Observation of the quantum Hall effect in cleaved InAs surfaces

We have performed the in-plane magnetotransport measurements on the two-dimensional electron gas at the cleaved p-InAs (1 1 0) surface by deposition of Ag. The surface electron density N_s is determined from the Hall coefficient at . The coverage dependence of N_s is well explained by the assumption that each adsorbed Ag atom denotes one electron into InAs until the surface Fermi level reaches the adsorbate-induced donor level. The electron mobility μ is about and does not show a clear dependence on the coverage over . In the high-magnetic field regime of B>1/μ, Shubnikov–de Hass oscillations were observed. A beating pattern due to the strong spin–orbit interaction appears for high N_s. For lower N_s of , an apparent quantum Hall plateau for ν=4 and vanishing of the longitudinal resistivity were observed around .     

Quantum transport study of canted antiferromagnetic phase in the bilayer quantum Hall state

We examine the ν=2 bilayer quantum Hall (QH) state in clean two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs) to study effects due to not only the layer degree of freedom called pseudospin but also the real spin degree of freedom. The novel canted antiferromagnetic phase (CAF phase) has been predicted to emerge from subtle many-body electron interactions between the singlet (S) and ferromagnet (F) phases. Though several experiments indicate an onset of the CAF phase, a systematic transport study is not yet to be demonstrated. We have carried out magnetotransport measurements of the ν=2 bilayer QH state using a sample with tunneling energy . Activation energy was precisely measured as a function of the total density of the 2DES and the density difference between the two layers. Results support an appearance of the CAF phase between the S and F phases.     

Phase transitions in the quantum Hall liquid in a quantum wire

Two scenarios for the collapse of the ν=1 quantum Hall liquid (QHL) state, with the effective quantum wire (QW) width defined by the Fermi vector k_F, are studied. Here, ν for the QW is defined as the filling factor of Landau levels (LL) at the center of the QW. In the first one there is no electron redistribution at critical magnetic field , where the Fermi energy, E_F, coincides with the bottom of the empty upper spin-split LL. For the ν=1 state is unstable due to exchange-correlation effects and lateral confinement. In the second scenario, a transition to the ν=2 state occurs, with much smaller width, at . The latter scenario is analyzed in the Hartree–Fock approximation (HFA). Here the Hartree contribution to the total energy affects drastically due to strong electron redistribution in the QW. In both scenarios, the exchange-enhanced g-factor is suppressed at B_cr. The critical fields, activation energy, and optical g-factor obtained in the first scenario are very close to the measured ones.     

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.     

The influence of quantum fluctuations on quantum hall phases at large

We have explored the behavior of a two-dimensional hole system in the regime of very low densities and hence large r_s. The electronic phases at the largest magnetic fields have surprising behavior. We found that with decreasing density the reentrant insulating phase weakens until it completely disappears. We also found that at the collapse of the reentrant insulator the nearby fractional quantum Hall liquid is unexpectedly suppressed. Both of these properties can be understood as stemming from quantum fluctuations of the insulating electronic solid.     

Electron spin resonance of the two-dimensional metallic state and the quantum Hall state in a Si/SiGe quantum well

We report electrically detected electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements of a high mobility two-dimensional (2D) electron system formed in a Si/SiGe quantum well, with millimeter wave in a high magnetic field . The negative ESR signal observed under an in-plane magnetic field gives direct evidence that the spin polarization leads to a resistance increase in the 2D metallic state. Suppression of spin decoherence was observed in the quantum Hall state at the Landau level filling factor ν=2. Strength of the nuclear magnetic field in the resonance is evaluated to be less than , much smaller than that reported for GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures.     

Model for the off-time distribution in blinking quantum dots

The understanding of blinking quantum dots (QDs) is an open problem since more than a decade. We have investigated the off-time distribution of a semiconductor QD on the basis of an Auger-induced release process of an electron deeply trapped in the QD shell. This release process has not yet been treated in the literature explicitly and starts with the optical generation of an additional electron-hole pair in the off-state of a QD, characterized by a valence band hole in the core and a trapped electron in the shell. This additional pair subsequently recombines and the recombination energy is transferred by an Auger process to the trapped electron. We discuss the efficiency of the release process as compared to the quenching process. For a deep trap occupation density (r₀ is the trap distance from the QD center) and a Förster-like release rate, we arrive at an off-time distribution with α=3/2 in agreement with experimental findings in many QDs.     

Magnetooptical investigations of single self assembled In0.3Ga0.7As quantum dots

We present results from magnetooptical investigations of large elongated single self assembled In_0.3Ga_0.7As quantum dots with a low surface density of . Compared to conventional In_0.6Ga_0.4As quantum dots the dimension of the investigated dots is enlarged by nearly one order of magnitude using a low strain In_0.3Ga_0.7As nucleation layer. In addition, the exciton exhibits a smaller g-factor of 0–0.4 and a larger diamagnetic coefficient of 20– in Faraday geometry, reflecting the increased extension of the exciton wavefunction, with respect to In_0.6Ga_0.4As quantum dots. From power dependent investigations we observe biexciton binding energies ranging from 1.7 to 1.9 meV. Excited state emission appears typically 2–5 meV above the ground state which is consistent with the increased dimensions of the structure. Furthermore we find linear polarization degrees of up to 0.6 from exciton emission of the elongated quantum dot structure.     

Influence of spin on the activation energies at

The activation energy Δ of the fractional quantum Hall state at constant filling factor and also at and has been measured as a function of the perpendicular magnetic field B while modulating the electron density via a top gate. At small magnetic fields we observe a linear increase of Δ with the magnetic field. The slope of Δ vs. B allows us to directly extract the composite fermion g-factor.     

Spin excitations in the fractional quantum Hall regime at

We report inelastic light scattering experiments in the fractional quantum Hall regime at filling factors . A spin mode is observed below the Zeeman energy. The filling factor dependence of the mode energy is consistent with its assignment to spin flip excitations of composite fermions (CF) with four attached flux quanta (φ=4). Our findings reveal a CF Landau level structure in the φ=4 sequence.     

Single InAs/GaAs quantum dots: Photocurrent and cross-sectional AFM analysis

Photocurrent (PC) spectroscopy is employed to study the carrier escape from self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a Schottky photodiode structure. As a function of the applied field, we detect a shift of the exciton ground-state transition due to the quantum-confined Stark effect (). The tunneling time, which is directly related to the observed photocurrent linewidth due to τ/(2Γ), changes by a factor of five in the photocurrent regime. The measured linewidth dependency on the electric field is modeled by a simple 1D WKB approximation for the tunneling process, which shows that the energetic position of the wetting layer is important for the measured tunneling time out of the dot. In addition to that we present cross-sectional atomic force measurements (AFM) of the investigated photodiode structure. The method needs a minimum of time and sample preparation (cleaving and etching) to obtain the dot density, dot distribution, and give an estimate of the dot dimensions. Etching only the cleaved surface of the sample opens up the opportunity to determine the properties of a buried dot layer before or even after device fabrication.     

Long wavelength InAs self-assembled quantum dots embedded in GaNAs strain-compensating layers

We investigated the effect of GaNAs strain-compensating layers (SCLs) on the properties of InAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaAs (0 0 1) substrates. The GaNAs material can be used as SCL thereby minimizing the net strain, and thus is advantageous for multi-stacking of InAs QDs structures and achieving long wavelength emission. The emission wavelength of InAs QDs can be tuned by changing the nitrogen (N) composition in GaNAs SCLs due to both effects of strain compensation and lowering of potential barrier height. A photoluminescence emission at 77 K was clearly observed for sample with GaN_0.024As_0.976 SCL. Further, we observed an improvement of optical properties of InAs QDs by replacing the more popular GaAs embedding layers with GaNAs SCLs, which is a result of decreasing non-radiative defects owing to minimizing the total net strain.     

Observations of nascent superfluidity in a bilayer two-dimensional electron system at

Single-layer longitudinal and Hall resistances have been measured in a bilayer two-dimensional electron system at ν_T=1 with equal but oppositely directed currents flowing in the two layers. At small effective layer separation and low temperature, the bilayer system enters an interlayer coherent state expected to exhibit superfluid properties. We detect this nascent superfluidity through the vanishing of both resistances as the temperature is reduced. This corresponds to the counterflow conductivity rising rapidly as the temperature falls, reaching by . This supports the prediction that the ground state of this system is an excitonic superfluid.     

Optical properties of individual manganese-doped quantum dots

The magnetic state of a single magnetic ion (Mn²⁺) embedded in an individual quantum dot is optically probed using micro-spectroscopy. The fine structure of a confined exciton in the exchange field of a single Mn²⁺ ion (S=) is analyzed in detail. The exciton–Mn²⁺ exchange interaction shifts the energy of the exciton depending on the Mn²⁺ spin component and six emission lines are observed at zero magnetic field. The emission spectra of individual quantum dots containing a single magnetic Mn atom differ strongly from dot to dot. The differences are explained by the influence of the system geometry, specifically the in-plane asymmetry of the quantum dot and the position of the Mn atom. Depending on both these parameters, one has different characteristic emission features which either reveal or hide the spin state of the magnetic atom. The observed behavior in both zero field and under magnetic field can be explained quantitatively by the interplay between the exciton–Mn²⁺ exchange interaction (dependent on the Mn position) and the anisotropic part of the electron–hole exchange interaction (related to the asymmetry of the quantum dot).     

Probabilistic quantum cloning of real states

We construct the explicit formulation of the probabilistically perfect quantum cloning machine that perfectly duplicates the input states chosen from the special set consisting of the linearly independent and nonorthogonal quantum states with 〈φ_i ∣φ_j〉 = r ∈ (0, 1)(i ≠ j). The success probabilities of cloning the input states are equal and maximal. As two examples, we present the explicit transformations of the optimal 1 → 2 probabilistically perfect quantum cloning of the real states in 2 and 3 dimensions. The success probabilities of each of two cloning machines are equal and maximal.     

Korringa-like nuclear spin–lattice relaxation in a 2DES at

Via a resistively detected NMR technique, the nuclear spin–lattice relaxation time T₁ of ⁷¹Ga has been measured in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure containing two weakly coupled 2D electron systems (2DES) at low temperatures, each at Landau level filling . Incomplete electronic spin polarization, which has been reported previously for low density 2DESs at , should facilitate hyperfine-coupled nuclear spin relaxation owing to the presence of both electron spin states at the Fermi level. Composite fermion theory suggests a Korringa-law temperature dependence: T₁T=constant is expected for temperatures . Our measurements show that for temperatures in the range , T₁ rises less rapidly with falling temperature than this law predicts. This may suggest the existence of alternate nuclear spin relaxation mechanisms in this system. Also, our data allows for an estimate of the composite fermion mass.     

Direct observation of tunneling emission to determine localization energies in self-organized In(Ga)As quantum dots

We report direct observation of tunneling emission of electrons and holes from In(Ga)As/GaAs QDs in time resolved capacitance spectroscopy. From the dependence of the tunneling time constant on the external electric field the important entire localization energies of electron and holes in In(Ga)As QDs are determined with high accuracy. The results yield electron and hole localization energies of and , respectively, which is in excellent agreement with 8-band k·p theory.