We study level mixing in the single particle energy spectrum of one of the constituent quantum dots in a vertical double quantum dot by performing magneto-resonant-tunneling spectroscopy. The device used in this study differs from previous vertical double quantum dot devices in that the single side gate is now split into four separate gates. Because of the presence of natural perturbations caused by anharmonicity and anistrophy, applying different combinations of voltages to these gates allows us to alter the effective potential landscape of the two dots and hence influence the level mixing. We present here preliminary results from one three level crossing and one four level crossings high up in the energy spectrum of one of the probed quantum dots, and demonstrate that we are able to change significantly the energy dispersions with magnetic field in the vicinity of the crossing regions.
We observed lifting of Coulomb blockade in GaAs vertical double quantum dot with low potential barriers, induced by cotunneling mechanisms at dilution fridge temperature of 10 mK. Several distinct features were observed, compared to single dot case, and appropriate explanation for them was given
We describe the electronic properties of a double dot for which the lateral coupling between the two vertical dots can be controlled in-situ with a center gate voltage (Vc) and the current flows through the two dots in series. When Vc is large and positive, the two dots merge. As Vc is made less positive, two dots are formed whose coupling is reduced. We measure charging diagrams for positive and negative source-drain voltages in the weak coupling regime and observe current rectification due to the Pauli spin blockade when the hyperfine interaction between the electrons and the nuclei is suppr…
Ge/Si structures with vertically stacked quantum dots are simulated to implement the basic elements of a quantum computer for operation with electron spin states. Elastic-strain fields are simulated using the conjugate gradient method and an atomistic model based on the Keating potential. Calculations are performed in the cluster approximation using clusters containing about three million atoms belonging to 150 coordination spheres. The spatial distributions of the strain energy density and electron potential energy are calculated for different valleys forming the bottom of the silicon conduct…
We investigate room temperature lasing of terahertz quantum cascade lasers using quantum dot chains as active material suitable for wireless communication and imaging technologies. Bandstructure calculations for such extended systems of coupled quantum dots are made possible by a novel 'linear combination of quantum dot orbitals'--method, based on single quantum dot wavefunctions. Our results demonstrate strong vertical-emission of coupled quantum dots, reduced phonon coupling and in-plane scattering, enabling room-temperature lasing with significantly reduced threshold current densities.
A gate-defined quantum dot in an InAs nanowire is fabricated on top of a quantum point contact realized in a two-dimensional electron gas. The strong coupling between these two quantum devices is used to perform time-averaged as well as time-resolved charge detection experiments for electron flow through the quantum dot. We demonstrate that the Fano factor describing shot noise or time-correlations in single-electron transport depends in the theoretically expected way on the asymmetry of the tunneling barriers even in a regime where the thermal energy $k_\mathrm{B}T$ is comparable to the singl…
Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations are studied for a parallel coupled vertical double quantum dot with a common source and drain electrode. We observe AB oscillations of current via a one-electron bonding state as the ground state and an anti-bonding state as the excited state. As the center gate voltage becomes more negative, the oscillation period is clearly halved for both the bonding and antibonding states, and the phase changes by half a period for the antibonding state. This result can be explained by a calculation that takes account of the indirect interdot coupling via the two electrodes.
In this work, we present a theoretical study of polaron states in a double quantum dot system. We present realistic calculations which combine 8 band \kp model, configuration interaction approach and collective modes method. We investigate the dependence of polaron energy branches on axial electric field. We show that coupling between carriers and longitudinal optical phonons via Fröhlich interaction leads to qualitative and quantitative reconstruction of the optical spectra. In particular, we study the structure of resonances between the states localized in different dots. We show that $p$-sh…
We investigate the emission directionality of electronic intraband (intersubband) transitions in stacked coupled quantum dots. Using a well-established eight-band $k \cdot p$ method, we demonstrate that the minor contributions from the valence band mixing into the conduction band govern the polarization and emission directionality of electronic $p$-to-$s$-type intraband transitions. Despite that the contribution from the central-cell part to the momentum matrix element is dominant, we find, the contribution from the matrix elements among the envelope functions cannot be neglected. With the hel…
A deeper sense of advantages over the planar quantum dots and the foreseen applications in the single-electron devices and quantum computation have given vertically stacked quantum dots (VSQD) a width of interest. Here, we embark on the collective excitations in a quantum wire made-up of vertically stacked, self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots in the presence of an applied magnetic field in the symmetric gauge. We compute and illustrate the influence of an applied magnetic field on the behavior characteristics of the density of states, Fermi energy, and collective (magnetoplasmon) excitations…
A theoretical investigation has been made of the magnetoplasmon excitations in a quasi-one-dimensional electron system comprised of vertically stacked, self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots. The smaller length scales involved in the experiments impel us to consider a perfectly periodic system of two-dimensionally confined InAs quantum dot layers separated by GaAs spacers. Subsequent system is subjected to a two-dimensional confining (harmonic) potential in the x-y plane and an applied magnetic field (B) in the symmetric gauge. This scheme defines virtually a system of quantum wire comprised of…
We report on the theoretical investigation of the elementary electronic excitations in a quantum wire made up of vertically stacked self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots. The length scales (of a few nanometers) involved in the experimental setups prompt us to consider an infinitely periodic system of two-dimensionally confined (InAs) quantum dot layers separated by GaAs spacers. The the Bloch functions and the Hermite functions together characterize the whole system. We then make use of the Bohm-Pines' (full) random-phase approximation in order to derive a general nonlocal, dynamic dielectric …
We report on the fabrication and characterization of a few-electron quantum dot controlled by a single gate electrode. Our device has a double-quantum-well design, in which the doping controls the occupancy of the lower well while the upper well remains empty under the free surface. A small air-bridged gate contacts the surface, and is positively biased to draw laterally confined electrons into the upper well. Electrons tunneling between this accumulation-mode dot and the lower well are detected using a quantum point contact (QPC), located slightly offset from the dot gate. The charge state of…
Electron transport properties of few-electron open quantum dots within the spin-restricted Hartree-Fock approximation are studied. The self-consistent numerical calculations were performed for a whole device, including the semi-infinite leads, without employing any phenomenological or adjustable parameters. Inclusion of the non-local Fock potential brings qualitatively new physics in comparison to the Hartree approach: electron screening decreases, resonant energy levels become less pinned to the Fermi energy and clearly correlate with conductance peaks. When coupling between the dot and leads…
Despite a rich choice of two-dimensional materials, which exists these days, heterostructures, both vertical (van der Waals) and in-plane, offer an unprecedented control over the properties and functionalities of the resulted structures. Thus, planar heterostructures allow p-n junctions between different two-dimensional semiconductors and graphene nanoribbons with well-defined edges; and vertical heterostructures resulted in the observation of superconductivity in purely carbon-based systems and realisation of vertical tunnelling transistors. Here we demonstrate simultaneous use of in-plane an…
We study three-electron energy spectra in Si/SiGe single and vertically coupled double quantum dots where all the relevant effects, such as, the Zeeman splitting, spin-orbit coupling, valley coupling and electron-electron Coulomb interaction are explicitly included. In the absence of magnetic field, our results in single quantum dots agree well with the experiment by Borselli {\em et al.} [Appl. Phys. Lett. {\bf 98}, 123118 (2011)]. We identify the spin and valley configurations of the ground state in the experimental cases and give a complete phase-diagram-like picture of the ground state con…
We report detailed transport measurements in a quantum dot in a spin-flip co-tunneling regime, and a quantitative comparison of the data to microscopic theory. The quantum dot is fabricated by lateral gating of a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure, and the conductance is measured in the presence of an in-plane Zeeman field. We focus on the ratio of the nonlinear conductance values at bias voltages exceeding the Zeeman threshold, a regime that permits a spin flip on the dot, to those below the Zeeman threshold, when the spin flip on the dot is energetically forbidden. The data obtained in three differ…
In this paper, the Coulomb-induced changes of Fano interference in electronic transport through a double quantum dot Aharonov-Bohm ring are discussed. It is found that the Coulomb interaction in the quantum dot in the reference channel can remarkably modify the Fano interference, including the increase or decrease of the symmetry of the Fano lineshape, as well as the inversion of the Fano lineshape, which is dependent on the appropriate strength of the Coulomb interaction. %But the nonzero Coulomb interaction %only leads to the emergence of two-group Fano lineshapes. When both the quantum dot …
Magnetotunneling spectroscopy was employed to probe the confinement in vertical Si/Ge double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes with regularly distributed Ge quantum dots. Their current-voltage characteristics reveal a step-like behavior in the vicinity of zero bias, indicating resonant tunneling of heavy-holes via three-dimensionally confined unoccupied hole states in Ge quantum dots. Assuming parabolic confinement we extract the strength of the confinement potential of quantum dots.
We propose a quantum dot (QD) implementation of a quantum state transfer channel. The proposed channel consists of N vertically stacked QDs with the nearest neighbor tunnel coupling, placed in an axial electric field. We show that the system supports high-fidelity transfer of the state of a terminal dot both by free evolution and by adiabatic transfer. The protocol is to a large extent insensitive to inhomogeneity of the energy parameters of the dots and requires only a global electric field.
We theoretically study the effects of bias-controlled interdot tunneling in vertically coupled quantum dots on the emission properties of spin excitons in various bias-controlled tunneling regimes. As a main result, for strongly coupled dots we predict substantial reduction of optical fine structure splitting without any drop in the optical oscillator strength. This special reduction diminishes the distinguibility of polarized decay paths in cascade emission processes suggesting the use of stacked quantum dot molecules as entangled photon-pair sources.
