electronic current at the spin phase transition point of $ν=2/3$. The NMR spectra obtained from changes in resistance and PL intensity are qualitatively the same; that is, the Knight shift (spin polarized region) and zero-shift (spin unpolarized region) resonances are observed in both. The observed change in PL intensity is …
We investigate quasiparticles in bilayer quantum Hall systems around total filling factor nu =1 by current-pumped and resistively detected NMR. The measured Knight shift reveals that the spin component in the quasiparticle increases continuously with $Δ_{SAS}$. Combined with results for the pseudospin component obtained by activation gap measurements, this demonstrates that both spin and pseudospin are contained in a quasiparticle at intermediate $Δ_{SAS}$, providing evidence for the existence of the spin-pseudospin intermixed SU(4) skyrmion. Nuclear spin relaxation measurements show that the …
The integration of efficient, miniaturized group IV lasers into CMOS architecture holds the key to the realization of fully functional photonic-integrated circuits. Despite several years of progress, however, all group IV lasers reported to date exhibit impractically high thresholds owing to their unfavorable bandstructures. Highly strained germanium with its fundamentally altered bandstructure has emerged as a potential low-threshold gain medium, but there has yet to be any successful demonstration of lasing from this seemingly promising material system. Here, we demonstrate a low-threshold, …
We report a two-step process to obtain smooth and vertical {10-10} m-plane facets in AlGaN/GaN separate confinement heterostructures designed to fabricate UV lasers emitting at 355 nm. The process consists in a dry etching by RIE-ICP combined with a crystallographic-selective wet etching process using a KOH-based solution. The anisotropy in the wet etching rates between the different crystallographic planes of the AlGaN structure, allows the fabrication of flat and parallel facets without a degradation of the multilayered ensemble. The optical performance of the lasers display a major improved…
We demonstrate that bistability of the nuclear spin polarization in optically pumped semiconductor quantum dots is a general phenomenon possible in dots with a wide range of parameters. In experiment, this bistability manifests itself via the hysteresis behavior of the electron Zeeman splitting as a function of either pump power or external magnetic field. In addition, our theory predicts that the nuclear polarization can strongly influence the charge dynamics in the dot leading to bistability in the average dot charge.
We investigate the electron spin states in the bilayer quantum Hall system at total Landau level filling factor nu =2 exploiting current-pumped and resistively detected NMR. The measured Knight shift, KS, of 75As nuclei reveals continuous variation of the out-of-plane electronic spin polarization between nearly full and zero as a function of density imbalance. Nuclear spin relaxation measurements indicate a concurrent development of an in-plane spin component. These results provide direct information on the spin configuration in this system and comprise strong evidence for the spin canting sug…
We report optically detected nuclear magnetic resonance (ODNMR) measurements on small ensembles of nuclear spins in single GaAs quantum dots. Using ODNMR we make direct measurements of the inhomogeneous Knight field from a photo-excited electron which acts on the nuclei in the dot. The resulting shifts of the NMR peak can be optically controlled by varying the electron occupancy and its spin orientation, and lead to strongly asymmetric lineshapes at high optical excitation. The all-optical control of the NMR lineshape will enable position-selective control of small groups of nuclear spins in a…
Floquet states have been subject of great research interest since Zel'dovich's pioneering work on the quasienergy of a quantum system subject to a temporally periodic action. Nowadays periodic modulation of the system Hamiltonian is mostly achieved by microwaves leading to novel exciting phenomena in condensed matter physics: Floquet topological insulators, chiral edge states etc. On the other hand, nonthermal optical control of magnetization at picosecond time scales is currently a highly appealing research topic for potential applications in magnetic data storage. Here we combine these two c…
NV-diamonds have attracted keen interest for nanoscale sensing and spin manipulation. In particular, the non-equilibrium electron spin polarization after optical excitation of single NV centers has successfully been transferred to nuclear spin baths in the surrounding of the defects. However, these experiments need to be extended to NV-ensembles which have promising practical applications in the hyperpolarization of bulk sample volumes for NMR signal enhancement. Here, we use a dense, shallow ensemble of NV-centers to demonstrate polarization transfer to nuclear spins in a well-defined composi…
Resonant cooling of different nuclear isotopes manifested in optically-induced nuclear magnetic resonances (NMR) is observed in n-doped CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te and ZnSe/(Zn,Mg)Se quantum wells and for donor-bound electrons in ZnSe:F and GaAs epilayers. By time-resolved Kerr rotation used in the regime of resonant spin amplification we can expand the range of magnetic fields where the effect can be observed up to nuclear Larmor frequencies of 170 kHz. The mechanism of the resonant cooling of the nuclear spin system is analyzed theoretically. The developed approach allows us to model the resonant spin am…
After initial proof-of-principle demonstrations, optically pumped nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres in diamond have been proposed as a non-invasive platform to achieve hyperpolarisation of nuclear spins in molecular samples over macroscopic volumes and enhance the sensitivity in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. In this work, we model the process of polarisation of external samples by NV centres and theoretically evaluate their performance in a range of scenarios. We find that average nuclear spin polarisations exceeding 10% can in principle be generated over macroscopic sample volumes…
We use above-bandgap optical excitation, via a 1047 nm laser, to hyperpolarize the $^{31}$P spins in low-doped (N$_D =6\times10^{15}$ cm$^{-3}$) natural abundance silicon at 4.2 K and 6.7 T, and inductively detect the resulting NMR signal. The $30$ kHz spectral linewidth observed is dramatically larger than the 600 Hz linewidth observed from a $^{28}$Si-enriched silicon crystal. We show that the observed broadening is consistent with previous ENDOR results showing discrete isotope mass effect contributions to the donor hyperfine coupling. A secondary source of broadening is likely due to varia…
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…
Low thermal polarization of nuclear spins is a primary sensitivity limitation for nuclear magnetic resonance. Here we demonstrate optically pumped (microwave-free) nuclear spin polarization of $^{13}\mathrm{C}$ and $^{15}\mathrm{N}$ in $^{15}\mathrm{N}$-doped diamond. $^{15}\mathrm{N}$ polarization enhancements up to $-2000$ above thermal equilibrium are observed in the paramagnetic system $\mathrm{N_s}^{0}$. Nuclear spin polarization is shown to diffuse to bulk $^{13}\mathrm{C}$ with NMR enhancements of $-200$ at room temperature and $-500$ at $\mathrm{240~K}$, enabling a route to microwave-f…
We study the optically pumped nuclear spin polarization in a single GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well in the quantum Hall system. We apply resistive detection via the contact hyperfine interaction, which provides high sensitivity and selectivity, to probe a small amount of polarized nuclear spins in a single well. The properties of the optical nuclear spin polarization are clearly observed. We theoretically discuss the nuclear spin dynamics accompanied with doped electrons to analyze the experimental data. The optical nuclear polarization spectra exhibit electron-spin-resolved lowest Landau level inter…
Efficient polarization of organic molecules is of extraordinary relevance when performing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and imaging. Commercially available routes to dynamical nuclear polarization (DNP) work at extremely low-temperatures, thus bringing the molecules out of their ambient thermal conditions and relying on the solidification of organic samples. In this work we investigate polarization transfer from optically-pumped nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond to external molecules at room temperature. This polarization transfer is described by both an extensive analytical analysis and …
The nature of the nano-scale environment presents a major challenge for solid-state implementation of spin-based qubits. In this work, a single electron spin in an optically pumped nanometer-sized III-V semiconductor quantum dot is used to control a macroscopic nuclear spin of several thousand nuclei, freezing its decay and leading to spin life-times exceeding 100 seconds at low temperatures. Few-millisecond-fast optical initialization of the nuclear spin is followed by a slow decay exhibiting random telegraph signals at long delay times, arising from low probability electron jumps out of the …
