Magnetic-field-induced Fermi-edge singularity in the tunnelling current through a self-assembled InAs quantum dot

Tunneling transport through a one-barrier GaAs/(AlGa)As/GaAs heterostructure containing self-assembled InAs quantum dots has been investigated at low temperatures. An anomalous increase in the tunneling current through quantum dots in magnetic fields oriented both parallel and perpendicular to the current is observed. This increase is a manifestation of the Fermi-edge singularity in the current as a result of the interaction of a tunneling electron with the electron gas in the emitter.     

Magnetic-field-induced singularity in the tunneling current through an InAs quantum dot

The tunneling transport through a GaAs/(AlGa)As/GaAs single-barrier heterostructure with self-assembled InAs quantum dots is studied experimentally at low temperatures. An anomalous increase in the tunneling current through the quantum dots is observed in magnetic fields both parallel and perpendicular to the current. This result cannot be understood in the framework of the single-electron approximation. The proposed explanation of the phenomenon is based on the modified Matveev-Larkin theory, which predicts the appearance of a singularity in the tunneling current through the zero-dimensional state in a magnetic field because of the interaction between the tunneling electron and the spin-polarized three-dimensional electron gas in the emitter. The absence of spin splitting in the experimental resonance peaks is caused by the complete spin polarization of the emitter in relatively weak magnetic fields.     

Resonant tunneling of electrons through single self-assembled InAs quantum dot studied by conductive atomic force microscopy

Resonant tunneling of electrons through a quantum level in single self-assembled InAs quantum dot (QD) embedded in thin AlAs barriers has been studied. The embedded InAs QDs are sandwiched by 1.7-nm-thick AlAs barriers, and surface InAs QDs, which are deposited on 8.3 nm-thick GaAs cap layer, are used as nano-scale electrodes. Since the surface InAs QD should be vertically aligned with a buried one, a current flowing via the buried QD can be measured with a conductive tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM) brought in contact with the surface QD-electrode. Negative differential resistance attributed to electron resonant tunneling through a quantized energy level in the buried QD is observed in the current–voltage characteristics at room temperature. The effect of Fermi level pinning around nano-scale QD-electrode on resonance voltage and the dependence of resonance voltage on the size of QD-electrodes are investigated, and it has been demonstrated that the distribution of the resonance voltages reflects the size variation of the embedded QDs.     

Tunable Fermi-edge resonance in an open quantum dot

Resonant tunneling in an open mesoscopic quantum dot is proposed as a vehicle to realize a tunable Fermi-edge resonance with variable coupling strength. We solve the x-ray edge problem for a generic nonseparable scatterer and apply it to describe tunneling in a quantum dot. The tunneling current power law exponent is linked to the S matrix of the dot. The control of scattering by varying the dot shape and coupling to the leads allows us to explore a wide range of exponents. The sensitivity of mesoscopic coherence to the Wigner-Dyson ensemble symmetry is replicated in the Fermi-edge singularity.     

Laser location and manipulation of a single quantum tunneling channel in an InAs quantum dot

We use a femtowatt focused laser beam to locate and manipulate a single quantum tunneling channel associated with an individual InAs quantum dot within an ensemble of dots. The intensity of the directed laser beam tunes the tunneling current through the targeted dot with an effective optical gain of 10(7) and modifies the curvature of the dot's confining potential and the spatial extent of its ground state electron eigenfunction. These observations are explained by the effect of photocreated hole charges which become bound close to the targeted dot, thus acting as an optically induced gate electrode.     

Resonant magnetotunneling through individual self-assembled InAs quantum dots

A single-barrier GaAs/AlAs/GaAs heterostructure, with self-assembled In-based quantum dots incorporated in the AlAs tunnel barrier, exhibits a series of resonant peaks in the low temperature current–voltage characteristics. We argue that each peak arises fromsingle-electrontunneling through thediscrete zero-dimensionalstate of anindividualInAs dot. We use the tunneling for fine probing of the local density of states in the emitter-accumulation layer. Landau-quantized states are resolved at magnetic field B∥ as low as 0.2 T. Spin-splitting of the dot electron states has been observed forB⊥I.     

In-plane and perpendicular tunneling through InAs quantum dots

A Schottky diode with InAs dots in the intrinsic GaAs region was used to investigate perpendicular tunneling (in growth direction) through InAs quantum dots (QDs). At forward bias conditions electrons tunnel from the ohmic back contact into the metal Schottky gate. Peaks appear in the differential conductance when a QD level comes into resonance with the Fermi-level of the n-doped region. The observed tunneling features are attributed to electron transport through the s- and p-shell of the InAs islands. In our in-plane tunneling experiments the islands were embedded in the channel region of an n-doped GaAs/AlGaAs HEMT-structure. In order to study tunneling through single InAs islands, a quantum point contact was defined by lithography with an atomic force microscope and subsequent wet-chemical etching. In contrast to unpatterned devices sharp peaks appear in the I–V characteristic of our samples reflecting the transport of electrons through the p-shell of a single InAs QD.     

Photon-assisted tunneling current in a double quantum dot excitonic system

A system of two coupled quantum dots entangled through their interaction with a cavity mode, including Förster and exciton-phonon interactions, exhibits a Josephson-like effect in terms of photon-assisted tunneling current (TC) analogous to supercurrent.     

Strong Fermi-edge singularity in ultra-high-quality AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wires

We report the observation of a strong Fermi-edge singularity (FES), with the complete suppression of the band-edge peak, in the photoluminescence spectra of ultra-high-quality modulation-doped AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wires (QWRs). We find that the FES effect is very sensitive to the Fermi energy. The strong FES is observed only in QWRs having a Fermi energy of the order of a few meV, and disappears almost completely when the Fermi energy exceeds 10 meV. These results are expected to spark new research activities, both experimentally and theoretically, on many-body effects in one-dimensional electron gas.     

Thermally driven pure spin current through an interacting quantum dot

We study spin-dependent electron transport properties of a thermally driven interacting quantum dot. When an external magnetic field is applied to the quantum dot, the effective transmissions of spin-up and spin-down electrons are separated from each other and have a perfect mirror symmetry with respect to the incident energy at a certain gate voltage. A pure spin current can be induced in the system and modulated by a magnetic field. Under certain magnetic field strengths, a larger pure spin current can be obtained at gate voltages with the values in a range, not just at a specific voltage. These results indicate that the system can be worked as a pure spin current generator.     

通过带有侧向耦合量子点的量子线中的光辅助隧穿

应用非平衡格林函数方法,研究了带有微波调制的侧向耦合量子点的量子线中的光辅助隧穿.在考虑了量子干涉和微波场的情况下,得出并讨论了电子传榆幅度和相位方面的信息.电子传输幅度显示出一系列的反共振峰(对应图中的谷结构).峰值的高度与振荡的微波场的幅度和频率有关,而峰的位置只与微波场的频率有关.在有限温的情况下,反共振峰值的高度随着温度的增加而减小,当温度足够高时,反共振峰会消失,特别地,在一定的温度下,低温下谷的地方会演变成峰.     

Antiresonance of electron tunneling through a quantum dot array

Electronic transport through a one-dimensional quantum dot array is theoretically studied. In such a system both electron reservoirs of continuum states couple with the individual component quantum dots of the array arbitrarily. When there are some dangling quantum dots in the array outside the dot(s) contacting the leads, the electron tunneling through the quantum dot array is wholly forbidden if the electron energy is just equal to the molecular energy levels of the dangling quantum dots, which is called as antiresonance of electron tunneling. Accordingly, when the chemical potential of the reservoir electrons is aligned with the electron levels of all quantum dots, the linear conductance at zero temperature vanishes if there are odd number dangling quantum dots; Otherwise, it is equal to 2e²/h due to resonant tunneling if the total number of quantum dots in the array is odd. This odd–even parity is independent of the interdot and the lead–dot coupling strength.     

Cracking self-assembled InAs quantum dots

We present a cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy (X-STM) investigation of InAs quantum dots in a GaAs matrix. The structures were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at a low growth rate of 0.01 ML/s and consist of five layers of uncoupled quantum dot structures. Detailed STM images with atomic resolution show that the dots consist of an InGaAs alloy and that the indium content in the dot increases towards the top. The analysis of the height versus base-length relation obtained from cross-sectional images of the dots shows that the shape of the dots resembles that of a truncated pyramid and that the square base is oriented along the [010] and [100] directions. Using scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) we determined the onset for electron tunneling into the conduction and out of the valence band, both in the quantum dots and in the surrounding GaAs matrix. We found equal voltages for tunneling out of the valence band in GaAs or InGaAs whereas tunneling into GaAs occurred at higher voltages than in InGaAs.     

Current bistability in resonant tunneling through a semiconductor quantum dot

We discuss resonant tunneling through quantum dot energy levels considering the charging energy of the dot. The hamiltonian of the system is reduced to a form of the Anderson hamiltonian of resonant tunneling. The mean-field approximation is applied and current–voltage characteristics are evaluated. The self-consistent solution is investigated for the low tunneling rate case in the low-temperature condition. The current bistability and the related current hysteresis are pointed out. The Coulomb staircase is shown in the current–voltage characteristics. These features are all due to Coulomb repulsion within the dot.