Rydberg quantum computation with nuclear spins in two-electron neutral atoms

Alkaline-earth-like (AEL) atoms with two valence electrons and a nonzero nuclear spin can be excited to Rydberg state for quantum computing. Typical AEL ground states possess no hyperfine splitting, but unfortunately a GHz-scale splitting seems necessary for Rydberg excitation. Though strong magnetic fields can induce a GHz-scale splitting, weak fields are desirable to avoid noise in experiments. Here, we provide two solutions to this outstanding challenge with realistic data of well-studied AEL isotopes. In the first theory, the two nuclear spin qubit states |0〉 and |1〉 are excited to Rydberg states |r〉 with detuning Δ and 0, respectively, where a MHz-scale detuning Δ arises from a weak magnetic field on the order of 1 G. With a proper ratio between Δ and Ω, the qubit state |1〉 can be fully excited to the Rydberg state while |0〉 remains there. In the second theory, we show that by choosing appropriate intermediate states a two-photon Rydberg excitation can proceed with only one nuclear spin qubit state. The second theory is applicable whatever the magnitude of the magnetic field is. These theories bring a versatile means for quantum computation by combining the broad applicability of Rydberg blockade and the incomparable advantages of nuclear-spin quantum memory in two-electron neutral atoms.     

非对称量子点中强耦合磁极化子激发态的性质

采用线性组合算符和幺正变换方法,研究非对称量子点中强耦合磁极化子的激发态性质。导出强耦合磁极化子的第一内部激发态能量、激发能量和从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、磁场的回旋频率和电子-声子耦合强度的变化关系。数值计算结果表明：第一内部激发态能量、激发能量和跃迁谱线频率随磁场的回旋频率和电子-声子耦合强度的增加而增大.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。     

Stimulated and spontaneous optical generation of electron spin coherence in charged GaAs quantum dots

We report on the coherent optical excitation of electron spin polarization in the ground state of charged GaAs quantum dots via an intermediate charged exciton (trion) state. Coherent optical fields are used for the creation and detection of the Raman spin coherence between the spin ground states of the charged quantum dot. The measured spin decoherence time, which is likely limited by the nature of the spin ensemble, approaches 10 ns at zero field. We also show that the Raman spin coherence in the quantum beats is caused not only by the usual stimulated Raman interaction but also by simultaneous spontaneous radiative decay of either excited trion state to a coherent combination of the two spin states.     

Effects of Coulomb interactions on spin states in vertical semiconductor quantum dots

The effects of direct Coulomb and exchange interactions on spin states are studied for quantum dots contained in circular and rectangular mesas. For a circular mesa a spin-triplet favored by these interactions is observed at zero and nonzero magnetic fields. We tune and measure the relative strengths of these interactions as a function of the number of confined electrons. We find that electrons tend to have parallel spins when they occupy nearly degenerate single-particle states. We use a magnetic field to adjust the single-particle state degeneracy, and find that the spin-configurations in an arbitrary magnetic field are well explained in terms of two-electron singlet and triplet states. For a rectangular mesa we observe no signatures of the spin-triplet at zero magnetic field. Due to the anisotropy in the lateral confinement single-particle state degeneracy present in the circular mesa is lifted, and Coulomb interactions become weak. We evaluate the degree of the anisotropy by measuring the magnetic field dependence of the energy spectrum for the ground and excited states, and find that at zero magnetic field the spin-singlet is more significantly favored by the lifting of level degeneracy than by the reduction in the Coulomb interaction. We also find that the spin-triplet is recovered by adjusting the level degeneracy with magnetic field. Received: 14 April 2000 / Accepted: 17 April 2000 / Published online: 6 September 2000     

Spectroscopy of molecular states in a few-electron double quantum dot

Semiconductor quantum dots, so-called artificial atoms, have attracted considerable interest as mesoscopic model systems and prospective building blocks of the “quantum computer”. Electrons are trapped locally in quantum dots, forming controllable and coherent mesoscopic atom- and moleculelike systems. Electrostatic definition of quantum dots by use of top gates on a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure allows wide variation of the potential in the underlying two-dimensional electron gas. By distorting the trapping potential of a single quantum dot, a strongly tunnel-coupled double quantum dot can be defined. Transport spectroscopy measurements on such a system charged with N=0,1,2,… electrons are presented. In particular, the tunnel splitting of the double well potential for up to one trapped electron is unambiguously identified. It becomes visible as a pronounced level anticrossing at finite source drain voltage. A magnetic field perpendicular to the two-dimensional electron gas also modulates the orbital excitation energies in each individual dot. By tuning the asymmetry of the double well potential at finite magnetic field the chemical potentials of an excited state of one of the quantum dots and the ground state of the other quantum dot can be aligned, resulting in a second level anticrossing with a larger tunnel splitting. In addition, data on the two-electron transport spectrum are presented.     

Ground-state correlations and finite temperature properties of the transverse Ising model

We present a semi-analytic study of Ising spins on a simple square or cubic lattice coupled to a transverse magnetic field of variable strength. The formal analysis employs correlated basis functions (CBF) theory to investigate the properties of the corresponding N-body ground and excited states. For these states we discuss two different ansaetze of correlated trial wave functions and associated longitudinal and transverse excitation modes. The formalism is then generalized to describe the spin system at nonzero temperatures with the help of a suitable functional approximating the Helmholtz free energy. To test the quality of the functional in a first step we perform numerical calculations within the extended formalism but ignore spatial correlations. Numerical results are reported on the energies of the longitudinal and the transverse excitation modes at zero temperature, on critical data at finite temperatures, and on the optimized spontaneous magnetization as a function of temperature and external field strength.     

Optical spin orientation of a single manganese atom in a quantum dot

The magnetic state of a single magnetic atom (Mn) embedded in an individual semiconductor quantum dot is optically probed using micro-spectroscopy. A high degree of spin polarization can be achieved for an individual Mn atom localized in a quantum dot using quasi-resonant or fully-resonant optical excitation at zero magnetic field. Optically created spin polarized carriers generate an energy splitting of the Mn spin and enable magnetic moment orientation controlled by the photon helicity and energy. The dynamics and the magnetic field dependence of the optical pumping mechanism shows that the spin lifetime of an isolated Mn atom at zero magnetic field is controlled by a magnetic anisotropy induced by the built-in strain in the quantum dots. The Mn spin distribution prepared by optical pumping is fully conserved for a few microseconds. This opens the way to full optical control of the spin state of an individual magnetic atom in a solid state environment.     

Multipeak Kondo effect in one- and two-electron quantum dots

We have fabricated a few-electron quantum dot that can be tuned down to zero electrons while maintaining strong coupling to the leads. Using a nearby quantum point contact as a charge sensor, we can determine the absolute number of electrons in the quantum dot. We find several sharp peaks in the differential conductance, occurring at both zero and finite source-drain bias, for the one- and two-electron quantum dot. We attribute the peaks at finite bias to a Kondo effect through excited states of the quantum dot and investigate the magnetic field dependence of these Kondo resonances.     

Electronic transport spectroscopy of carbon nanotubes in a magnetic field

We report magnetic field spectroscopy measurements in carbon nanotube quantum dots exhibiting fourfold shell structure in the energy level spectrum. The magnetic field induces a large splitting between the two orbital states of each shell, demonstrating their opposite magnetic moment and determining transitions in the spin and orbital configuration of the quantum dot ground state. We use inelastic cotunneling spectroscopy to accurately resolve the spin and orbital contributions to the magnetic moment. A small coupling is found between orbitals with opposite magnetic moment leading to anticrossing behavior at zero field.     

Magnetic-grating free-induction decay and magnetic-grating echo using ultrafast excitation pulses

The interaction of atoms with ultrafast, counterpropagating optical fields is considered. The magnetic degeneracy and hyperfine splitting of the atomic levels are included in the calculations, which are carried out for arbitrary polarizations of the incident fields. The counterpropagating fields produce spatial harmonics in the ground state density matrix (gratings) which can be monitored by backscattering of a traveling wave probe pulse. Two types of excitation schemes are analyzed. The Magnetic-Grating Free-Induction Decay (MGFID) consists of excitation with a single counterpropagating wave field, while the Magnetic-Grating Echo (MGE) involves excitation by two counterpropagating wave fields, separated in time by T. The atomic response to the probe pulse is calculated in lowest-order perturbation theory for atoms cooled below the Doppler limit of laser cooling. Both the MGFID and MGE signals consist of pulses having a duration of order of the excited state lifetime, modulated at frequencies corresponding to the various hyperfine transitions. As a function of the delay between pulses, the signals oscillate at frequencies determined by the ground state hyperfine splittings. General expressions for the MGFID and MGE signals are derived and specific results are presented for the D₂ line in Na.     

Localization of Dirac-like excitations in graphene in the presence of smooth inhomogeneous magnetic fields

The present paper discusses magnetic confinement of the Dirac excitations in graphene in the presence of inhomogeneous magnetic fields. In the first case a magnetic field directed along the z axis whose magnitude is proportional to 1/r is chosen. In the next case we choose a more realistic magnetic field which does not blow up at the origin and gradually fades away from the origin. The magnetic fields chosen do not have any finite/infinite discontinuity for finite values of the radial coordinate. The novelty of the two magnetic fields is related to the equations which are used to find the excited spectra of the excitations. It turns out that the bound state solutions of the two-dimensional hydrogen atom problem are related to the spectra of graphene excitations in the presence of the 1/r (inverse-radial) magnetic field. For the other magnetic field profile one can use the knowledge of the bound state spectrum of a two-dimensional cutoff Coulomb potential to dictate the excitation spectra of graphene. The spectrum of the graphene excitations in the presence of the inverse-radial magnetic field can be exactly solved while the other case cannot be. In the later case we give the localized solutions of the zero-energy states in graphene.     

Experimental signature of phonon-mediated spin relaxation in a two-electron quantum dot

We observe an experimental signature of the role of phonons in spin relaxation between triplet and singlet states in a two-electron quantum dot. Using both the external magnetic field and the electrostatic confinement potential, we change the singlet-triplet energy splitting from 1.3 meV to zero and observe that the spin relaxation time depends nonmonotonously on the energy splitting. A simple theoretical model is derived to capture the underlying physical mechanism. The present experiment confirms that spin-flip energy is dissipated in the phonon bath.     

Laser excitation of positronium in the Paschen-Back regime

Zeeman mixing of singlet and triplet 2P states of positronium (Ps) atoms, followed by decay back to the ground state, can effectively turn a long-lived triplet atom into a short-lived singlet state, which would seem to preclude laser cooling of Ps in a magnetic field. Here we report experiments which show that, in fact, because of the large splitting of the n=2 states in a high magnetic field (the Paschen-Back regime), the amount of such mixing diminishes approximately exponentially with an increasing magnetic field >0.01 T and is essentially eliminated above ～2 T. Thus, laser cooling of Ps should be feasible at high fields, which will facilitate the production of a Ps Bose-Einstein condensate.     

Kondo tunneling through real and artificial molecules

When an asymmetric double dot is hybridized with itinerant electrons, its singlet ground state and lowly excited triplet state cross, leading to a competition between the Zhang-Rice mechanism of singlet-triplet splitting in a confined cluster and the Kondo effect (which accompanies the tunneling through quantum dot under a Coulomb blockade restriction). The rich physics of an underscreened S = 1 Kondo impurity in the presence of low-lying triplet-singlet excitations is exposed and estimates of the magnetic susceptibility and the electric conductance are presented, together with applications for molecule chemisorption on metallic substrates.     

Electronic properties of model quantum-dot structures in zero and finite magnetic fields

We have computed electronic structures and total energies of circularly confined two-dimensional quantum dots and their lateral dimers in zero and finite uniform external magnetic fields using different theoretical schemes: the spin-density-functional theory (SDFT), the current-and-spin-density-functional theory (CSDFT), and the variational quantum Monte Carlo (VMC) method. The SDFT and CSDFT calculations employ a recently-developed, symmetry-unrestricted real-space algorithm allowing solutions which break the spin symmetry. Results obtained for a six-electron dot in the weak confinement limit and in zero magnetic field as well as in a moderate confinement and in finite magnetic fields enable us to draw conclusions about the reliability of the more approximative SDFT and CSDFT schemes in comparison with the VMC method. The same is true for results obtained for the two-electron quantum dot dimer as a function of inter-dot distance. The structure and role of the symmetry-breaking solutions appearing in the SDFT and CSDFT calculations for the above systems are discussed. Received 16 October 2001 and Received in final form 17 January 2002     

磁场对异质界面上D-中心的影响

势阱中的类氢杂质的能级问题一直为学术界所长期关注。讨论了异质界面上中性施主D⁰和负施主离子D^-的能量随垂直于界面的磁场的变化情况,同时将磁场和势阱结合起来考虑其对类氢杂质的影响。研究发现随磁场的增大,其对D⁰基态能的影响越来越大,对其束缚能的影响逐渐变小,而对D^-中心,磁场的作用使得D^-由非束缚态转变为束缚态。计算中分别选取了两种不同的波函数,分析了这两种波函数的适用范围,利用变分的方法得到此结构中D⁰中心的基态能量和束缚能与D^-中心角动量L=-1自旋三重态的本征能量和束缚能随磁场的变化关系,找到了此三重态由非束缚态转变到束缚态对应磁场的阈值。     

On reasons for the hysteresis of melting and crystallization of nanoparticles

The specific features of the EPR spectra of Tm³⁺ impurity ions in synthetic forsterite have been studied by continuous-wave EPR spectroscopy in the frequency range of 270–310 GHz at a temperature of 4.2 K in weak magnetic fields. Narrow resonance signals unrelated to the modulation of the resonance conditions of EPR under the modulation of the external magnetic field have been discovered in measurements at frequencies corresponding to the zero field splitting between the ground and first excited singlet electron states of Tm³⁺ ions in zero magnetic field. The origin of these narrow lines is discussed.     

Gate-dependent orbital magnetic moments in carbon nanotubes

We investigate how the orbital magnetic moments of electron and hole states in a carbon nanotube quantum dot depend on the number of carriers on the dot. Low temperature transport measurements are carried out in a setup where the device can be rotated in an applied magnetic field, thus enabling accurate alignment with the nanotube axis. The field dependence of the level structure is measured by excited state spectroscopy and excellent correspondence with a single-particle calculation is found. In agreement with band structure calculations we find a decrease of the orbital magnetic moment with increasing electron or hole occupation of the dot, with a scale given by the band gap of the nanotube.     

State-filling and magneto-photoluminescence of excited states in InGaAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots

We present the first radiative lifetime measurements and magneto-photoluminescence results of excited states in InGaAs/GaAs semiconductor self-assembled quantum dots. By increasing the photo-excitation intensity, excited state interband transitions up ton= 5 can be observed in the emission spectrum. The dynamics of the interband transitions and the inter-sublevel relaxation in these zero-dimensional energy levels lead to state-filling of the lower-energy states, allowing the quasi-Fermi level to be raised by more than 200 meV due to the combined large inter-sublevel spacing and the low density of states. The decay time of each energy level obtained under various excitation conditions is used to evaluate the inter-sublevel thermalization time. Finally, the emission spectrum of the dots filled with an average of about eight excitons is measured in magnetic fields up to 13 Tesla. The dependences of the spectrum as a function of carrier density and magnetic field are compared to calculations and interpreted in terms of coherent many-exciton states and their destruction by the magnetic field.     

Excitation of lowest electronic states of thymine by slow electrons

Excitation of lowest electronic states of the thymine molecules in the gas phase is studied by elec- tron energy loss spectroscopy. In addition to dipole-allowed transitions to singlet states, transitions to the lowest triplet states were observed. The low-energy features of the spectrum at 3.66 and 4.61 eV are identified with the excitation of the first triplet states 1₃ A′ (π → π*) and 1₃ A″ (n → π*). The higher-lying features at 4.96, 5.75, 6.17, and 7.35 eV are assigned mainly to the excitation of the π → π* transitions to the singlet states of the molecule. The excitation dynamics of the lowest states is studied. It is found that the first triplet state 1³ A′(π → π*) is most efficiently excited at a residual energy close to zero, while the singlet 2₁ A′(π → π*) state is excited with almost identical efficiency at different residual energies.