We report excited-state spectroscopy on a quantum dot side-coupled to a quantum wire with accurate energy estimation. Our method utilizes periodic voltage pulses on the dot, and the energy calibration is performed with reference to the bias voltage across the wire. We demonstrate the observation of the orbital excited state and the Zeeman splitting in a single dot.
A double quantum dot is formed in a graphene nanoribbon device using three top gates. These gates independently change the number of electrons on each dot and tune the inter-dot coupling. Transport through excited states is observed in the weakly coupled double dot regime. We extract from the measurements all relevant capacitances of the double dot system, as well as the quantized level spacing.
Pulsed electrostatic gating combined with capacitive charge sensing is used to perform excited state spectroscopy of an electrically isolated double-quantum-dot system. The tunneling rate of a single charge moving between the two dots is affected by the alignment of quantized energy levels; measured tunneling probabilities thereby reveal spectral features. Two pulse sequences are investigated, one of which, termed latched detection, allows measurement of a single tunneling event without repetition. Both provide excited-state spectroscopy without electrical contact to the double-dot system.
We study a graphene double quantum dot in different coupling regimes. Despite the strong capacitive coupling between the dots, the tunnel coupling is below the experimental resolution. We observe additional structures inside the finite-bias triangles, part of which can be attributed to electronic excited dot states, while others are probably due to modulations of the transmission of the tunnel barriers connecting the system to source and drain leads.
We show that quantum dots and quantum wires are formed underneath metal electrodes deposited on a planar semiconductor heterostructure containing a quantum well. The confinement is due to the self-focusing mechanism of an electron wave packet interacting with the charge induced on the metal surface. Induced quantum wires guide the transfer of electrons along metal paths and induced quantum dots store the electrons in specific locations of the nanostructure. Induced dots and wires can be useful for devices operating on the electron spin.
Optical spectra of highly excited quantum wires at low temperatures have been studied within the dynamically screening approximation. We found a strong Fermi-edge singularity (FES) in the photoluminescence spectra. The spectral shape and FES intensity strongly depend on temperature in agreement with recent experimental results.
We investigate shot noise of photon-excited electron-hole pairs in open multi-terminal, multi-channel chaotic dots. Coulomb interactions in the dot are treated self-consistently giving a gauge-invariant expression for the finite frequency correlations. The Coulomb interactions decrease the noise, the strong interaction limit coincides with the non-interacting adiabatic limit. Inelastic scattering and dephasing in the dot are described by voltage and dephasing probe models respectively. We find that dephasing leaves the noise invariant, but inelastic scattering decreases correlations eventually…
We report on low temperature measurements in a fully tunable carbon nanotube double quantum dot. A new fabrication technique has been used for the top-gates in order to avoid covering the whole nanotube with an oxide layer as in previous experiments. The top-gates allow us to form single dots, control the coupling between them and we observe four-fold shell filling. We perform inelastic transport spectroscopy via the excited states in the double quantum dot, a necessary step towards the implementation of new microwave-based experiments.
We demonstrate that excited states in single-layer graphene quantum dots can be detected via direct transport experiments. Coulomb diamond measurements show distinct features of sequential tunneling through an excited state. Moreover, the onset of inelastic cotunneling in the diamond region could be detected. For low magnetic fields, the positions of the single-particle energy levels fluctuate on the scale of a flux quantum penetrating the dot area. For higher magnetic fields, the transition to the formation of Landau levels is observed. Estimates based on the linear energy-momentum relation o…
A quantum dot fabricated by scanning probe oxidation lithography on a p-type, C-doped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure is investigated by low temperature electrical conductance measurements. Clear Coulomb blockade oscillations are observed and analyzed in terms of sequential tunneling through the single-particle levels of the dot at T_hole = 185 mK. The charging energies as large as 2 meV evaluated from Coulomb diamond measurements together with the well resolved single-hole excited state lines in the charge stability diagram indicate that the dot is operated with a small number of confined particl…
We report tunneling spectroscopy experiments on a bilayer graphene double quantum dot device that can be tuned by all-graphene lateral gates. The diameter of the two quantum dots are around 50 nm and the constrictions acting as tunneling barriers are 30 nm in width. The double quantum dot features addition energies on the order of 20 meV. Charge stability diagrams allow us to study the tunable interdot coupling energy as well as the spectrum of the electronic excited states on a number of individual triple points over a large energy range. The obtained constant level spacing of 1.75 meV over a…
We demonstrate a novel method for measuring the discrete energy spectrum of a quantum dot connected very weakly to a single lead. A train of voltage pulses applied to a metal gate induces tunneling of electrons between the quantum dot and a reservoir. The effective tunnel rate depends on the number and nature of the energy levels in the dot made accessible by the pulse. Measurement of the charge dynamics thus reveals the energy spectrum of the dot, as demonstrated for a dot in the few-electron regime.
We have performed low-temperature transport measurements on a double quantum dot-quantum wire coupled device and demonstrated non-local control of the Kondo effect in one dot by manipulating the electronic spin states of the other. We discuss the modulation of the local density of states in the wire region due to the Fano-Kondo antiresonance, and the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida (RKKY) exchange interaction as the mechanisms responsible for the observed features.
In this paper we analyse the electronic properties of Dirac electrons in finite-size ribbons and in circular and hexagonal quantum dots made of graphene.
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of highly charged and excited electron-hole complexes in strain-free (111) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots grown by droplet epitaxy. We address the complexes with one of the charge carriers residing in the excited state, namely, the ``hot'' trions X$^{-*}$ and X$^{+*}$, and the doubly negatively charged exciton X$^{2-}$. Our magneto-photoluminescence experiments performed on single quantum dots in the Faraday geometry uncover characteristic emission patterns for each excited electron-hole complex, which are very different from the photoluminesc…
We study adiabatic charge pumping through a quantum dot placed at the junction of $N$ quantum wires. We explicitly map out the pattern of pumped charge as a function of the time-varying tunneling parameters coupling the wires to the dot and the phase between any two time varying parameters controlling the shape of the dot. We find that with $N-2$ time-independent well-coupled leads, the maximum pumped charge in the remaining two leads is strongly suppressed with increasing $N$, leading to the possibility of tuning of the pumped charge, by modulating the coupling of the $N-2$ leads.
Measurements of elastic and inelastic cotunneling currents are presented on a two-terminal Aharonov--Bohm interferometer with a Coulomb blockaded quantum dot embedded in each arm. Coherent current contributions, even in magnetic field, are found in the nonlinear regime of inelastic cotunneling at finite bias voltage. The phase of the Aharonov--Bohm oscillations in the current exhibits phase jumps of $π$ at the onsets of inelastic processes. We suggest that additional coherent elastic processes occur via the excited state. Our measurement technique allows the detection of such processes on a ba…
A consistent calculation of resonant inelastic (Raman) scattering amplitudes for relatively large quantum dots, which takes account of valence-band mixing, discrete character of the spectrum in intermediate and final states, and interference effects, is presented. Raman peaks in charge and spin channels are compared with multipole strengths and with the density of energy levels in final states. A qualitative comparison with the available experimental results is given.
The transport through a quantum wire exposed to two magnetic spikes in series is modeled. We demonstrate that quantum dots can be formed this way which couple to the leads via magnetic barriers. Conceptually, all quantum dot states are accessible by transport experiments. The simulations show Breit-Wigner resonances in the closed regime, while Fano resonances appear as soon as one open transmission channel is present. The system allows to tune the dot's confinement potential from sub-parabolic to superparabolic by experimentally accessible parameters.
We have found a novel mechanism of spectral broadening and dephasing in quantum dots (QDs) due to the coupling to longitudinal-optical (LO) phonons. In theory, this mechanism comes into play only if the complete manifold of exciton levels (including those in the wetting-layer continuum) is taken into account. We demonstrate this nontrivial dephasing in different types of QDs, using the exactly solvable quadratic coupling model, here generalized to an arbitrary number of excitonic states.
Magneto photoluminescence and excitation spectroscopy are used to probe the excited state spectrum of negatively charged trions in a InGaAs quantum dot. A single dot optical charging device allows us to selectively prepare specific few (1e, 2e) electron states and stabilize hot trions against decay via electron tunnelling from excited orbital states. The spin structure of the excited state results in the formation of metastable trions with strong optical activity that are directly observed in luminescence. Excitation spectroscopy is employed to map the excited singlet and triplet states of the…
We have studied the ground and excited state spectra of a semiconductor quantum dot for successive numbers of electron occupancy using linear and nonlinear magnetoconductance measurements. We present the first observation of direct correlation between the mth excited state of the N electron system and the ground state of the N+m electron system for m up to 4. Results are consistent with a non-spin-degenerate single particle picture of the filling of levels. Electron-electron interaction effects are also observed as a perturbation to this model. Magnetoconductance fluctuations of ground states …
From a careful study of the transcendental equations fulfilled by the bound state energies of a free particle in a quantum well, cylindrical wire or spherical dot with finite potential barrier, we have derived analytical expressions of these energies which reproduce impressively well the numerical solutions of the corresponding transcendental equations for all confinement sizes and potential barriers, without any adjustable parameter. These expressions depend on a unique dimensionless parameter which contains the barrier height and the sphere, wire or well radius.
We theoretically investigate the properties of a two-electron system confined in the three-dimensional potential of coupled quantum dots formed in a quantum wire. For this purpose, we implement a variational Heitler-London method that minimize the system energies with respect to variational parameters in electron trial wavefunctions. We find that tunneling and exchange couplings exponentially decay with increasing inter-dot distance and inter-dot barrier height. In the quasi-one-dimensional limit achieved by reducing the wire diameter, we find that the overlap between the dots decreases, which…
We study the spin filling of a semiconductor quantum dot using excited-state spectroscopy in a strong magnetic field. The field is oriented in the plane of the two-dimensional electron gas in which the dot is electrostatically defined. By combining the observation of Zeeman splitting with our knowledge of the absolute number of electrons, we are able to determine the ground state spin configuration for one to five electrons occupying the dot. For four electrons, we find a ground state spin configuration with total spin S=1, in agreement with Hund's first rule. The electron g-factor is observed…
We report on ground- and excited state transport through an electrostatically defined few-hole quantum dot in bilayer graphene in both parallel and perpendicular applied magnetic fields. A remarkably clear level scheme for the two-particle spectra is found by analyzing finite bias spectroscopy data within a two-particle model including spin and valley degrees of freedom. We identify the two-hole ground-state to be a spin-triplet and valley-singlet state. This spin alignment can be seen as Hund's rule for a valley-degenerate system, which is fundamentally different to quantum dots in carbon nan…
Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are very promising materials for quantum dots and spin-qubit implementation. Reliable operation of spin qubits requires the knowledge of Landé g-factor, which can be measured by exploiting the discrete energy spectrum on a quantum dot. However, the quantum dots realized in TMDCs has yet to reach the required quality for reliable measurement of g-factor. Quantum dot sizes reported in TMDCs so far are not small enough to observe discrete energy levels on them. Here, we report on electron transport through discrete energy levels of quantum d…
Considering Rashba quantum wires with a proximity-induced superconducting gap as physical realizations of Majorana fermions and quantum dots, we calculate the overlap of the Majorana wave functions with the local wave functions on the dot. We determine the spin-dependent tunneling amplitudes between these two localized states and show that we can tune into a fully spin polarized tunneling regime by changing the distance between dot and Majorana fermion. Upon directly applying this to the tunneling model Hamiltonian, we calculate the effective magnetic field on the quantum dot flanked by two Ma…
A noninteracting quantum-dot array side-coupled to a quantum wire is studied. Transport through the quantum wire is investigated by using a noninteracting Anderson tunneling Hamiltonian. The conductance at zero temperature develops an oscillating band with resonances and antiresonances due to constructive and destructive interference in the ballistic channel, respectively. Moreover, we have found an odd-even parity in the system, whose conductance vanishes for an odd number of quantum dots while becomes $2e^2/h$ for an even number. We established an explicit relation between this odd-even pari…
A system of an array of side-coupled quantum-dots attached to a quantum wire is studied theoretically. Transport through the quantum wire is investigated by means of a noninteracting Anderson tunneling Hamiltonian. Analytical expressions of the transmission probability and phase are given. The transmission probability shows an energy spectrum with forbidden and allowed bands that depends on the up-down asymmetry of the system. In up-down symmetry only the gap survives, and in up-down asymmetry an allowed band is formed. We show that the allowed band arises by the indirect coupling between the …
We present electronic transport measurements of a single wall carbon nanotube quantum dot coupled to Nb superconducting contacts. For temperatures comparable to the superconducting gap peculiar transport features are observed inside the Coulomb blockade and superconducting energy gap regions. The observed temperature dependence can be explained in terms of sequential tunneling processes involving thermally excited quasiparticles. In particular, these new channels give rise to two unusual conductance peaks at zero bias in the vicinity of the charge degeneracy point and allow to determine the de…
The quantum point contact (QPC) back-action has been found to cause non-thermal-equilibrium excitations to the electron spin states in a quantum dot (QD). Here we use back-action as an excitation source to probe the spin excited states spectroscopy for both the odd and even electron numbers under a varying parallel magnetic field. For a single electron, we observed the Zeeman splitting. For two electrons, we observed the splitting of the spin triplet states $|T^{+}>$ and $|T^{0}>$ and found that back-action drives the singlet state $|S>$ overwhelmingly to $|T^{+}>$ other than $|T^{0}>$. All th…
Spatially structured light fields applied to semiconductor quantum dots yield fundamentally different absorption spectra than homogeneous beams. In this paper, we theoretically discuss the resulting spectra for different light beams using a cylindrical multipole expansion. For the description of the quantum dots we employ a model based on the effective mass approximation including Coulomb and valence band mixing. The combination of a single spatially structured light beam and state mixing allows all exciton states in the quantum dot to become optically addressable. Furthermore, we demonstrate …
Charge-neutral excitons in semiconductor quantum dots have a small finite energy separation caused by the anisotropic exchange splitting. Coherent excitation of neutral excitons will generally excite both exciton components, unless the excitation is parallel to one of the dipole axes. We present a polaron master equation model to describe two-exciton pumping using a coherent continuous wave pump field in the presence of a realistic anisotropic exchange splitting. We predict a five-peak incoherent spectrum, thus generalizing the Mollow triplet to become a Mollow quintuplet. We experimentally co…
Resonant photoluminescence excitation (RPLE) spectra of a neutral InGaAs quantum dot show an unconventional line-shape that depends on the detection polarization. We characterize this phenomenon by performing polarization-dependent RPLE measurements and simulating the measured spectra with a 3-level quantum model. This analysis enables us to extract the coherence between the two exciton states from the measured spectra. The good agreement between the data and model indicates that the interference between coherent scatterings from both fine structure split exciton states is the key to understan…
Semiconductor quantum dots are converging towards the demanding requirements of photonic quantum technologies. Among different systems, quantum dots with dimensions exceeding the free-exciton Bohr radius are appealing because of their high oscillator strengths. While this property has received much attention in the context of cavity quantum electrodynamics, little is known about the degree of indistinguishability of single photons consecutively emitted by such dots and on the proper excitation schemes to achieve high indistinguishability. A prominent example is represented by GaAs quantum dots…
We develop a detailed theoretical investigation of the effect of Coulomb interaction on electron transport in arrays of chaotic quantum dots and diffusive metallic wires. Employing the real time path integral technique we formulate a new Langevin-type of approach which exploits a direct relation between shot noise and interaction effects in mesoscopic conductors. With the aid of this approach we establish a general expression for the Fano factor of 1D quantum dot arrays and derive a complete formula for the interaction correction to the current which embraces all perturbative results previousl…
We use strain to statically tune the semiconductor band gap of individual InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a GaAs photonic wire featuring very efficient single photon collection efficiency. Thanks to the geometry of the structure, we are able to shift the QD excitonic transition by more than 20 meV by using nano-manipulators to apply the stress. Moreover, owing to the strong transverse strain gradient generated in the structure, we can relatively tune two QDs located in the wire waveguide and bring them in resonance, opening the way to the observation of collective effects such as superradi…
We have studied the Fano effect in a few-electron quantum dot side-coupled to a quantum wire. The conductance of the wire, which shows an ordinal staircase-like quantization without the dot, is modified through the interference (the Fano effect) and the charging effects. These effects are utilized to verify the exhaustion of electrons in the dot. The "addition energy spectrum" of the dot shows a shell structure, indicating that the electron confinement potential is fairly circular. A rapid sign inversion of the Fano parameter on the first conductance plateau with the change of the wire gate vo…
We consider wave packet propagation in a quantum wire with either an embedded antidot or an embedded parallel double open quantum dot under the influence of a uniform magnetic field. The magnetoconductance and the time evolution of an electron wave packet are calculated based on the Lippmann-Schwinger formalism. This approach allows us to look at arbitrary embedded potential profiles and illustrate the results by performing computational simulations for the conductance and the time evolution of the electron wave packet through the quantum wire. In the double-dot system we observe a long-lived …
We present an exact solution of a supersymmetric nonlinear sigma model describing the crossover between a quantum dot and a disordered quantum wire with unitary symmetry. The system is coupled ideally to two electron reservoirs via perfectly conducting leads sustaining an arbitrary number of propagating channels. We obtain closed expressions for the first three moments of the conductance, the average shot-noise power and the average density of transmission eigenvalues. The results are complete in the sense that they are nonperturbative and are valid in all regimes and length scales. We recover…
As an application in circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) coupled systems, superconducting resonators play an important role in high-sensitivity measurements in a superconductingsemiconductor hybrid architecture. Taking advantage of a high-impedance NbTiN resonator, we perform excited-state spectroscopy on a GaAs double quantum dot (DQD) by applying voltage pulses to one gate electrode. The pulse train modulates the DQD energy detuning and gives rise to charge state transitions at zero detuning. Benefiting from the outstanding sensitivity of the resonator, we distinguish different spin-state…
How to design silicon-based quantum wires with figure of merit ($ZT$) larger than three is under hot pursuit due to the advantage of low cost and the availability of matured fabrication technique. Quantum wires consisting of finite three dimensional quantum dot (QD) arrays coupled to electrodes are proposed to realize high efficient thermoelectric devices with optimized power factors. The transmission coefficient of 3D QD arrays can exhibit 3D, 2D, 1D and 0D topological distribution functions by tailoring the interdot coupling strengths. Such topological effects on the thermoelectric propertie…
Recent numerical results for ionization of quantum dots by periodic electric field during the electric dipole spin resonance are compared with known analytical approaches. It is found that in finite-length quantum wires the numerical ionization rate is slower than the analytical one, especially for low driving field when the confinement potential strongly affects the dynamics. Still, the analytically predicted ionization times are in satisfactory correspondence with mean energy threshold times when the energy crosses the border between localized and continuum states.
Using real-time charge sensing and gate pulsing techniques we measure the ratio of the rates for tunneling into the excited and ground spin states of a single-electron AlGaAs/GaAs quantum dot in a parallel magnetic field. We find that the ratio decreases with increasing magnetic field until tunneling into the excited spin state is completely suppressed. However, we find that by adjusting the voltages on the surface gates to change the orbital configuration of the dot we can restore tunneling into the excited spin state and that the ratio reaches a maximum when the dot is symmetric.
We report a transport experiment on the Fano effect in a quantum connecting wire (QW) with a side-coupled quantum dot (QD). The Fano resonance occurs between the QD and the "T-shaped" junction in the wire, and the transport detects anti-resonance or forward scattered part of the wavefunction. While in this geometry it is more difficult to tune the shape of the resonance than in the previously reported Aharonov-Bohm-ring type interferometer, the resonance purely consists of the coherent part of transport. By utilizing this advantage, we have qualitatively explained the temperature dependence of…
We have observed the Fano-Kondo anti-resonance in a quantum wire with a side-coupled quantum dot. In a weak coupling regime, dips due to the Fano effect appeared. As the coupling strength increased, conductance in the regions between the dips decreased alternately. From the temperature dependence and the response to the magnetic field, we conclude that the conductance reduction is due to the Fano-Kondo anti-resonance. At a Kondo valley with the Fano parameter $q\approx 0$, the phase shift is locked to $π/2$ against the gate voltage when the system is close to the unitary limit in agreement wit…
The electron kinetics in nanowire-based hot-carrier solar cells is studied, where both relaxation and extraction are considered concurrently. Our kinetics is formulated in the many-particle basis of the interacting system. Detailed comparison with simplified calculations based on product states shows that this includes the Coulomb interaction both in lowest and higher orders. While relaxation rates of 1 ps are obtained, if lowest order processes are available, timescales of tens of ps arise if these are not allowed for particular designs and initial conditions. Based on these calculations we q…
We investigate the conductance of a quantum wire with two embedded quantum dots using a T-matrix approach based on the Lippmann-Schwinger formalism. The quantum dots are represented by a quantum well with Gaussian shape and the wire is two-dimensional with parabolic confinement in the transverse direction. In a broad wire the transport can assume a strong nonadiabatic character and the conductance manifests effects caused by intertwined inter- and intra-dot processes that are identified by analysis of the ``nearfield'' probability distribution of the transported electrons.
We report on single-object spectroscopic studies of a characteristic set of three resonances which appear in GaAlAs/AlAs quantum dot structures. The experiments included the photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopy, photon-correlation measurements, analysis of the linear polarization of the emission spectra as well as the PL and PLE spectroscopy performed as a function of magnetic field. The investigated resonances are assigned to three different states of a positively charged exciton: a singlet ground state, a conventional triplet state (involving an electron…
We optically probe the spectrum of ground and excited state transitions of an individual, electrically tunable self-assembled quantum dot molecule. Photocurrent absorption measurements show that the spatially direct neutral exciton transitions in the upper and lower dots are energetically separated by only ~2 meV. Excited state transitions ~8-16 meV to higher energy exhibit pronounced anticrossings as the electric field is tuned due to the formation of hybridized electron states. We show that the observed excited state transitions occur between these hybridized electronic states and different …
We report on non-linear magneto-tunneling experiments carried out in single GaAs vertical quantum dots. We show that conduction at low voltage bias can be a spectroscopic tool for both the ground state and first excited states of few electrons on the dot. Increasing voltage a large resonant peak is observed and attributed to tunneling across the quasi-continuum of higher excited states.
The observation of the Kondo effect in quantum dots has provided new opportunities to finally observe the controversial Kondo screening cloud. We study how screening cloud effects appear in the conductance through a quantum wire containing a quantum dot when the length of the wire is comparable to the size of the screening cloud.
We investigate quantum transport through a quantum dot connected to source and drain leads and side-coupled to a topological superconducting nanowire (Kitaev chain) sustaining Majorana end modes. Using a recursive Green's function approach, we determine the local density of states (LDOS) of the system and find that the end Majorana mode of the wire leaks into the dot thus emerging as a unique dot level {\it pinned} to the Fermi energy $\varepsilon_F$ of the leads. Surprisingly, this resonance pinning, resembling in this sense a "Kondo resonance", occurs even when the gate-controlled dot level …
Resonant tunneling through a quantum dot weakly coupled to Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids is discussed. The linear conductance due to sequential tunneling is calculated by solving a master equation for temperatures below and above the average level spacing in the dot. When the parameter g characterizing the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid is smaller than 1/2, the resonant tunneling process is incoherent down to zero temperature. At low temperature T the height and width of the conductance peaks in the Coulomb blockade oscillations are proportional to T^{(1/g)-2} and T, respectively. The contribution fro…
A numerically exact calculation of the T=0 transport properties of a quantum wire interacting with a lateral two-level quantum dot is presented. The wire conductance is calculated for all different states of charge and spin of the quantum dot. For a dot with two electrons we obtain an enhancement of the Kondo temperature at the singlet-triplet transition and a non-universal scaling law for its dependence upon the dot energy spacing. We find that the Kondo correlation is stronger for a dot spin $S_D \sim 1$ than for $S_D \sim 1/2$. In both cases the wire current is totally quenched by the Kondo…
The theory of exciton coupling to photons and LO phonons in quantum dots (QDs) and quantum-dot molecules (QDMs) is presented. Resonant-round trips of the exciton between the ground (bright) and excited (dark or bright) states mediated by the LO-phonon alter the decay time and yield the Rabi oscillation. The initial distributions of the population in the ground and the excited states dominate the oscillating amplitude and frequency. This property provides a detectable signature to the information stored in a qubit made from QD or QDM for a wide range of temperature T. Our results presented here…
Transient current spectroscopy is proposed and demonstrated in order to investigate the energy relaxation inside a quantum dot in the Coulomb blockade regime. We employ a fast pulse signal to excite an AlGaAs/GaAs quantum dot to an excited state, and analyze the non-equilibrium transient current as a function of the pulse length. The amplitude and time-constant of the transient current are sensitive to the ground and excited spin states. We find that the spin relaxation time is longer than, at least, a few microsecond.
Electrostatic charges placed near the interface between ordinary and topological insulators induce magnetic fields, through the so-called topological magnetoelectric effect. Here, we present a numerical implementation of the associated Maxwell equations. The resulting model is simple, fast and quantitatively as accurate as the image charge method, but with the advantage of providing easy access to elaborate geometries when pursuing specific effects. The model is used to study how magnetoelectric fields are influenced by the dimensions and the shape of the most common semiconductor nanostructur…
We investigate the tunnel rates and energies of excited states of small numbers of electrons in a quantum dot fabricated in a Si/SiGe heterostructure. Tunnel rates for loading and unloading electrons are found to be strongly energy dependent, and they vary significantly between different excited states. We show that this phenomenon enables charge sensing measurements of the average electron occupation that are analogous to Coulomb diamonds. Excited-state energies can be read directly from the plot, and we develop a rate model that enables a quantitative understanding of the relative sizes of d…
We propose that an optically excited heavy hole in a quantum dot can drive the surrounding nuclear spins into a quiescent collective state, leading to significantly prolonged coherence time for the electron spin qubit. This provides a general paradigm to combat decoherence by environmental control without involving the active qubit in quantum information processing. It also serves as a unified solution to some open problems brought about by two recent experiments [X. Xu et al., Nature 459, 1105 (2009) and C. Latta et al., Nature Phys. 5, 758 (2009)].