Single-photon emitters in van der Waals materials

Solid-state sources of single-photon emitters are highly desired for scalable quantum photonic applications, such as quantum communication, optical quantum information processing, and metrology. In the past year, great strides have been made in the characterization of single defects in wide-bandgap materials, such as silicon carbide and diamond, as well as single molecules, quantum dots, and carbon nanotubes. More recently, single-photon emitters in layered van der Waals materials attracted tremendous attention, because the two-dimensional(2 D)lattice allows for high photon extraction efficiency and easy integration into photonic circuits. In this review, we discuss recent advances in mastering single-photon emitters in 2 D materials, electrical generation pathways,detuning, and resonator coupling towards use as quantum light sources. Finally, we discuss the remaining challenges and the outlooks for layered material-based quantum photonic sources.     

Broadband visible light absorber based on ultrathin semiconductor nanostructures

It is desirable to have electromagnetic wave absorbers with ultrathin structural thickness and broader spectral absorption bandwidth with numerous applications in optoelectronics. In this paper, we theoretically propose and numerically demonstrate a novel ultrathin nanostructure absorber composed of semiconductor nanoring array and a uniform gold substrate. The results show that the absorption covers the entire visible light region, achieving an average absorption rate more than 90% in a wavelength range from 300 nm to 740 nm and a nearly perfect absorption from 450 nm to 500 nm, and the polarization insensitivity performance is particularly great. The absorption performance is mainly caused by the electrical resonance and magnetic resonance of semiconductor nanoring array as well as the field coupling effects. Our designed broadband visible light absorber has wide application prospects in the fields of thermal photovoltaics and photodetectors.     

Defects in semiconductor nanostructures

Impurities play a pivotal role in semiconductors. One part in a million of phosphorous in silicon alters the conductivity of the latter by several orders of magnitude. Indeed, the information age is possible only because of the unique role of shallow impurities in semiconductors. Although work in semiconductor nanostructures (SN) has been in progress for the past two decades, the role of impurities in them has been only sketchily studied. We outline theoretical approaches to the electronic structure of shallow impurities in SN and discuss their limitations. We find that shallow levels undergo a SHADES (SHAllow-DEep-Shallow) transition as the SN size is decreased. This occurs because of the combined effect of quantum confinement and reduced dielectric constant in SN. Level splitting is pronounced and this can perhaps be probed by ESR and ENDOR techniques. Finally, we suggest that a perusal of literature on (semiconductor) cluster calculations carried out 30 years ago would be useful.      

Superconductor/semiconductor nanostructures on p-type InAs

Recent experimental results for Nb/p-type InAs/Nb Josephson junctions are reviewed. In these devices, the superconducting Nb electrodes are coupled through the native inversion layer at the surface of p-type InAs. Besides the dc and ac Josephson effects, we discuss the opening of a proximity-effect induced energy gap in the density of states of the inversion layer where it is covered by Nb. In field-effect controlled devices, the short electrode separation comparable to the mean free path allows the observation of Fabry–Pérot type resonances in the current–voltage characteristics.     

Strain-driven self-organization of nanostructures on semiconductor surfaces

Received: 14 April 1998/Accepted: 23 October 1998     

New highly fluorescent biolabels based on II-VI semiconductor hybrid organic-inorganic nanostructures for bioimaging

Semiconductor quantum dots based on II-VI materials may be prepared to develop good biolabeling properties. In this study we present some well-succeeded results related to the preparation, functionalization and bioconjugation of CdY (Y = S, Se and Te) to biological systems (live cells and fixed tissues). These nanostructured materials were prepared using colloidal synthesis in aqueous media resulting nanoparticles with very good optical properties and an excellent resistance to photodegradation.     

Low-dimensional nanostructures and fullerene films on semiconductor surface

The morphology and atomic structures of C₆₀ fullerene films on a Bi(0001)/Si(111)-7 × 7 surface and adsorption of fluorofullerene C₆₀F _x molecules on a Si(111)-7 × 7 surface have been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and low-energy electron microscopy under ultra high-vacuum conditions. It has been shown that initial nucleation of C₆₀ islands on the surface of an epitaxial Bi film occurs on double steps and domain boundaries, while tunnel spectra do not exhibit any significant charge transfer to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital states. Fluorofullerene molecules allow local (at the nanoscale level) modification of Si surface through local etching.     

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures

We review our recent results concerning surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) by confined optical and surface optical phonons in semiconductor nanostructures including CdS, CuS, GaN, and ZnO nanocrystals, GaN and ZnO nanorods, and AlN nanowires. Enhancement of Raman scattering by confined optical phonons as well as appearance of new Raman modes with the frequencies different from those in ZnO bulk attributed to surface optical modes is observed in a series of nanostructures having different morphology located in the vicinity of metal nanoclusters (Ag, Au, and Pt). Assignment of surface optical modes is based on calculations performed in the frame of the dielectric continuum model. It is established that SERS by phonons has a resonant character. A maximal enhancement by optical phonons as high as 730 is achieved for CdS nanocrystals in double resonant conditions at the coincidence of laser energy with that of electronic transitions in semiconductor nanocrystals and localized surface plasmon resonance in metal nanoclusters. Even a higher enhancement is observed for SERS by surface optical modes in ZnO nanocrystals (above 10⁴). Surface enhanced Raman scattering is used for studying phonon spectrum in nanocrystal ensembles with an ultra-low areal density on metal plasmonic nanostructures.     

Nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures

Nonlinear frequency conversion and electro-optic sampling allow for the generation and phase-resolved characterization of few-cycle pulses in the frequency range up to 50 THz. Electric field transients with amplitudes of up to several MV/cm are applied to study coherent nonlinear excitations of low-dimensional semiconductors. We report the first observation of Rabi oscillations on intersubband transitions of electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. Frequency and phase of such oscillations are controlled in the 0.3- to 2.5-THz range via the strength and shape of the mid-infrared driving pulse. PACS 78.67.De; 73.21.Fg; 07.57.Hm; 42.65.Re     

Pseudospin quantum computation in semiconductor nanostructures

We theoretically show that spontaneously interlayer-coherent bilayer quantum Hall droplets should allow robust and fault-tolerant pseudospin quantum computation in semiconductor nanostructures with voltage-tuned external gates providing qubit control and a quantum Ising Hamiltonian providing qubit entanglement. Using a spin-boson model, we estimate decoherence to be small (approximately 10(-5)).     

Soft chemical routes to semiconductor nanostructures

Soft chemistry has emerged as an important means of generating nanocrystals, nanowires and other nanostructures of semiconducting materials. We describe the synthesis of CdS and other metal chalcogenide nanocrystals by a solvothermal route. We also describe the synthesis of nanocrystals of AlN, GaN and InN by the reaction of hexamethyldisilazane with the corresponding metal chloride or metal cupferronate under solvothermal conditions. Nanowires of Se and Te have been obtained by a self-seeding solution-based method. A single source precursor based on urea complexes of metal chlorides gives rise to metal nitride nanocrystals, nanowires and nanotubes. The liquidliquid interface provides an excellent medium for preparing single-crystalline films of metal chalcogenides.     

Spin dynamics in magnetic semiconductor nanostructures

The studies of the magnetic and electrical transport properties of ordered magnetic semiconductor nanostructures have been generalized. This new area lies at the intersection of nanotechnologies and fundamental problems of magnetism. The prospects for application of ferromagnetic semiconductors in spintronics have been discussed. A comparative analysis of the magnetic and electrical transport properties of nanowires, thin films, and bulk elemental semiconductors doped with transition metals has been performed. The influence of size effects on the spin dynamics, magnetization, and magnetoresistance of nanostructures has been considered.     

Effect of dipole structures on field emission of wide-gap semiconductor emitters

It is shown that dipole structures placed in a thin (less than 1 nm) near-surface layer of a high-resistivity field emitter produce small domains on the emitting surface in which the electric field may exceed 10⁸ V/cm. In these domains, the emitter surface potential is positive, providing effective electron transport from inside the emitter to the emission boundary. Optimal dipole orientations ensuring maximal electric fields at the surface are found. When the surface density of dipoles localized in the near-surface layer is on the order of 10⁶ cm⁻², one can expect an emitter-averaged emission current density of higher than 1 A/cm². The dipole structures in the near-surface layer may persist owing to incorporated impurity molecules having a dipole moment or result from a random combination of positively charged ionized impurities and electrons captured by deep traps. Trap charging/discharging asymmetry accounts for the hysteresis of the emission I–V characteristics.     

Single-photon quantum router based on asymmetric intercavity couplings

As a special quantum node in a quantum network, the quantum router plays an important role in storing and transferring quantum information. In this paper, we propose a quantum router scheme based on asymmetric intercavity couplings and a three-level Λ-type atomic system. This scheme implements the quantum routing capability very well. It can perfectly transfer quantum information from one quantum channel to another. Compared with the previous quantum routing scheme, our proposed scheme can achieve the transfer rate of single photons from one quantum channel to another quantum channel reaching 100%, the high transfer rate is located in the almost quadrant regions with negative values of the two variables λ_a and λ_b, and their maximum values T_u~b+T_d~b= 1 emerge in the center point λ_a=λ_b=-1. Therefore, it is possibly feasible to efficiently enhance the routing capability of the single photons between two channels by adjusting the inter-resonator couplings, and the asymmetric intercavity coupling provides a new method for achieving high-fidelity quantum routers.     

Interpretation of near-field images of semiconductor nanostructures

We discuss near-field wave function imaging, introducing a model for high spatial resolution photoluminescence imaging of semiconductor nanostructures. The model is applied to optically bright and dark exciton and biexciton states in different quantum dot systems, explicitly taking the experimental imaging configuration into account. Our results show that direct imaging of the exciton density is only possible in collection mode experiments with nonresonant excitation in the high-resolution limit. For other geometries and for biexcitonic states, the images reflect not only the size and shape of the wave function and the spatial resolution of the near-field probe but also in particular the inherent optical nonlinearity of the imaging process. Different examples for the effects of this nonlinearity are discussed, providing new insight into the interpretation of existing experiments, and guidelines for designing novel experiments. PACS 78.67-n; 71.35.-y; 07.79.Fc     

Geometry-induced electron doping in periodic semiconductor nanostructures

Recently, new quantum features have been observed and studied in the area of nanostructured layers. Nanograting on the surface of the thin layer imposes additional boundary conditions on the electron wave function and induces G-doping or geometry doping. G-doping is equivalent to donor doping from the point of view of the increase in electron concentration n. However, there are no ionized impurities. This preserves charge carrier scattering to the intrinsic semiconductor level and increases carrier mobility with respect to the donor-doped layer. G-doping involves electron confinement to the nanograting layer. Here, we investigate the system of multiple nanograting layers forming a series of hetero- or homojunctions. The system includes main and barrier layers. In the case of heterojunctions, both types of layers were G-doped. In the case of homojunctions, main layers were G-doped and barrier layers were donor-doped. In such systems, the dependence of n on layer geometry and material parameters was analysed. Si and GaAs homojunctions and GaAs/AlGaAs, Si/SiGe, GaInP/AlGAs, and InP/InAlAs heterojunctions were studied. G-doping levels of 10¹⁸–10¹⁹ cm⁻³ were obtained in homojunctions and type II heterojunctions. High G-doping levels were attained only when the difference between band gap values was low.     

Adiabatic passage schemes in coupled semiconductor nanostructures

Adiabatic passage schemes in coupled semiconductor quantum dots are discussed. For optical control, a doped double-dot molecule is proposed as a qubit realization. The quantum information is encoded in the carrier spin, and the flexibility of the molecular structure allows to map the spin degrees of freedom onto the orbital ones and vice versa, which opens the possibility for high-finesse quantum gates by means of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. For tunnel-coupled dots, adiabatic passage of two correlated electrons in three coupled quantum dots is shown to provide a robust and controlled way of distilling, transporting and detecting spin entanglement, as well as of measuring the rate of spin disentanglement. Employing tunable interdot coupling the scheme creates, from an unentangled two-electron state, a superposition of spatially separated singlet and triplet states, which can be discriminated through a single measurement. Finally, we discuss phonon-assisted dephasing in quantum dots, and present control strategies to suppress such genuine solid-state decoherence losses.