Intersublevel transitions in self-assembled quantum dots

Intersublevel transitions in semiconductor quantum dots are transitions of a charge carrier between quantum dot confined states. In InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots, optically active intersublevel transitions occur in the mid-infrared spectral range. These transitions can provide a new insight on the physics of semiconductor quantum dots and offer new opportunities to develop mid-infrared devices. A key feature characterizing intersublevel transitions is the coupling of the confined carriers to phonons. We show that the effect of the strong coupling regime for the electron–optical phonon interaction and the formation of mixed electron–phonon quasi-particles called polarons drastically affect and control the dynamical properties of quantum dots. The engineering of quantum dot relaxation rates through phonon coupling opens the route to the realization of new devices like mid-infrared polaron lasers. We finally show that the measurement of intersublevel absorption is not limited to quantum dot ensembles and that the intersublevel ultrasmall absorption of a single quantum dot can be measured with a nanometer scale resolution by using phonon emission as a signature of the absorption. To cite this article: P. Boucaud et al., C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

非对称量子点中电子的激发能量和跃迁谱线频率

研究了非对称量子点中与声子强耦合的电子的性质.采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究非对称量子点中与声子强耦合的电子的第一内部激发态能量、激发能量和第一内部激发态到基态的跃迁谱线频率随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度,电子-声子耦合强度的变化关系。数值计算结果表明：非对称量子点中与声子强耦合的电子的第一内部激发态能量、激发能量和第一内部激发态到基态的跃迁谱线频率随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度的减小而迅速增大,表现出奇特的量子尺寸效应。非对称量子点中与声子强耦合的电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小。非对称量子点中与声子强耦合的电子的激发能量和第一内部激发态到基态的跃迁谱线频率随电子-声子耦合强度的增加而增大。     

Optical determination of vacuum Rabi splitting in a semiconductor quantum dot induced by a metal nanoparticle

We propose a theoretical scheme to determine the vacuum Rabi splitting in a single semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) induced by a metal nanoparticle (MNP). Based on cavity quantum electrodynamics, the exciton-plasmon interaction between the SQD and the MNP is considered while a strong pump laser and a weak probe laser are simultaneously presented. By decreasing the distance between them, we can increase the coupling strength. At resonance, thanks to the strong coupling, a vacuum Rabi splitting can be observed clearly in the probe absorption spectrum. The coupling strength can be obtained by measuring the vacuum Rabi splitting. This strong coupling is significant for the investigation of surface-plasmon-based quantum information processing.     

抛物量子点中弱耦合激子的光学声子平均数

研究了电子-体纵光学声子弱耦合情况下,抛物量子点中激子的性质。在有效质量近似下,采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究了抛物量子点中弱耦合激子的基态能量和光学声子平均数。以GaAs半导体为例进行了数值计算,结果表明:弱耦合情况下,激子的光学声子平均数基态的能量和量子点受限强度的增大而减小,随量子点半径的增大而增大。     

磁场对非对称量子点中极化子性质的影响

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究磁场对非对称量子点中弱耦合磁极化子性质的影响.导出了非对称量子点中弱耦合磁极化子的振动频率、基态能量和基态结合能随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度、磁场和电子-声子耦合强度的变化关系.数值计算结果表明:非对称量子点中弱耦合磁极化子的基态能量和基态结合能随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度的增加而迅速增大.随回旋频率的增加而增大,随电子-声子耦合强度的增加而减小.     

磁场对非对称量子点中束缚磁极化子性质的影响

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法研究磁场对非对称量子点中弱耦合束缚磁极化子性质的影响。导出量子点中弱耦合束缚磁极化子振动频率和基态能量随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度、库仑束缚势、磁场的回旋共振频率和电子-声子耦合强度的变化关系。数值计算结果表明:非对称量子点中弱耦合束缚磁极化子的振动频率和基态能量随量子点的横向和纵向有效受限长度的减小而迅速增大。振动频率随库仑束缚势和磁场的回旋共振频率的增加而增大。基态能量随库仑束缚势和电子-声子耦合强度的增加而减小。     

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。     

非对称量子点中强耦合束缚磁极化子的基态寿命

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电子和体纵光学声子强耦合下束缚磁极化子的性质.得到了非对称量子点中强耦合束缚磁极化子的基态能量.讨论了量子点横向和纵向受限长度.磁极化子基态能量,电子-声子耦合强度和外界温度对磁极化子基态寿命的影响.由于电子-声子相互作用和外界温度的影响导致了量子体系的跃迁,即磁极化子吸收了声子的能量由摹态跃迁到激发态,造成极化子在基态的寿命发生变化.通过计算发现束缚磁极化子基态寿命随基态能量的增加而变大,随电子-声子耦合强度,量子点横向和纵向受限长度,外界温度的增加而变小.     

Many-body dynamics of exciton creation in a quantum dot by optical absorption: a quantum quench towards Kondo correlations

We study a quantum quench for a semiconductor quantum dot coupled to a fermionic reservoir, induced by the sudden creation of an exciton via optical absorption. The subsequent emergence of correlations between spin degrees of freedom of dot and reservoir, culminating in the Kondo effect, can be read off from the absorption line shape and understood in terms of the three fixed points of the single-impurity Anderson model. At low temperatures the line shape is dominated by a power-law singularity, with an exponent that depends on gate voltage and, in a universal, asymmetric fashion, on magnetic field, indicative of a tunable Anderson orthogonality catastrophe.     

Exciton relaxation in self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots

The present study focuses on the effect of excited states on the exciton–polaron spectrum for self-assembled InAs/GaAs semiconductor quantum dots. The analytical model takes into account the Coulomb interactions between the electron and the hole as well as, each carrier, the coupling with the longitudinal optical phonon field. Furthermore, the key role played by the exciton continuum in the dot spectrum is also introduced. Such an approach is well fitted to analyze recent experimental findings about single-dot spectroscopy and allows peaks assignment, line width estimation, relaxation time evaluation, etc., necessary steps toward an understanding of the internal dynamics of quantum dots.     

抛物量子点中弱耦合束缚极化子的相互作用能

研究了抛物量子点中弱耦合束缚极化子的性质,采用改进的线性组合算符和幺正变换方法导出了束缚极化子的振动频率、有效质量和相互作用能。讨论了量子点的有效受限长度、电子LO声子耦合强度和库仑场对抛物量子点中弱耦合极化子的振动频率、有效质量和相互作用能的影响。数值计算结果表明:弱耦合束缚极化子的振动频率和相互作用能随有效受限长度的减少而急剧增大,振动频率随库仑势以及电子LO声子耦合强度的增加而增加,而相互作用能随库仑势以及电子LO声子耦合强度的增加而减小。有效质量仅与电子LO声子耦合强度有关。     

ZnS/CdSe量子点中线性和三阶非线性光吸收系数研究

在有效质量近似下,利用量子力学的密度矩阵理论,采用无限深势阱模型,从理论上研究了ZnS/CdSe柱型核壳结构量子点中线性和三阶非线性光吸收系数。导出了柱型量子点中线性和三阶非线性光学吸收系数的解析表达式,分析了该系统在不同条件下线性和三阶非线性光吸收系数与入射光频率之间的关系。改变系统的参数,该系统的光吸收系数呈规律性变化。计算结果表明:弛豫时间τ、入射光强I和壳半径R2对系统的吸收系数α有很大的影响,从而为实验上研究核壳结构量子点的非线性光学效应提供了必要的理论依据。     

单电子在含有双能级原子的空腔中的输运行为

本文构造了一个含有双能级原子的空腔系统,用来模拟一个含有双能级量子点的微腔系统, 并研究其对电子输运行为的影响.通过对该系统输运方程的求解,给出了系统输运系数的具体表达式,然后通过调整空腔及原子的本征特性以及两者的耦合性质,研究了电子在腔体中的输运行为对腔体本征属性的依赖关系. 这些结果可以为如何操控电子在微观结构器件中的输运特性提供一定的理论支持.     

Single-mode spontaneous emission from a single quantum dot in a three-dimensional microcavity

The spontaneous emission from an isolated semiconductor quantum dot state has been coupled with high efficiency to a single, polarization-degenerate cavity mode. The InAs quantum dot is epitaxially formed and embedded in a planar epitaxial microcavity, which is processed into a post of submicron diameter. The single quantum dot spontaneous emission lifetime is reduced from the noncavity value of 1.3 ns to 280 ps, resulting in a single-mode spontaneous emission coupling efficiency of 78%.     

The ground state description of the Fröhlich polaron in a symmetric quantum dot within the framework of LLP-H approach

Within the framework of LLP-H method we have derived an analytical expression for the polaronic correction to the ground state energy and the effective mass of an electron confined in a symmetric quantum dot potential in polar semiconductor in both two and three dimensions. We have also calculated the number of phonons in the cloud of this bound polaron. We observe that polaronic correction is more pronounced in two dimension than that in three dimensional one and increases with the decrease in size of the quantum dot.     

计及激子-双激子相干下半导体单量子点中的空间光孤子对

考虑激子-双激子的相干效应, 解析地研究了半导体单量子点中探测光和信号光的吸收特性和非线性传播特性.结果发现, 在线性条件下, 单量子点中出现电磁感应透明现象; 进一步分析可得, 电磁感应透明所呈现的是单窗口或双窗口或光学增益均可通过调节控制光强加以控制.在非线性条件下, 弱信号光诱导弱探测光产生两个分量, 这两个分量在系统中所激发的自克尔和交叉克尔 非线性效应与系统的衍射效应相平衡从而形成稳定的亮-亮, 亮-暗, 暗-暗等空间光孤子对. 关键词： 半导体量子点 电磁感应透明 空间光孤子对     

Third-order nonlinear optical properties of excitonic state in a semiconductor quantum dot

By considering usual matrix procedures we examine how the exciton affects the nonlinear optical properties of 3-D semiconductor GaAs quantum dot. We calculate the third-order optical susceptibility of the GaAs (well) Al_xGaAs_1?x (barrier), and consequently the refractive index and the absorption coefficient. By increasing the Al content (x) in barrier material, carrier relaxation time is enhanced and the susceptibility peaks and their positions showed a blue shift, which agrees with the existing experimental work. For an anisotropic QD, the third-order nonlinear absorption coefficient depends strongly on the quantum dot width.     

Efficient source of single photons: a single quantum dot in a micropost microcavity

We have demonstrated efficient production of triggered single photons by coupling a single semiconductor quantum dot to a three-dimensionally confined optical mode in a micropost microcavity. The efficiency of emitting single photons into a single-mode traveling wave is approximately 38%, which is nearly 2 orders of magnitude higher than for a quantum dot in bulk semiconductor material. At the same time, the probability of having more than one photon in a given pulse is reduced by a factor of 7 as compared to light with Poissonian photon statistics.     

Experimental demonstration of coherent coupling of two quantum dots

During the recent years semiconductor nanostructures have attracted considerable interest with respect to potential applications in quantum information processing. In particular, quantum dot molecules have been suggested to provide the building block of a quantum computer: forming quantum gates due to coherent coupling of two dots. The characteristic dependence of the splitting of ‘bonding’ and ‘anti-bonding’ states suggests coherent coupling of two InAs/GaAs quantum dots. Anti-crossings in the fine structure of excitons due to mixing of optically bright and dark states have been observed in Faraday configuration. In Voigt configuration the diamagnetic shift of the quantum dot molecule is enhanced compared to a single quantum dot. These findings altogether demonstrate the coherent coupling of exciton states in quantum dot molecules.     

Ultraweak-absorption microscopy of a single semiconductor quantum dot in the midinfrared range

We show that we can measure the room temperature ultraweak absorption of a single buried semiconductor quantum dot. This is achieved by monitoring the deformation field induced by the absorption of midinfrared laser pulses and locally detected with an atomic force microscope tip. The absorption is spectrally and spatially resolved around lambda approximately 10 microm wavelength with 60 nm lateral resolution (lambda/150). The electronic S-D intersublevel absorption of a single quantum dot is identified around 120 meV and exhibits a homogeneous linewidth of approximately 10 meV at room temperature.