Splitting and storing excitons in strained coupled self-assembled quantum dots

We present a novel self-assembled quantum dot structure designed to spatially separate and store photo-generated electrons and holes in pairs of strain coupled quantum dots. The spatial separation of electron–hole pairs into quantum dots and strain-induced quantum dots has been investigated and verified by photoluminescence experiments. Results from time-resolved PL demonstrates that at low temperatures (3 K) the electron–hole pair can be stored for several seconds.     

Charged magneto-exciton states in semiconductor quantum dots

By embedding a layer of self-assembled quantum dots into a field-effect structure, we are able to control the exciton charge in a single dot. We present the results of photoluminescence experiments as a function of both charge and magnetic field. The results demonstrate a hierarchy of energy scales determined by quantization, the direct Coulomb interaction, the electron–electron exchange interaction, and the electron–hole exchange interaction. For excitons up to the triply charged exciton, the behavior can be understood from a model assuming discrete levels within the quantum dot. For the triply charged exciton, this is no longer the case. In a magnetic field, we discover a coherent interaction with the continuum states, the Landau levels associated with the wetting layer.     

Micropillar resonator in a magnetic field: Zero and finite temperature cases

In this work, we present a theoretical study of a quantum dot–microcavity system which includes a constant magnetic field in the growth direction of the micropillar. First, we study the zero temperature case by means of a self-consistent procedure with a trial function composed of a coherent photon field and a BCS function for the electron–hole pairs. The dependence of the ground state energy on the magnetic field and the number of polaritons is found. We show that the magnetic field can be used as a control parameter for the photon number, and we make explicit the scaling of the total energy with the number of polaritons. Next, we study this problem at finite temperatures and obtain the scaling of the critical temperature with the number of polaritons.     

Excitonic and electronic states in ellipsoidal and semiellipsoidal quantum dots

A simple model is assumed to obtain analytical solutions of the Schrödinger equation in prolate spheroidal coordinates for the electron–hole pair confined to an ellipsoidal quantum dot (EQD) or to a semiellipsoidal quantum dot (SEQD). Numerical calculations are carried out to find the excitonic states as well as the electronic states decoupled from holes in such geometries. Their dependence on the inverse of the eccentricity of the ellipsoidal surfaces for different interfocal distances is investigated. The binding energy and the recombination radiation energy are calculated for GaAs and InAs QDs; the same dependences are also investigated. Comparison with previous calculations and experiments shows a good order-of-magnitude agreement. It is demonstrated that some of the available states in an EQD are forbidden in the SEQD and, consequently, some of the photoluminescence lines observed in the former case are suppressed in the latter geometry.     

Exciton-Boson Formalism in the Theory of Laser-Excited Semiconductors and Its Application in Coherent Four-Wave-Mixing Spectroscopy

By the use of a bosonization transformation and group-theoretical arguments, the Hamiltonian of an electron–hole–photon system in a laser-excited direct two-band semiconductor is transcribed into that of an exciton–photon system with the particle spins rigorously taken into consideration. It is shown that the third-order optical nonlinearities in the spectral region below the band edge have their microscopic origin in two-exciton correlations, which are expressed in terms of the effective exciton–exciton and anharmonic exciton–photon interactions. The dependence of the interparticle interactions on the spin states of quasiparticles is behind the polarization dependence of the semiconductor nonlinear optical response. On the example of the system of heavy hole excitons in quantum wells, grown from compounds with the zinc blende type of symmetry, it is demonstrated that the effective exciton–exciton interaction in two-exciton states with nonzero total spin is repulsive, while in zero-spin states it is attractive, which may result in the biexciton formation. The derived Heisenberg equations of motion for the exciton and biexciton operators form the basis for a theoretical study of the coherent four-wave-mixing in GaAs and ZnSe quantum wells. It is readily apparent from the equations that in different polarization configurations the coherent four-wave-mixing is generated by different ingredients of two-exciton Coulomb correlations: in the co-circular configuration, it is the interexciton repulsion, in the cross-linear configuration, the formation of the biexciton and its coupling to excitons, and in the collinear configuration, both of them jointly. The obtained expressions for the time-resolved and frequency-resolved four-wave-mixing signals adequately describe the main characteristics and various details of wave mixing phenomena, including a biexciton signature in the appropriate polarization configurations. Results of the work clarify the microscopic mechanism of the polarization dependence in coherent four-wave-mixing spectroscopy in semiconductor quantum wells.     

Fine structure of excitons in self-assembled In0.60Ga0.40As quantum dots: Zeeman-interaction and exchange energy enhancement

The fine structure of the ground state exciton has been studied by magnetophotoluminescence spectroscopy of self-assembled In_0.60Ga_0.40As single quantum dots. This was realized by using lithography for fabricating mesa structures which contain only a single dot. Due to a dot geometry-induced symmetry breaking we are able to observe the dark exciton states in magnetic field besides the bright excitons. From the spin-splitting data values for the corresponding exciton g-factors are obtained. In addition, the electron–hole exchange energies are determined, which are compared to detailed numerical calculations.     

Coherent localization of two interacting carriers in one-dimensional quantum dot arrays

The coherent dynamics of two interacting carriers in one-dimensional quantum dot arrays driven by oscillating electric fields is theoretically investigated with the help of numerical calculations. The coherent localization of two electrons and that of an electron–hole pair are studied in this paper. For the two-electron case, the dynamic localization of the electrons is achieved when the Coulomb interaction is large enough. In this coherent localization, the Coulomb repulsion helps the electrons to be localized. For an electron–hole pair, although the dynamic localization of the composite particle does not occur due to charge neutrality, a different type of coherent localization can occur. These phenomena are explained by the quasienergy spectra based on Floquet analysis.     

Magneto optics of single photons emitted from single InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots in a planar microcavity

We fully characterize the fine spectral structure of neutral and negatively charged single microcavity quantum dot excitons, using polarization-sensitive magneto-photoluminescence spectroscopy. We show that the microcavity allows the simultaneous detection of both the bright and dark excitons using Faraday configuration. Thus, we were able to fully determine the fine structure and the g-factors of the neutral and negatively charged single exciton states within the same single quantum dot. Our measurements are in excellent agreement with novel, many carrier model calculations, which take into account Coulomb and exchange interactions among all the confined e–h pair states.     

Correlated photons from multi-carrier complexes in GaAs quantum dots

We have studied micro-photoluminescence spectra of a self-assembled single GaAs quantum dot under 8 K. With strong pulsed excitation, the micro-photoluminescence spectrum shows bright emission lines originated from an exciton, a positively charged exciton, and a biexciton, together with weak lower energy emissions reflecting multi-excitonic structures with more carriers. We have identified the origins of these weak emission lines, and showed the existence of charged biexciton states, through single photon correlation measurements and excitation power dependence of the photoluminescence intensity. In addition, investigating the radiative recombination process of the charged biexciton, we have determined the electron–hole exchange energy in the GaAs quantum dot.     

Another model for a multiexcitonic quantum dot in an optical microcavity

Very recently, a multiexcitonic quantum dot in an optical microcavity have been theoretically studied [Herbert Vincka, Boris A. Rodriguez, and Augusto Gonzalez, Physica E, 2006, 35: 99–102]. However, due to the inevitable damping losses through the microcavity, in this work, we will present a more precise and sound model in the Lindblad form master equation to investigate the photonic properties of a single quantum dot (QD) in an optical microcavity system, in which the QD may confine the multiexcitons and be in resonant interaction with a single photonic mode of an optical microcavity. The excitation energies, and the properties of the emission photon from the QD microcavity are computed as functions of the exciton-photon coupling strength, detuning, and pump rate. We further compare our results with their results, and find that the calculated intensity of the emitted photon and the spectra crucially depend on the exciton-photon coupling strength g, the photon detuning, and the number of excitons in the QD. Finally, we will give a physical mechanism of the dressed-state picture for the strong coupling between the single mode of an optical microcavity and the QD emitters to explain the details of the emission photon spectra. Our study establishes useful guidelines for the experimental study of such multiexcitonic quantum dot in an optical microcavity system.      

The temperature effect of the triangular bound potential quantum dot qubit

We study the eigenenergies and eigenfunctions of the ground and the first-excited states of an electron, which is strongly coupled to LO-phonon in a quantum dot with triangular bound potential by using the Pekar variational method. This system may be used as a two-level qubit. Numerical calculations are performed on the electron probability density varying with respect to the time, the temperature, the electron–LO-phonon coupling strength, the confinement length of the quantum dot and the polar angle. The relationship between the oscillating period and the polar angle is derived.     

Photocurrent and spin manipulation in quantum dots

In this paper we use a density matrix formalism to model the spin photocurrent obtained from a single self-assembled quantum dot photodiode under the influence of an applied strong polarized electromagnetic pulse and a gate voltage. We show that the degree of polarization of the output photocurrent generated by a circularly polarized pulse in a strongly anisotropic quantum dot can be switched as we increase the pulse intensity. A similar effect is observed in a quantum dot with weak anisotropic electron–hole exchange interaction by using an elliptically polarized pulse. In the latter, a shorter pulse is needed, which creates an effective exchange channel through the biexciton. This phenomenon can be used as a dynamical switch to invert the spin-polarization of the extracted current.     

Electron–hole states in the fractional quantum Hall regime probed by photoluminescence

The electron–hole states in the fractional quantum Hall regime is investigated with a back-gated undoped quantum well by photoluminesccence in magnetic fields. The evolution of the photoluminescence spectra is discussed depending on the electron density. We find anomalies of the photoluminescence at the integer as well as the fractional filling factors.     

Photomagnetic effect in bilayer two-dimensional electron–hole systems

In tilted magnetic fields a bilayer electron–hole system is found to generate a photocurrent under terahertz radiation as the system is tuned to electron cyclotron resonance conditions. The photoinduced current amplitude oscillates with the magnetic field in correlation with Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations for electrons. The phenomenon is accounted for by a photomagnetic effect in electron–hole systems in the quantum Hall regime and has potentialities for terahertz detection and spectroscopy.     

Resonance in quantum dot fluorescence in a photonic bandgap liquid crystal host

Microcavity resonance is demonstrated in nanocrystal quantum dot fluorescence in a one-dimensional (1D) chiral photonic bandgap cholesteric-liquid crystal host under cw excitation. The resonance demonstrates coupling between quantum dot fluorescence and the cholesteric microcavity. Observed at a band edge of a photonic stop band, this resonance has circular polarization due to microcavity chirality with 4.9 times intensity enhancement in comparison with polarization of the opposite handedness. The circular-polarization dissymmetry factor g(e) of this resonance is ~1.3. We also demonstrate photon antibunching of a single quantum dot in a similar glassy cholesteric microcavity. These results are important in cholesteric-laser research, in which so far only dyes were used, as well as for room-temperature single-photon source applications.     

Quantum Hall effect in back-gated InAs/GaSb heterostructures under a tilted magnetic field

We investigate the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in the InAs/GaSb hybridized electron–hole system grown on a conductive InAs substrate which act as a back-gate. In these samples, the electron density is constant and the hole density is controlled by the gate-voltage. Under a magnetic field perpendicular to the sample plane, the QHE appears along integer Landau-level (LL) filling factors of the net-carriers, where the net-carrier density is the difference between the electron and hole densities. In addition, longitudinal resistance maxima corresponding to the crossing of the extended states of the original electron and hole LLs make the QHE regions along integer-ν_net discontinuous. Under tilted magnetic fields, these R_xx maxima disappear in the high magnetic field region. The results show that the in-plane magnetic field component enhances the electron–hole hybridization and the formation of minigaps at LL crossings.     

Contact correlations in one-dimensional systems of interacting fermions and the photoluminescence from quantum wires

We calculate the dependence of the carriers lifetime with the wire width in quantum wires by considering a strictly one-dimensional system of interacting electrons and holes. Confinement effects are taken into account through a width-dependent pair-potential proposed by Hu and Das Sarma. The carriers lifetime is then obtained from the inverse of the contact electron–hole correlations. We explain the change in the sign of the derivative at a critical temperature, as it is observed in photoluminescence experiments from In Ga As/InP quantum wires, by taking into account the carriers density dependence with temperature and assuming that the contact correlations are either just a two-body quantity or a many-body one for the lower and higher densities, respectively. In the former case, the system is viewed as an ionized excitonic gas, the pair correlation being the square of the two-body wave function for unbound states. In the latter, we have a metallic electron–hole system and we calculate the contact pair correlation in the many-body ladder approximation.     

Stabilization energies of charged multiexciton complexes calculated at configuration interaction level

Recombination and stabilization energies of multiexcitons confined in positively and negatively charged semiconductor InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) samples have been studied by employing large-scale configuration interaction (CI) calculations. The CI calculations show that at most six electrons or two holes can be confined in the QD. Multiply charged multiexciton complexes with up to five excess electrons or two excess holes are also found to be stable, even when a few electron–hole pairs are present in the QD. The chemical potential functions for charged QD samples do not possess the pronounced stepped form as obtained for the corresponding neutral multiexciton complexes. The negatively and the positively charged excitons (negative and positive trions) lie lower in energy as compared to a neutral exciton and a single non-interacting charge carrier in the lowest single-particle state of another quantum dot. The other charged multiexciton complexes studied are not confined with respect to the corresponding neutral multiexciton and a non-interacting charge carrier. To include the contributions from the heavy-hole light-hole (HH–LH) coupling, a perturbative treatment of the band-mixing effects was implemented. The perturbation-theory calculations show that the HH–LH coupling does not shift the energies in the present InGaAs/GaAs QD sample.     

Isolated single quantum dot emitters in all-epitaxial microcavities

Data are presented on a fabrication approach that places an isolated single quantum dot at the center of a semiconductor microcavity. The microcavity is based on an all-epitaxial mesa-confined design that is mechanically robust and provides the thermal dissipation needed for a single photon source device technology. Microphotoluminescence is used to reveal single quantum dot emission with the essential optical properties of single quantum emitters.     

Les boı̂tes quantiques semi-conductrices : des atomes artificiels pour l'optique quantique

The recent development of high quality semiconductor quantum dots as opened the way to quantum optics experiments in the solid-state on these ‘artificial atoms’. We discuss in particular the control of their spontaneous emission in microcavities (strong coupling, spontaneous emission enhancement, monomode emission) and the generation of quantum states of light (single photons and photon pairs). We finally present a single-mode solid-state single photon source, which is based on a single quantum dot in a pillar microcavity, and is the first of a novel class of optoelectronic devices relying on cavity quantum electrodynamics for their operation. To cite this article: J.-M. Gérard et al., C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 29–40