We study the influence of nuclei-induced frequency focusing on the mode locking of spin coherence in quantum dots subjected to a periodic train of optical pulses. In particular, we address the question whether or not nuclei-induced frequency focusing always enhances the effect of spin mode locking. We combine two advanced semiclassical approaches and extend the resulting model by including the full dynamics of the optically excited trion state. In order to reduce the discrepancy to a full quantum model, we establish a nondeterministic pulse description by interpreting each pump pulse as a measurement. Both extensions lead to significant qualitative changes of the physics. Their combination improves the description of the corresponding experiments. Importantly, we observe the emergence of dynamic nuclear polarization, i.e., the formation of a nonzero average polarization of the nuclear spin bath, leading to a certain increase of the coherence time.
We investigate electron localization and dynamical spin locking induced by ac magnetic fields in double quantum dots. We demonstrate that by tuning the ac magnetic fields parameters, i.e., the field intensity, frequency, and the phase difference between the fields within each dot, coherent destruction of tunneling (and thus charge localization) can be achieved. We show that in contrast with ac electric fields, ac magnetic fields are able to induce spin locking, i.e., to freeze the electronic spin, at certain field parameters. We show how the symmetry of the Hamiltonian determines the quasiener…
The coherent spin dynamics of resident carriers, electrons and holes, in semiconductor quantum structures is studied by periodical optical excitation using short laser pulses and in an external magnetic field. The generation and dephasing of spin polarization in an ensemble of carrier spins, for which the relaxation time of individual spins exceeds the repetition period of the laser pulses, are analyzed theoretically. Spin polarization accumulation is manifested either as resonant spin amplification or as mode-locking of carrier spin coherences. It is shown that both regimes have the same orig…
We consider the energy spectrum and the spin-parity structure of the eigenstates for a quantum dot made of a strong topological insulator. Using the effective low-energy theory in a finite-length cylinder geometry, numerical calculations show that even at the lowest energy scales, the spin direction in a topologically protected surface mode is not locked to the surface. We find "zero-momentum" modes, and subgap states localized near the "caps" of the dot. Both the energy spectrum and the spin texture of the eigenstates are basically reproduced from an analytical surface Dirac fermion descripti…
The temperature dependence of the coherence time of hole spins confined in self-assembled (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots is studied by spin mode-locking and spin echo techniques. Coherence times limited to about a μs are measured for temperatures below 8 K. For higher temperatures a fast drop occurs down to a few ns over a 10 K range. The hole-nuclear hyperfine interaction appears too weak to account for these limitations. We suggest that spin-orbit related interactions are the decisive sources for hole spin decoherence.
Quantum dots in GaAs/InGaAs structures have been proposed as a candidate system for realizing quantum computing. The short coherence time of the electronic quantum state that arises from coupling to the nuclei of the substrate is dramatically increased if the system is subjected to a magnetic field and to repeated optical pulsing. This enhancement is due to mode locking: Oscillation frequencies resonant with the pulsing frequencies are enhanced, while off-resonant oscillations eventually die out. Because the resonant frequencies are determined by the pulsing frequency only, the system becomes …
We measure the strength and the sign of hyperfine interaction of a heavy-hole with nuclear spins in single self-assembled quantum dots. Our experiments utilize the locking of a quantum dot resonance to an incident laser frequency to generate nuclear spin polarization. By monitoring the resulting Overhauser shift of optical transitions that are split either by electron or exciton Zeeman energy with respect to the locked transition using resonance fluorescence, we find that the ratio of the heavy-hole and electron hyperfine interactions is -0.09 +/- 0.02 in two QDs. Since hyperfine interactions …
The coherence of the electron spin in a semiconductor quantum dot is strongly enhanced by mode locking through nuclear focusing, where the synchronization of the electron spin to periodic pulsing is slowly transferred to the nuclear spins of the semiconductor material, mediated by the hyperfine interaction between these. The external magnetic field that drives the Larmor oscillations of the electron spin also subjects the nuclear spins to a Zeeman-like coupling, albeit a much weaker one. For typical magnetic fields used in experiments, the energy scale of the nuclear Zeeman effect is comparabl…
We investigate theoretically spin and orbital pseudospin magnetic properties of a molecular orbital in parabolic and elliptic double quantum dots (DQDs). In our many body calculation we include intra- and inter-dot electron-electron interactions, in addition to the intradot exchange interaction of `p' orbitals. We find for parabolic DQDs that, except for the half or completely filled molecular orbital, spins in different dots are ferromagnetically coupled while orbital pseudospins are antiferromagnetically coupled. For elliptic DQDs spins and pseudospins are either ferromagnetically or antifer…
We study the interplay of the Kondo effect and spin-polarized tunneling in a class of systems exhibiting uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, such as magnetic molecules, magnetic adatoms, or quantum dots coupled to a single localized magnetic moment. Using the numerical renormalization group method we calculate the spectral functions and linear conductance in the Kondo regime. We show that the exchange coupling between conducting electrons and localized magnetic core generally leads to suppression of the Kondo effect. We also predict a nontrivial dependence of the tunnel magnetoresistance on the stre…
We investigate the electronic transport through a suspended carbon-nanotube quantum dot. In the presence of a magnetic field perpendicular to the nanotube and a nearby metallic gate, two forces act on the electrons: the Laplace and the electrostatic force. They both induce coupling between the electrons and the mechanical transverse oscillation modes. We find that the difference between the two mechanisms appears in the cotunneling current.
We study the effect of Coulomb correlation on the emission properties of the ground state exciton in zincblende CdSe/ZnS core-shell and in wurtzite ZnO quantum dots. We validate our theory model by comparing results of computed exciton energies of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots to photoluminescence and scanning near-field optical microscopy measurements. We use that to estimate the diameter of the quantum dots using a simple model based on infinitely deep quantum well and compare the results with the statistics of the atomic force microscopy scans of CdSe/ZnS dots, obtaining excellent agreement. Therea…
We show that the interplay between chiral tunneling and spin-momentum locking of helical surface states leads to spin amplification and filtering in a 3D Topological Insulator (TI). Chiral tunneling across a TI pn junction allows normally incident electrons to transmit, while the rest are reflected with their spins flipped due to spin-momentum locking. The net result is that the spin current is enhanced while the dissipative charge current is simultaneously suppressed, leading to an extremely large, gate tunable spin to charge current ratio (~20) at the reflected end. At the transmitted end, t…
We investigate theoretically the electron states in HgTe quantum dots (QDs) with inverted band structures. In sharp contrast to conventional semiconductor quantum dots, the quantum states in the gap of HgTe quantum dot with an inverted band structure are fully spin-polarized, and show ring-like density distributions near the boundary of the QD and spin-angular momentum locking. The persistent charge currents and magnetic moments, i.e., the Aharonov-Bohm effect, can be observed in such QD structure and oscillate with increasing magnetic fields. This feature offers us a practical way to detect t…
The electronic structure of strain-engineered single InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots emitting in the telecommunication O band is probed experimentally by photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy. Observed resonances can be attributed to p-shell states of individual quantum dots. The determined energy difference between s-shell and p-shell shows an inverse dependence on the emission energy. The experimental data are compared with the results of confined states calculations, where the impact of the size and composition in the investigated structures is simulated within the 8-band $\mathbf{k}\cdot\math…
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…
We present measurements of transport through two tunnel-coupled quantum dots of different sizes connected in series in a strong, variable, perpendicular magnetic field. Double dot conductance was measured both as a function of magnetic field, which was varied across the filling factor nu = 4 quantum Hall plateau, and as a function of charge induced evenly on the two dots. The conductance peaks undergo position shifts and height modulations as the magnetic field is varied. These shifts and modulations form a pattern that repeats over large ranges of magnetic field and with the addition of doubl…
We consider electrons confined to a quantum dot interacting antiferromagnetically with a spin-$\half$ Kondo impurity. The electrons also interact among themselves ferromagnetically with a dimensionless coupling $\tilde{J}$, where $\tilde{J}=1$ denotes the bulk Stoner transition. We show that as $\tilde{J}$ approaches 1 there is a regime with enhanced Kondo correlations, followed by one where the Kondo effect is destroyed and impurity is spin polarized opposite to the dot electrons. The most striking signature of the first, Stoner-enhanced Kondo regime, is that a Zeeman field increases the Kond…
The main obstacle to coherent control of two-level quantum systems is their coupling to an uncontrolled environment. For electron spins in III-V quantum dots, the random environment is mostly given by the nuclear spins in the quantum dot host material; they collectively act on the electron spin through the hyperfine interaction, much like a random magnetic field. Here we show that the same hyperfine interaction can be harnessed such that partial control of the normally uncontrolled environment becomes possible. In particular, we observe that the electron spin resonance frequency remains locked…
We study the influence of a magnetic flux tube on the possibility to electrostatically confine electrons in a graphene quantum dot. Without magnetic flux tube, the graphene pseudospin is responsible for a quantization of the total angular momentum to half-integer values. On the other hand, with a flux tube containing half a flux quantum, the Aharonov-Bohm phase and Berry phase precisely cancel, and we find a state at zero angular momentum that cannot be confined electrostatically. In this case, true bound states only exist in regular geometries for which states without zero-angular-momentum co…
We study theoretically the optical response of a double quantum dot structure to an ultrafast optical excitation. We show that the interplay of a specific type of coupling between the dots and their collective interaction with the radiative environment leads to very characteristic features in the time-resolved luminescence as well as in the absorption spectrum of the system. For a sufficiently strong coupling, these effects survive even if the transition energy mismatch between the two dots exceeds by far the emission linewidth.
We examine the influence of the superconducting proximity effect on the transport properties of a T-shaped double quantum dot strongly coupled to two normal, nonmagnetic or ferromagnetic leads. We show that the two-stage Kondo screening may be suppressed or enhanced by the presence of pairing correlations, depending on the specific geometric arrangement of the device. We explain our results by invoking effective decrease of Coulomb interactions by proximity effect and find qualitatively correct description in many cases, although spin-filtering effect stemming from spin-dependent Fano-Kondo in…
Long-distance transfer of quantum information in architectures based on quantum dot spin qubits will be necessary for their scalability. One way of achieving it is to simply move the electron between two quantum registers. Precise control over the electron shuttling through a chain of tunnel-coupled quantum dots is possible when interdot energy detunings are changed adiabatically. Deterministic character of shuttling is however endangered by coupling of the transferred electron to thermal reservoirs: sources of fluctuations of electric fields, and lattice vibrations. We theoretically analyse h…
The optically induced polarization of localized electron spins in an ensemble of quantum dots (QDs) dephases due to the interaction with the surrounding nuclear spins. Despite this dephasing, the spins in the QDs can be controlled to respond coherently by applying periodic laser pulses, leading to a revival of the spin polarization before each pulse. This effect, known as spin mode locking, strongly depends on an emerging selection of certain polarizations of the nuclear spin bath which is driven to a steady state far from equilibrium. We investigate the influence of the nuclear composition in…
We develop a microscopic and atomistic theory of electron spin-based qubits in gated quantum dots in a single layer of transition metal dichalcogenides. The qubits are identified with two degenerate locked spin and valley states in a gated quantum dot. The two-qubit states are accurately described using a multi-million atom tight-binding model solved in wavevector space. The spin-valley locking and strong spin-orbit coupling result in two degenerate states, one of the qubit states being spin-down located at the $+K$ valley of the Brillouin zone, and the other state located at the $-K$ valley w…
Recent experiments on semiconductor quantum dots have demonstrated the ability to utilize a large quantum dot to mediate superexchange interactions and generate entanglement between distant spins. This opens up a possible mechanism for selectively coupling pairs of remote spins in a larger network of quantum dots. Taking advantage of this opportunity requires a deeper understanding of how to control superexchange interactions in these systems. Here, we consider a triple-dot system arranged in linear and triangular geometries. We use configuration interaction calculations to investigate the int…
The magnitude and phase of the transmission amplitude of a multi-level quantum dot is calculated for the mesoscopic regime of level spacing large compared to level width. The interplay between Kondo correlations and the influence by neighboring levels is discussed. As in the single-level case, the Kondo plateaus of magnitude and phase disappear with increasing temperature. At certain gate voltages, ``stationary'' points are found at which the transmission phase is independent of temperature. Depending on the mesoscopic parameters of the adjacent levels (like relative sign and magnitude of tunn…
We study the influence of the proximity-induced pairing on electronic version of the Dicke effect in a heterostructure, comprising three quantum dots vertically coupled between the metallic and superconducting leads. We discuss a feasible experimental procedure for detecting the narrow/broad (subradiant/superradiant) contributions by means of the subgap Andreev spectroscopy. In the Kondo regime and for small energy level detuning the Dicke effect is manifested in the differential conductance.
The physics of quantum dots is succinctly depicted by the {\it Universal Hamiltonian}, where only zero mode interactions are included. In the case where the latter involve charging and isotropic spin-exchange terms, this would lead to a non-Abelian action. Here we address an Ising spin-exchange interaction, which leads to an Abelian action. The analysis of this simplified yet non-trivial model shed some light on a more general case of charge and spin entanglement. We present a calculation of the tunneling density of states and of the dynamic magnetic susceptibility. Our results are amenable to…
The effects of interplay between spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting on weak localisation and universal conductance fluctuations in lateral semiconductor quantum dots are analysed: All possible symmetry classes of corresponding random matrix theories are listed and crossovers between them achievable by sweeping magnetic field and changing the dot parameters are described. We also suggest experiments to measure the spin-orbit coupling constants.
We study coherent oscillations in double quantum dots tunnel-coupled to metallic leads by means of full counting statistics of electron transport. If two such systems are coupled by Coulomb interaction, there are in total six (instead of only two) oscillation modes of the entangled system with interaction-dependent oscillation frequencies. By tuning the bias voltage, one can engineer decoherence such that only one of the six modes, in which the charge oscillations in both double quantum dots become synchronized in antiphase, is singled out. We suggest to use waiting-time distributions and the …
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…
We investigate theoretically the thermoelectric transport properties of a T-shaped double quantum dot side-coupled to a topological superconducting nanowire hosting Majorana zero-energy modes. The calculations are performed using the numerical renormalization group method focusing on the transport regime, where the system exhibits the two-stage Kondo effect. It is shown that the leakage of Majorana quasiparticles into the double dot system results in a half-suppression of the second stage of the Kondo effect, which is revealed through fractional values of the charge and heat conductances and g…
We investigate the influence of spin-orbit coupling on the Kondo effects in carbon nanotube quantum dots, using the numerical renormalization group technique. A sufficiently large spin-orbit coupling is shown to destroy the SU(4) Kondo effects at zero magnetic field, leaving only two SU(2) Kondo effects in the one- and three-electron Coulomb blockade valleys. On applying a finite magnetic field, two additional, spin-orbit induced SU(2) Kondo effects arise in the three- and two-electron valleys. Using physically realistic model parameters, we calculate the differential conductance over a range …
We show that the intriguing observation of noise enhancement in the charge transport through two vertically coupled quantum dots can be explained by the interplay of quantum coherence and strong Coulomb blockade. We demonstrate that this novel mechanism for super-Poissonian charge transfer is very sensitive to decoherence caused by electron-phonon scattering as inferred from the measured temperature dependence.
We study the relaxation of the exciton spin (longitudinal relaxation time $T_{1}$) in single asymmetrical quantum dots due to an interplay of the short--range exchange interaction and acoustic phonon deformation. The calculated relaxation rates are found to depend strongly on the dot size, magnetic field and temperature. For typical quantum dots and temperatures below 100 K, the zero--magnetic field relaxation times are long compared to the exciton lifetime, yet they are strongly reduced in high magnetic fields. We discuss explicitly quantum dots based on (In,Ga)As and (Cd,Zn)Se semiconductor …
We study the spin-spin interaction between quantum dots coupled through a two dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction. We show that the interplay between transverse electron focusing and spin-orbit coupling allows to dynamically change the symmetry of the effective spin-spin Hamiltonian. That is, the interaction can be changed from Ising-like to Heisenberg-like and vice versa. The sign and magnitude of the coupling constant can also be tuned.
In the usual Fock-and Darwin-formalism with parabolic potential characterized by the confining energy $\eps_o := \hbarω_o= 3.37$ meV, but including explicitly also the Zeeman coupling between spin and magnetic field, we study the combined orbital and spin magnetic properties of quantum dots in a two-dimensional electron gas with parameters for GaAs, for N =1 and N >> 1 electrons on the dot. For N=1 the magnetization M(T,B) consists of a paramagnetic spin contribution and a diamagnetic orbital contribution, which dominate in a non-trivial way at low temperature and fields rsp. high temperature …
We analyze the magnetic and transport properties of a double quantum dot coupled to superconducting leads. In addition to the possible phase transition to a $π$ state, already present in the single dot case, this system exhibits a richer magnetic behavior due to the competition between Kondo and inter-dot antiferromagnetic coupling. We obtain results for the Josephson current which may help to understand recent experiments on superconductor-metallofullerene dimer junctions. We show that in such a system the Josephson effect can be used to control its magnetic configuration.
We investigate the influence of an electromagnetic environment, characterized by a finite impedance $Z(ω)$, on the Kondo effect in quantum dots. The circuit voltage fluctuations couple to charge fluctuations in the dot and influence the spin exchange processes transferring charge between the electrodes. We discuss how the low-energy properties of a Kondo quantum dot subject to dynamical Coulomb blockade resemble those of Kondo impurities in Luttinger liquids. Using previous knowledge based on the bosonization of quantum impurity models, we show that low-voltage conductance anomalies appear at …
Solid-state qubits integrated on semiconductor substrates currently require at least one wire from every qubit to the control electronics, leading to a so-called wiring bottleneck for scaling. Demultiplexing via on-chip circuitry offers an effective strategy to overcome this bottleneck. In the case of gate-defined quantum dot arrays, specific static voltages need to be applied to many gates simultaneously to realize electron confinement. When a charge-locking structure is placed between the quantum device and the demultiplexer, the voltage can be maintained locally. In this study, we implement…
We investigate how the strain-induced nuclear quadrupole interaction influences the degree of nuclear spin polarization in self-assembled quantum dots. Our calculation shows that the achievable nuclear spin polarization in In_{x}Ga_{1-x}As quantum dots is related to the concentration of indium and the resulting strain distribution in the dots. The interplay between the nuclear quadrupole interaction and Zeeman splitting leads to interesting features in the magnetic field dependence of the nuclear spin polarization. Our results are in qualitative agreement with measured nuclear spin polarizatio…
The dynamics of an exciton-LO-phonon system after an ultrafast optical excitation in an InAs/GaAs quantum dot is studied theoretically. Influence of anharmonic phonon damping and its interplay with the phonon dispersion is analyzed. The signatures of the zone-edge decay process in the absorption spectrum and time evolution are highlighted, providing a possible way of experimental investigation on phonon anharmonicity effects.
Using inelastic cotunneling spectroscopy, we observe a 55μeV zero field splitting in the spin triplet manifold of Ge hut wire quantum dots. The degeneracy of the heavy hole triplet state is lifted since the interplay of strong spin orbit coupling and strong confinement leads to a preferred direction of the heavy-hole pseudospin. The reported effect should be observable in a broad class of strongly confined hole quantum-dot systems and needs to be considered when operating hole spin qubits.
We study the properties of a quantum dot coupled to a one-dimensional topological superconductor and a normal lead and discuss the interplay between Kondo and Majorana-induced couplings in quantum dot. The latter appears due to the presence of Majorana zero-energy modes localized at the ends of the one-dimensional superconductor. We investigate the phase diagram of the system as a function of Kondo and Majorana interactions using a renormalization-group analysis, a slave-boson mean-field theory and numerical simulations using the density-matrix renormalization group method. We show that, in ad…
We present a microscopic theory of the nonequilibrium nuclear spin dynamics driven by the electron and/or hole under continuous wave pumping in a quantum dot. We show the correlated dynamics of the nuclear spin ensemble and the electron and/or hole under optical excitation as a quantum feedback loop and investigate the dynamics of the many nuclear spins as a nonlinear collective motion. This gives rise to three observable effects: (i) hysteresis, (ii) locking (avoidance) of the pump absorption strength to (from) the natural resonance, and (iii) suppression (amplification) of the fluctuation of…
We address the question of how to model electron transport through closed Aharonov-Bohm interferometers which contain quantum dots. By explicitly studying interferometers with one and two quantum dots, we establish the connection between a tunneling-Hamiltonian formulation on the one hand and a scattering-matrix approach on the other hand. We prove that, under certain circumstances, both approaches are equivalent, i.e., both types of models can describe the same experimental setups. Furthermore, we analyze how the interplay of the Aharonov-Bohm phase and the orbital phase associated with the l…
We derive analitycally a partial diagonalization of the Hamiltonian representing a quantum dot including spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman energy on an equal footing. It is shown that the interplay between these two terms results in a renormalization of the spin-orbit intensity. The relation between this feature and experimental observations on conductance fluctuations is discussed, finding a good agreement between the model predictions and the experimental behavior.
We report measurements of the nonlinear conductance of InAs nanowire quantum dots coupled to superconducting leads. We observe a clear alternation between odd and even occupation of the dot, with sub-gap-peaks at $|V_{sd}|=Δ/e$ markedly stronger(weaker) than the quasiparticle tunneling peaks at $|V_{sd}|=2Δ/e$ for odd(even) occupation. We attribute the enhanced $Δ$-peak to an interplay between Kondo-correlations and Andreev tunneling in dots with an odd number of spins, and substantiate this interpretation by a poor man's scaling analysis.
We study electronic transport through a quantum dot in the Fermi-edge singularity regime, placing emphasis on its non-Markovian attributes. These are quantified by the behavior of current noise as well as trace-distance-based measure of non-Markovianity and found to be pronounced at low temperatures where the interplay of many-electron correlations and quantum coherence present in the system leads to significant quantum memory effects and non-Markovian dynamics.
We analyze coherent spin phenomena in triple quantum dots in triangular configuration under crossed DC and AC magnetic fields. In particular, we discuss the interplay between Aharonov-Bohm current oscillations, coherent electron trapping and spin blockade under electron spin resonance conditions. We demonstrate that, for certain field frequencies, AC magnetic fields induce an antiresonant behavior in the current, allowing for both removal and restoration of entangled spin blockaded states by tuning the AC field frequency. Our theoretical predictions indicate how to manipulate spin qubits in a …
The transport behavior of a double quantum dot side-attached to a topological superconducting wire hosting Majorana zero-energy modes is studied theoretically in the strong correlation regime. It is shown that Majorana modes can leak to the whole nanostructure, giving rise to a subtle interplay between the two-stage Kondo screening and the half-fermionic nature of Majorana quasiparticles. In particular, the coupling to the topological wire is found to reduce the effective exchange interaction between the two quantum dots in the absence of normal leads. Interestingly, it also results in an enha…
We investigate the electronic and transport properties of topological and trivial InAs$_{1-x}$Bi$_x$ quantum dots (QDs). By considering the rapid band gap change within valence band anticrossing theory for InAs$_{1-x}$Bi$_x$, we predicted that Bi-alloyed quantum wells become $\sim 30$meV gapped 2D topological insulators for well widths $d>6.9$nm $(x = 0.15)$ and obtain the $\boldsymbol{k.p}$ parameters of the corresponding Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang (BHZ) model. We analytically solve this model for cylindrical confinement via modified Bessel functions. For non-topological dots we find "geometricall…
