Robust quantum dot exciton generation via adiabatic passage with frequency-swept optical pulses

The energy states in semiconductor quantum dots are discrete as in atoms, and quantum states can be coherently controlled with resonant laser pulses. Long coherence times allow the observation of Rabi flopping of a single dipole transition in a solid state device, for which occupancy of the upper state depends sensitively on the dipole moment and the excitation laser power. We report on the robust population inversion in a single quantum dot using an optical technique that exploits rapid adiabatic passage from the ground to an excited state through excitation with laser pulses whose frequency is swept through the resonance. This observation in photoluminescence experiments is made possible by introducing a novel optical detection scheme for the resonant electron hole pair (exciton) generation.     

Deutsch-jozsa algorithm using triggered single photons from a single quantum dot

We demonstrate a two-qubit Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm with single photons from a single InP quantum dot. The qubits are implemented via the spatial mode and the polarization of a single photon. Our photon source is operated both under continuous and pulsed excitation, the latter allowing deterministic quantum logic by generating photons on demand with a strong suppression of two-photon events. The computation reached a success probability of up to 79%. We also exploit the concept of decoherence-free subspaces that helps to make our experimental setup robust against sources of phase noise.     

Biexciton quantum coherence in a single quantum dot

Nondegenerate (two-wavelength) two-photon absorption using coherent optical fields is used to show that there are two different quantum mechanical pathways leading to formation of the biexciton in a single quantum dot. Of specific importance to quantum information applications is the resulting coherent dynamics between the ground state and the biexciton from the pathway involving only optically induced exciton/biexciton quantum coherence. The data provide a direct measure of the biexciton decoherence rate which is equivalent to the decoherence of the Bell state in this system, as well as other critical optical parameters.     

Nonadiabatic corrections to a quantum dot quantum computer working in adiabatic limit

The time of operation of an adiabatic quantum computer must be less than the decoherence time, otherwise the computer would be nonoperative. So far, the nonadiabatic corrections to an adiabatic quantum computer are merely theoretical considerations. By the above reason, we consider the particular case of a quantum-dot-confined electron spin qubit working adiabatically in the nanoscale regime (e.g., in the MeV range of energies) and include nonadiabatic corrections in it. If the decoherence times of a quantum dot computer are ～100 ns [J M Kikkawa and D D Awschalom, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4313 (1998)] then the predicted number of one qubit gate (primitive) operations of the Loss–DiVincenzo quantum computer in such an interval of time must be >10 ¹⁰. However, if the quantum-dot-confined electron spin qubit is very excited (i.e., the semiclassical limit) the number of operations of such a computer would be approximately the same as that of a classical computer. Our results suggest that for an adiabatic quantum computer to operate successfully within the decoherence times, it is necessary to take into account nonadiabatic corrections.     

Fabrication of quantum dot transistors incorporating a single self-assembled quantum dot

We report on the fabrication and the characterization of quantum dot transistors incorporating a single self-assembled quantum dot. The current–voltage characteristics exhibit clear staircase structures at room temperature. They are attributed to electron tunneling through the quantized energy levels of a single quantum dot.     

Coherent dynamics in InGaAs quantum dots and quantum dot molecules

We measure the dephasing time of the exciton ground state transition in InGaAs quantum dots (QD) and quantum dot molecules (QDM) using a sensitive four-wave mixing technique. In the QDs we find experimental evidence that the dephasing time is given only by the radiative lifetime at low temperatures. We demonstrate the tunability of the radiatively limited dephasing time from 400 ps up to 2 ns in a series of annealed QDs with increasing energy separation of 69–330 meV from the wetting layer continuum. Furthermore, the distribution of the fine-structure splitting δ₁ and of the biexciton binding energy δ_B is measured. δ₁ decreases from 96 to with increasing annealing temperature, indicating an improving circular symmetry of the in-plane confinement potential. The biexciton binding energy shows only a weak dependence on the confinement energy, which we attribute to a compensation between decreasing confinement and decreasing separation of electron and hole. In the QDM we measured the exciton dephasing as function of interdot barrier thickness in the temperature range from 5 to 60 K. At 5 K dephasing times of several hundred picoseconds are found. Moreover, a systematic dependence of the dephasing dynamics on the barrier thickness is observed, showing how the quantum mechanical coupling in the molecules affects the exciton lifetime and acoustic-phonon interaction.     

Multiexciton transients in a single quantum dot

The relaxation dynamics of a multiple exciton complex (multiexciton) confined in a semiconductor quantum dot has been investigated. Emission signals from a single self-organized GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As quantum dot are temporally resolved with picosecond time resolution. The emission spectra consisting of the multiexciton structures are observed to depend on the delay time and the excitation intensity. Quantitative agreement is found between the experimental data and the calculation based on a model describing the successive relaxation of multiexcitons.     

Lifetime dispersion in a single quantum dot

We present a decay formula for photoluminescence of a single quantum dot. We apply the formula to time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements for a single InAs/GaAs quantum dot. The formula works very well for the PL decays of excitons and biexcitons in the system. The physical basis of the formula originates from the temporal dispersion of lifetimes. PACS 78.67.Hc; 78.47.+p; 78.55.Cr; 71.35.-y     

Multi-exciton spectroscopy on a self-assembled InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot

We report about spatially resolved magneto-optical experiments on a self-assembled InGaAs quantum dot. Using electron beam lithograpy for patterning a metal shadow mask we can isolate a single dot. This allows us to study the optical response of a single dot as a function of excitation power and magnetic field. We investigate the influence of many body interaction in the emission spectra for different exciton occupation numbers of the dot. The diamagnetic/orbital shift as well as Zeeman splitting in a magnetic field can be fully resolved and are used to identify the observed emission lines. Further we report on absorption properties of the quantum dot as a function of magnetic field. We analyse in detail the phonon-assisted absorption process connected with the GaAs LO-phonon 36 meV above the single-exciton ground state.     

Multiphonon-resonance quantum Rabi model and adiabatic passage in a cavity-optomechanical system

In this paper,we propose a scheme to achieve a multiphonon-resonance quantum Rabi model and adiabatic passage in a strong-coupling cavity optomechanical system.In the scheme,when the driving bichromatic laser beam is adjusted to the off-resonant j-order red-and blue-sideband,the interaction between the cavity and mechanical oscillator leads to a j-phonon resonance quantum Rabi model.Moreover,we show that there exists a resonant multi-phonon coupling via intermediate states connected by counter-rotating processes when the frequency of the simulated bosonic mode is near a fraction of the transition frequency of the simulated two-level system.As a typical example,we theoretically analyze the two-phonon resonance quantum Rabi model,and derive an effective Hamiltonian of the six-phonon coupling.Finally,we present a method of six-phonon generation based on adiabatic passage across the resonance.Numerical simulations confirm the validity of the proposed scheme.Theoretically,the proposed scheme can be extended to the realization of 3j-phonon state.     

Population transfer via adiabatic passage in the Rydberg potassium atom

Using the time-dependent multilevel approach, we have calculated the coherent population transfer between the quantum states of potassium atom by a single frequency-chirped laser pulse. The result shows that a pair of sequential `broadband' frequency-chirped laser pulses can efficiently transfer population from the initial state of the ladder system to the target state. It is also found that the population can be efficiently transferred to a target state and trapped there by using an `intuitive' or a `counterintuitive' frequency sweep laser pulse in the case of `narrowband' frequency-chirped laser pulse. Our research shows that the complete population transfer is related to the pulse duration, chirp rate, and amplitude of the laser pulse.     

Distributed quantum computing in decoherence-free subspace via adiabatic passage

A scheme is proposed to implement distributed quantum computation in decoherence-free subspaces (DFSs) via adiabatic passage. The logical single-qubit is encoded in two atoms trapped in a single-mode cavity and the cavities are connected by an optical fiber. Our scheme is immune from the decoherence due to dephasing in virtue of encoding scheme and the decoherence due to spontaneous emission from excited states as the system in our scheme evolves along a dark state. Furthermore, the decoherence due to photon decay is greatly suppressed since the fiber mode remains in a vacuum state and the populations of the cavities’ modes being excited can be negligible under certain condition. It is shown that the minimum fidelity of the resultant gate operation for an arbitrary input state could be over 0.97.     

Implementation of quantum search scheme by adiabatic passage in a cavity--laser--atom system

This paper proposes a scheme for implementing the adiabatic quantum search algorithm of different marked items in an unsorted list of N items with atoms in a cavity driven by lasers. N identical three-level atoms are trapped in a single-mode cavity. Each atom is driven by a set of three pulsed laser fields. In each atom, the same level represents a database entry. Two of the atoms are marked differently. The marked atom has an energy gap between its two ground states. The two different marked states can be sought out respectively starting from an initial entangled state by controlling the ratio of three pulse amplitudes. Moreover, the mechanism, based on adiabatic passage, constitutes a decoherence-free method in the sense that spontaneous emission and cavity damping are avoided since the dynamics follows the dark state. Furthermore, this paper extends the algorithm with m (m>2) atoms marked in an ideal situation. Any different marked state can be sought out.     

Dephasing processes in a single semiconductor quantum dot

We discuss the decoherence dynamics in a single semiconductor quantum dot and analyze two dephasing mechanisms. In the first part of the review, we examine the intrinsic source of dephasing provided by the coupling to acoustic phonons. We show that the non-perturbative reaction of the lattice to the interband optical transition results in a composite optical spectrum with a central zero-phonon line and lateral side-bands. In fact, these acoustic phonon side-bands completely dominate the quantum dot optical response at room temperature. In the second part of the article, we focus on the extrinsic dephasing mechanism of spectral diffusion that determines the quantum dot decoherence at low temperatures. We interpret the variations of both width and shape of the zero-phonon line as due to the fluctuating electrostatic environment. In particular, we demonstrate the existence of a motional narrowing regime in the limit of low incident power or low temperature, thus revealing an unconventional phenomenology compared to nuclear magnetic resonance. To cite this article: G. Cassabois, R. Ferreira, C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

Triggered single photons from a quantum dot

We demonstrate a new method for generating triggered single photons. After a laser pulse generates excitons inside a single quantum dot, electrostatic interactions between them and the resulting spectral shifts allow a single emitted photon to be isolated. Correlation measurements show a reduction of the two-photon probability to 0.12 times the value for Poisson light. Strong antibunching persists when the emission is saturated. The emitted photons are also polarized.     

Quantum state engineering in a cavity by Stark chirped rapid adiabatic passage

We propose a robust scheme to generate single-photon Fock states and atom–photon and atom–atom entanglement in atom–cavity systems. We also present a scheme for quantum networking between two cavity nodes using an atomic channel. The mechanism is based on Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP) and half-SCRAP processes in a microwave cavity. The engineering of these states depends on the design of the adiabatic dynamics through the static and dynamic Stark shifts.     

Preparation of Fock states and quantum entanglement via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage using a four-level atom

We study the behaviour of an atom-cavity system exposed to a stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) process in a four-level system, with a coupling scheme which generate two degenerate dark states. We find that the non-adiabatic interaction of the two dark states guarantees that the cavity Fock states can always be generated by both intuitively and counterintuitively ordered pulses. Furthermore, we propose a method to entangle two atoms. Depending on the ordering of the pulses two orthogonal entangled states can be prepared. Since these entangled states do not have component of the excited states included, the technique is robust against the detrimental consequences of spontaneous emission. Received 20 March 2001     

Decoherence of rabi oscillations in a single quantum dot

We develop a realistic model of Rabi oscillations in a quantum-dot photodiode. Based in a multiexciton density matrix formulation we show that for short pulses the two-level model fails and higher levels should be taken into account. This affects some of the experimental conclusions, such as the inferred efficiency of the state rotation (population inversion) and the deduced value of the dipole interaction. We also show that the damping observed cannot be explained using constant rates with fixed pulse duration. We demonstrate that the damping observed is in fact induced by an off-resonant excitation to or from the continuum of wetting layer states. Our model describes the nonlinear decoherence behavior observed in recent experiments.