Optically driven spin memory in n-doped InAs-GaAs quantum dots

We show that the spin state of the resident electron in an n-doped self-assembled InAs-GaAs quantum dot can be written and read using nonresonant, circularly polarized optical pumping. A simple theoretical model is presented and accounts for the remarkable dynamics producing counterpolarized photoluminescence.     

Strong electron-hole exchange in coherently coupled quantum dots

We have investigated few-body states in vertically stacked quantum dots. Because of a small interdot tunneling rate, the coupling in our system is in a previously unexplored regime where electron-hole exchange plays a prominent role. By tuning the gate bias, we are able to turn this coupling off and study a complementary regime where total electron spin is a good quantum number. The use of differential transmission allows us to obtain unambiguous signatures of the interplay between electron and hole-spin interactions. Small tunnel coupling also enables us to demonstrate all-optical charge sensing, where a conditional exciton energy shift in one dot identifies the charging state of the coupled partner.     

Size-dependent electron-hole exchange interaction in CdSe quantum dots

Il Nuovo Cimento D - We have investigated the fine structure of luminecence of CdSe nanocrystals observed with size-selective excitation. We show that the luminescence line closest to the laser...     

Size-dependent electron-hole exchange interaction in CdSe quantum dots

Il Nuovo Cimento D - We have investigated the fine structure of luminecence of CdSe nanocrystals observed with size-selective excitation. We show that the luminescence line closest to the laser...     

Phonon-assisted radiative electron-hole recombination in silicon quantum dots

The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of silicon quantum dots (QDs) is studied both theoretically and experimentally, and the time of the corresponding electron-hole radiative recombination is calculated. The dependence of the recombination time on the QD size is discussed. The experiment shows that the PL intensity decreases by approximately 60% as the temperature increases from 77 to 293 K. The calculated characteristic recombination time has only a weak temperature dependence; therefore, the decrease in the PL intensity is associated primarily with nonradiative transitions. It is also shown that the phonon-assisted radiation is much more efficient than the zero-phonon emission. Moreover, the zero-phonon recombination time depends on the QD radius R as R⁸, whereas the phonon-assisted recombination time depends on this radius as R³.     

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.     

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).     

Long lived coherence in self-assembled quantum dots

We report measurements of ultralong coherence in self-assembled quantum dots. Transient four-wave mixing experiments at 5 K show an average dephasing time of 372 ps, corresponding to a homogeneous linewidth of 3.5 microeV, which is significantly smaller than the linewidth observed in single-dot luminescence. Time-resolved luminescence measurements show a lifetime of the dot ground state of 800 ps, demonstrating the presence of pure dephasing at finite temperature. The homogeneous width is lifetime limited only at temperatures approaching 0 K.     

Fluorescence intermittency in self-assembled InP quantum dots

Fluorescence intermittency in InP self-assembled dots is investigated by means of far field imaging and single dot spectroscopy. Based on our observation that blinking dots are found in the vicinity of scratches and the blinking frequency is drastically enhanced under a near-infrared laser irradiation, we attribute the origin of the fluorescence intermittency to a local electric field due to a carrier trapped at a deep localized center in the Ga0.5In0.5P matrix. The validity of this explanation is confirmed by a thermal activation-type behavior of the switching rate and artificial reproduction of the blinking phenomenon by an external electric field.     

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.     

Composition maps in self-assembled alloy quantum dots

Nanoscale variations in composition arising from the competition between chemical mixing effects and elastic relaxation can substantially influence the electronic and optical properties of self-assembled alloy quantum dots. Using a combination of finite element and quadratic programming optimization methods, we have developed an efficient technique to compute the equilibrium composition profiles in strained quantum dots. We find that the composition profiles depend strongly on the morphological features such as the slopes and curvatures of their surfaces and the presence of corners and edges as well as the ratio of the strain and chemical mixing energy densities. More generally, our approach provides a means to quantitatively model the interplay among the composition variations, the temperature, the strain, and the shapes of small-scale lattice-mismatched structures.     

Optical switching of quantum states inside self-assembled quantum dots

Photoluminescence and excitation of photoluminescence spectroscopy have been performed for two kinds of single InAs self-assembled quantum dots grown on GaAs. The presence of unintentional impurities (donors and acceptors) offers the possibility to switch from negative to positively charged excitons by selectively exciting impurity related optical transitions.     

Spatial weak-light ring soliton in self-assembled quantum dots

By using semiclassical theory combined with multiple-scale method, we analytically study the linear absorption and the nonlinear dynamical properties in a lifetime broadened Λ-type three-level self-assembled quantum dots. It is found that this system can exhibit the transparency, and the width of the transparency window becomes wider with the increase of control light field. Interestingly, a weak probe light beam can form spatial weak-light dark solitons. When it propagates along the axial direction, the soliton will transform into a steady spatial weak-light ring dark soltion. In addition, the stability of two-dimensional spatial optical solitons is testified numerically.     

Infrared photodetection with semiconductor self-assembled quantum dots

Semiconductor self-assembled quantum dots are potential candidates to develop a new class of midinfrared quantum photodetectors and focal plane arrays. In this article, we present the specific midinfrared properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots associated with the intersublevel transitions. The electronic structure, which accounts for the strain field in the islands, is obtained within the framework of a three-dimensional 8 band k.p formalism. The midinfrared intersublevel absorption in n-doped quantum dots is described. We show that the carrier dynamics can be understood in terms of polarons which result from the strong coupling regime for the electron–phonon interaction in the dots. The principle of operation of vertical and lateral quantum dot infrared photodetectors is described and discussed by comparison with quantum well infrared photodetectors. We review the performances of different type of detectors developed to date and finally give some orientation to realize high performance quantum dot infrared photodetectors. To cite this article: P. Boucaud, S. Sauvage, C. R. Physique 4 (2003).     

Micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy of hierarchically self-assembled quantum dots

Novel, self-assembled quantum dot (QD) structures suitable for single-dot optical spectroscopy are fabricated by combining III–V molecular beam epitaxy and in situ, atomic layer precise etching. Several growth and etching steps are used to produce lateral InAs/GaAs QD bimolecules and unstrained GaAs/AlGaAs QDs with low surface density . Micro-photoluminescence is used to investigate the ensemble and single-QD properties of GaAs QDs. Single-QD spectra show resolution-limited sharp lines at low excitation and broad “shell-structures” at high excitation intensity.     

Electronic characteristics of InAs self-assembled quantum dots

Deep-level transient spectroscopy and photoluminescence studies have been carried out on structures containing self-assembled InAs quantum dots formed in GaAs matrices. The use of n- and p-type GaAs matrices allows us to study separately electron and hole levels in the quantum dots by the deep-level transient spectroscopy technique. From analysis of deep-level transient spectroscopy measurements it follows that the quantum dots have electron levels 130 meV below the bottom of the GaAs conduction band and heavy-hole levels at 90 meV above the top of the GaAs valence band. Combining with the photoluminescence results, the band structures of InAs and GaAs have been determined.     

Electron and hole effective masses in self-assembled quantum dots

Electron and hole effective masses in self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots are determined by fitting the energy levels calculated by a single-band model to those obtained by a more sophisticated tight-binding method. For the dots of various shapes and dimensions, the electron effective-mass is found to be much larger than that in the bulk and become anisotropic in the dots of large aspect ratio while the hole effective-mass becomes almost isotropic in the dots of small aspect ratio. For flat InAs/GaAs quantum dots, the most appropriate value for the electron and hole effective-mass is believed to be the electron effective-mass in bulk GaAs and the vertical heavy-hole effective-mass in bulk InAs, respectively.     

Interface phonon modes in truncated conical self-assembled quantum dots

Within the framework of the standard dielectric continuum model (DCM), we have performed a theoretical study of interface (IF) phonon modes in III-V semiconductor self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs). We model the SAQD as a truncated cone whose growth-axis is along the polar axis of the cone. Small and arbitrary polar angle approximations are used to resolve the angular partial differential equation within the variables separation scheme of the Laplace’s equation. Our theory allows to obtain new features in the IF modes behavior as the geometry parameters change (aspect ratio and angle of the conical dot). In fact, IF eigenfrequencies present an abrupt change at determined angles, related with the change of sign in the IF dispersion law.