Optical spectroscopy of single InAs/InP quantum dots around λ=1.55 μm

We discuss the preparation and spectroscopic characterisation of a single InAs/InP quantum dot suitable for long-distance quantum key distribution applications around λ=1.55 μm. The dot is prepared using a site-selective growth technique which allows a single dot to be deposited in isolation at a controlled spatial location. Micro-photoluminescence measurements as a function of exciton occupation are used to determine the electronic structure of the dot. Biexciton emission, shell filling and many-body re-normalization effects are observed for the first time in single InAs/InP quantum dots.     

Quantum dot in the Kondo regime coupled to superconductors

The Kondo effect and superconductivity are both prime examples of many-body phenomena. Here we report transport measurements on a carbon nanotube quantum dot coupled to superconducting leads that show a delicate interplay between both effects. We demonstrate that the superconductivity of the leads does not destroy the Kondo correlations on the quantum dot when the Kondo temperature, which varies for different single-electron states, exceeds the superconducting gap energy.     

Quantum Dot Research: Current State and Future Prospects

This article reviews the current state of research involving semiconductor quantum dots, provides a brief review of the theory behind their unique properties, and an introduction explaining the importance of quantum dot research. The characteristic shifting of the band gap energy with quantum dot size, as predicted from the density of states for low-dimensional structures, allows experimental measurements to determine the extent to which quantum confinement effects play a role in the resulting properties. A few of the current techniques used to measure the presence and physical characteristics of quantum dots and their energy levels is reviewed, including transmission electron microscopy, optical transmission, and Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Finally, some of the more exciting applications for quantum dots currently being researched for use in the field of optoelectronics are reviewed, including quantum dot infrared photodetectors, quantum dot lasers, and quantum dot solar cells. Comments are made on the current progress and the future prospects of quantum dot research and device applications.     

量子点中极化子的内部激发态性质

采用Huybrechts线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究了抛物量子点中的强、弱耦合极化子的激发态性质。分别导出强、弱耦合情况下,抛物量子点中的极化子的第一内部激发态能量、激发能量、共振频率与量子点的有效受限长度和电子-声子耦合强度的关系。数值计算结果表明,量子点中弱耦合和强耦合极化子的内部激发态能量、激发能量和共振频率都随量子点的有效受限长度的减小而迅速增大。弱耦合极化子的第一内部激发态能量随电子-声子耦合强度的增加而减少;而强耦合极化子的振动频率随量子点的有效受限长度的减小而迅速增加。弱耦合极化子的第一内部激发态能量、激发能量和共振频率随电子-声子耦合强度的增加而减小。     

抛物形量子点中弱耦合极化子的性质

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究了抛物形量子点中弱耦合极化子的基态能量和束缚能。计算结果表明,基态能量和束缚能随有效束缚强度增加而减小。随着有效束缚强度逐渐加大,最后逐渐趋于体结构极化子的基态能量。当有效束缚强度给定,基态能随电子-体纵光学声子耦合强度增加而减小。由于有效束缚强度与量子点受限强度平方根成反比,所以量子点受限越强,基态能和束缚能越大,电子-体纵光学声子耦合强度的变化对量子点的影响越小。当量子点受限变弱时,电子-体纵光学声子耦合强度变化对量子点的影响变大。所以在量子点弱受限区域,极化子对量子点的影响不容忽略。     

库仑场对抛物量子点中强耦合极化子性质的影响

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究了在库仑场束缚下抛物量子点中强耦合束缚极化子的振动频率和基态能量。并对其进行了数值计算,结果表明:强耦合束缚极化子的振动频率和基态能量随量子点的有效受限长度的增加而减小,随电子-LO声子耦合强度的增加而增加,束缚极化子的基态能量随库仑势的增加而减小。     

Parameter-tunable doublet–quadruplet transition in a three-electron quantum dot

A three-electron quantum dot under an external magnetic field was studied. A number of phase diagrams have been obtained to demonstrate how the variation of the magnetic field and/or the parameters of confinement would lead to the occurrence of doublet–quadruplet transitions. Both the confinement with parabolic potential and the square well potential have been considered. We show that the parameters of confinement alter the ground state of the quantum dot from a spin doublet to a spin quadruplet. This result indicates that the quantum dot can be used as a good candidate for qubit of a quantum computer.     

Nonequilibrium perturbation theory in Liouville-Fock space for inelastic electron transport

We use a superoperator representation of the quantum kinetic equation to develop nonequilibrium perturbation theory for an inelastic electron current through a quantum dot. We derive a Lindblad-type kinetic equation for an embedded quantum dot (i.e. a quantum dot connected to Lindblad dissipators through a buffer zone). The kinetic equation is converted to non-Hermitian field theory in Liouville-Fock space. The general nonequilibrium many-body perturbation theory is developed and applied to the quantum dot with electron-vibronic and electron-electron interactions. Our perturbation theory becomes equivalent to a Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function perturbative treatment provided that the buffer zone is large enough to alleviate the problems associated with approximations of the Lindblad kinetic equation.     

Prediction of an excitonic ground state in InAs/InSb quantum dots

Using atomistic pseudopotential and configuration-interaction many-body calculations, we predict an excitonic ground state in the InAs/InSb quantum-dot system. For large dots, the conduction band minimum of the InAs dot lies below the valence band maximum of the InSb matrix. Due to quantum confinement, at a critical size calculated here for various shapes, the gap E(g) between InAs conduction states and InSb valence states vanishes. Strong electron-hole correlation effects are induced by the spatial proximity of the electron and hole wave functions, and by the lack of strong (exciton unbinding) screening, afforded by the existence of discrete 0D confined energy levels. These correlation effects overcome E(g), leading to the formation of a biexcitonic ground state (two electrons in InAs and two holes in InSb) being energetically more favorable (by approximately 15 meV) than the dot without excitons.     

Effects of Electric Field on Electronic States in a GaAs/GaAlAs Quantum Dot with Different Confinements

Binding energies of shallow hydrogenic impurity in a GaAs/GaAlAs quantum dot with spherical confinement, parabolic confinement and rectangular confinement are calculated as a function of dot radius in the influence of electric field. The binding energy is calculated following a variational procedure within the effective mass approximation along with the spatial depended dielectric function. A finite confining potential well with depth is determined by the discontinuity of the band gap in the quantum dot and the cladding. It is found that the contribution of spatially dependent screening effects are small for a donor impurity and it is concluded that the rectangulax confinement is better than the parabolic and spherical confinements. These results are compared with the existing literature.     

The nonlinear optical properties of a magneto-exciton in a strained Ga_(0.2)In_(0.8)As/GaAs quantum dot

The magnetic field-dependent heavy hole excitonic states in a strained Ga0.2In0.8As/GaAs quantum dot are investigated by taking into account the anisotropy,non-parabolicity of the conduction band,and the geometrical confinement.The strained quantum dot is considered as a parabolic dot of InAs embedded in a GaAs barrier material.The dependence of the effective excitonic g-factor as a function of dot radius and the magnetic field strength is numerically measured.The interband optical transition energy as a function of geometrical confinement is computed in the presence of a magnetic field.The magnetic field-dependent oscillator strength of interband transition under the geometrical confinement is studied.The exchange enhancements as a function of dot radius are observed for various magnetic field strengths in a strained Ga0.2In0.8As/GaAs quantum dot.Heavy hole excitonic absorption spectra,the changes in refractive index,and the third-order susceptibility of third-order harmonic generation are investigated in the Ga0.2In0.8As/GaAs quantum dot.The result shows that the effect of magnetic field strength is more strongly dependent on the nonlinear optical property in a low-dimensional semiconductor system.     

Phase transitions in a few-electron quantum dot in a magnetic field: Wigner phases and broken-symmetry spin-singlet states

We develop a variational many-body approach within a second quantized formulation for a few-electron system in a parabolic two-dimensional quantum dot (QD). By way of application, the nature of the ground state of a two-electron system in a parabolic QD in a broad range of magnetic fields is theoretically investigated. Various phase transitions on the basis of the resulting analytical expressions for energy of the system have been investigated: First, the well-known transition from a maximum density droplet to a Wigner phase in a magnetic field is obtained, provided that the QD is in conditions of weak confinement. Furthermore, in the case of relatively strong QD confinement and weak magnetic fields, a rotationally symmetric spin-singlet state is the ground state of the system. However, in a strong magnetic field and for the same QD confinement, a broken-symmetry spin-singlet state appears to be energetically favored over the symmetric spin-singlet state. A first investigation of such a broken-symmetry spin-singlet phase in a QD in a magnetic field is shown to be an important application of the proposed technique. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

抛物量子点中弱耦合磁极化子的性质

应用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究了抛物量子点中磁极化子的基态性质。得出基态能和基态束缚能随有效束缚强度增大而减小,随回旋频率增大而增大。当有效柬缚强度给定,基态能量随电子-体纵光学声子耦合强度增加而减小。当有效束缚强度l0>0.3时,电子-体纵光学声子耦合强度的变化对量子点中弱耦合磁极化子的基态能量的影响变得显著。当有效束缚强度l0<0.3时,电子-体纵光学声子耦合强度的变化对基态能量影响很小。由于有效束缚强度与量子点受限强度的平方根成反比,所以量子点受限越强,基态能量、基态束缚能越大,电子一体纵光学声子耦合强度和磁场的变化对量子点的影响相对越小;当量子点受限变弱时,电子-声子耦合强度变化对量子点的影响变大,磁场对量子点的影响也变大,所以在量子点中,极化子对量子点的影响不容忽略。     

Optical transitions in parabolic quantum dot

Direct optical absorption of light is theoretically investigated in a spherical quantum dot from GaAs. The confinement potential of the dot is approximated as parabolic. Three regimes of size quantization are discussed: weak, strong, and intermediate. The corresponding threshold frequencies of absorption are determined. A comparison with the case of a spherical quantum dot with rectangular infinitely high confinement potential is performed.     

Transport in split-gate silicon quantum dots

We report on the transport properties of novel Si quantum dot structures with controllable electron number through both top and side gates. Quantum dots were fabricated by a split-gate technique within a standard MOSFET process. Four-terminal dc electrical measurements were performed at 4.2 K in a liquid helium cryostat. Strong oscillations in the conductance through the dot are observed as a function of both the top gate bias and of the plunger bias. An overall monotonic and quasi-periodic movement of the peak conductance is observed which is believed to be associated with the bare level structure of the electronic states in the dot coupled with the Coulomb charging energy. Crossing behavior is observed as well, suggestive of either many-body effects or symmetry breaking of the dot states by the applied bias.     

量子点中弱耦合束缚极化子的内部激发态性质

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究库仑束缚势对量子点中弱耦合束缚极化子激发态性质的影响。计算了束缚极化子的振动频率、第一内部激发态能量、激发能量和共振频率随量子点的有效受限长度,电子-声子耦合强度和库仑束缚势的变化关系。结果表明:量子点中弱耦合束缚极化子的振动频率、第一内部激发态能量、激发能量和共振频率随量子点的有效受限长度的减少而迅速增大,随库仑束缚势的增加而增大。     

Friedel sum rule for an interacting multiorbital quantum dot

A generalized Friedel sum rule is derived for a quantum dot with internal orbital and spin degrees of freedom. The result is valid when all many-body correlations are taken into account and it links the phase shift of the scattered electron to the displacement of its spectral density into the dot.     

库仑场对非对称量子点中强耦合极化子声子平均数的影响

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究库仑场对非对称量子点中强耦合极化子振动频率和声子平均数的影响。导出量子点中强耦合束缚极化子振动频率和声子平均数随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度,库仑束缚势和电子-声子耦合强度的变化关系。数值计算结果表明:非对称量子点中强耦合束缚极化子的振动频率和声子平均数随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度的减小而迅速增大。随库仑束缚势和电子-声子耦合强度的增加而增大。     

Effect of elastic anisotropy on the strain fields and band edges in stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dot nanostructures

The effect of elastic anisotropy on the strain fields and confinement potentials in InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) nanostructures was investigated for an isolated dot and a stacked multi-layer dots using finite element analysis and model solid theory. The assumption of isotropy tends to underestimate especially hydrostatic strain that is known to modify confinement potentials in conduction band. Consideration of anisotropy results in a wider band gap and shallower potential well as compared with the isotropic model. Since the band gap and potential well depth would be related to opto-electronic properties of quantum dot systems via quantum mechanical effects, it is suggested that consideration of elastic anisotropy in the calculation of strains and band structures is necessary for the design of QD-based opto-electronic devices.     

非对称量子点中极化子的性质

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究了非对称量子点中强、弱耦合极化子的性质,导出了非对称量子点中强、弱耦合极化子的基态能量和基态结合能随量子点的横向、纵向有效受限长度,电子-声子耦合强度的变化关系.通过数值计算,结果表明,量子点中强、弱耦合极化子的基态能量和基态结合能随量子点的横向、纵向有效受限长度的减小而迅速增大.