Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Editors' Suggestion
  • Letter
  • Open Access

Eliminating the confined dark-exciton qubit precession using an externally applied magnetic field

Zu-En Su1,2, Dan Cogan1, Ido Schwartz1, Ayal Beck1, and David Gershoni1,3,2

Phys. Rev. B 111, L161302 – Published 21 April, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.111.L161302

Abstract

We investigate experimentally and theoretically the behavior of the confined dark exciton in an InAs/GaAs semiconductor quantum dot, under the application of an external magnetic field in a Voigt configuration. We show that by varying the magnitude and direction of the external field one can accurately control the dark-exciton fine-structure splitting. In addition, we show that the dark-exciton spin state is approximately polarized along the cubic crystallographic directions [100] or equivalents. By comparing our experimental results with a model for the exchange and Zeeman interactions, we find the conditions for nullifying the fine-structure splitting between the two eigenstates of the dark exciton, thereby stopping its qubit precession.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (44)

  1. M. Atatüre, J. Dreiser, A. Badolato, A. Högele, K. Karrai, and A. Imamoglu, Quantum-dot spin-state preparation with near-unity fidelity, Science 312, 551 (2006).
  2. B. D. Gerardot, D. Brunner, P. A. Dalgarno, P. Öhberg, S. Seidl, M. Kroner, K. Karrai, N. G. Stoltz, P. M. Petroff, and R. J. Warburton, Optical pumping of a single hole spin in a quantum dot, Nature (London) 451, 441 (2008).
  3. D. Press, T. D. Ladd, B. Zhang, and Y. Yamamoto, Complete quantum control of a single quantum dot spin using ultrafast optical pulses, Nature (London) 456, 218 (2008).
  4. J. Berezovsky, M. Mikkelsen, N. Stoltz, L. Coldren, and D. Awschalom, Picosecond coherent optical manipulation of a single electron spin in a quantum dot, Science 320, 349 (2008).
  5. D. Cogan, O. Kenneth, N. H. Lindner, G. Peniakov, C. Hopfmann, D. Dalacu, P. J. Poole, P. Hawrylak, and D. Gershoni, Depolarization of electronic spin qubits confined in semiconductor quantum dots, Phys. Rev. X 8, 041050 (2018).
  6. A. V. Kuhlmann, J. Houel, A. Ludwig, L. Greuter, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, M. Poggio, and R. J. Warburton, Charge noise and spin noise in a semiconductor quantum device, Nat. Phys. 9, 570 (2013).
  7. M. Zieliński, Y. Don, and D. Gershoni, Atomistic theory of dark excitons in self-assembled quantum dots of reduced symmetry, Phys. Rev. B 91, 085403 (2015).
  8. E. R. Schmidgall, Y. Benny, I. Schwartz, R. Presman, L. Gantz, Y. Don, and D. Gershoni, Selection rules for nonradiative carrier relaxation processes in semiconductor quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 93, 245437 (2016).
  9. I. Schwartz, E. R. Schmidgall, L. Gantz, D. Cogan, E. Bordo, Y. Don, M. Zieliński, and D. Gershoni, Deterministic writing and control of the dark exciton spin using single short optical pulses, Phys. Rev. X 5, 011009 (2015).
  10. I. Schwartz, D. Cogan, E. R. Schmidgall, Y. Don, L. Gantz, O. Kenneth, N. H. Lindner, and D. Gershoni, Deterministic generation of a cluster state of entangled photons, Science 354, 434 (2016).
  11. E. L. Ivchenko and G. Pikus, Superlattices and Other Heterostructures: Symmetry and Optical Phenomena (Springer, Berlin, 1997).
  12. D. Gammon, E. S. Snow, B. V. Shanabrook, D. S. Katzer, and D. Park, Fine structure splitting in the optical spectra of single GaAs quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3005 (1996).
  13. G. Bester, S. Nair, and A. Zunger, Pseudopotential calculation of the excitonic fine structure of million-atom self-assembled In1−xGaxAs/GaAs quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 67, 161306(R) (2003).
  14. H. W. van Kesteren, E. C. Cosman, W. A. J. A. van der Poel, and C. T. Foxon, Fine structure of excitons in type-II GaAs/AlAs quantum wells, Phys. Rev. B 41, 5283 (1990).
  15. R. M. Stevenson, R. J. Young, P. See, D. G. Gevaux, K. Cooper, P. Atkinson, I. Farrer, D. A. Ritchie, and A. J. Shields, Magnetic-field-induced reduction of the exciton polarization splitting in InAs quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 73, 033306 (2006).
  16. R. M. Stevenson, R. J. Young, P. Atkinson, K. Cooper, D. A. Ritchie, and A. J. Shields, A semiconductor source of triggered entangled photon pairs, Nature (London) 439, 179 (2006).
  17. L. Gantz, E. R. Schmidgall, I. Schwartz, Y. Don, E. Waks, G. Bahir, and D. Gershoni, Controlling the dark exciton spin eigenstates by external magnetic field, Phys. Rev. B 94, 045426 (2016).
  18. M. Bayer, G. Ortner, O. Stern, A. Kuther, A. A. Gorbunov, A. Forchel, P. Hawrylak, S. Fafard, K. Hinzer, T. L. Reinecke, S. N. Walck, J. P. Reithmaier, F. Klopf, and F. Schafer, Fine structure of neutral and charged excitons in self-assembled In(Ga)As/(Al)GaAs quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 65, 195315 (2002).
  19. D. Cogan, Z.-E. Su, O. Kenneth, and D. Gershoni, Spin purity of the quantum dot confined electron and hole in an external magnetic field, Phys. Rev. B 105, L041407 (2022).
  20. E. Poem, O. Kenneth, Y. Kodriano, Y. Benny, S. Khatsevich, J. E. Avron, and D. Gershoni, Optically induced rotation of an exciton spin in a semiconductor quantum dot, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 087401 (2011).
  21. Y. Benny, S. Khatsevich, Y. Kodriano, E. Poem, R. Presman, D. Galushko, P. M. Petroff, and D. Gershoni, Coherent optical writing and reading of the exciton spin state in single quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 040504 (2011).
  22. Y. Kodriano, I. Schwartz, E. Poem, Y. Benny, R. Presman, T. A. Truong, P. M. Petroff, and D. Gershoni, Complete control of a matter qubit using a single picosecond laser pulse, Phys. Rev. B 85, 241304(R) (2012).
  23. Y. Kodriano, E. Poem, N. H. Lindner, C. Tradonsky, B. D. Gerardot, P. M. Petroff, J. E. Avron, and D. Gershoni, Radiative cascade from quantum dot metastable spin-blockaded biexciton, Phys. Rev. B 82, 155329 (2010).
  24. E. Ivchenko, Fine structure of excitonic levels in semiconductor nanostructures, Phys. Status Solidi A 164, 487 (1997).
  25. E. L. Ivchenko, Optical Spectroscopy of Semiconductor Nanostructures (Alpha Science, Oxford, UK, 2005).
  26. G. Peniakov, A. Beck, E. Poem, Z.-E. Su, B. Taitler, S. Höfling, G. W. Bryant, and D. Gershoni, Magneto-optics of a charge-tunable quantum dot: Observation of a negative diamagnetic shift, Phys. Rev. B 111, 115306 (2025).
  27. R. Winik, D. Cogan, Y. Don, I. Schwartz, L. Gantz, E. R. Schmidgall, N. Livneh, R. Rapaport, E. Buks, and D. Gershoni, On-demand source of maximally entangled photon pairs using the biexciton-exciton radiative cascade, Phys. Rev. B 95, 235435 (2017).
  28. I. Favero, G. Cassabois, A. Jankovic, R. Ferreira, D. Darson, C. Voisin, C. Delalande, P. Roussignol, A. Badolato, P. Petroff et al., Giant optical anisotropy in a single InAs quantum dot in a very dilute quantum-dot ensemble, Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 041904 (2005).
  29. S. Seidl, B. Gerardot, P. Dalgarno, K. Kowalik, A. Holleitner, P. Petroff, K. Karrai, and R. Warburton, Statistics of quantum dot exciton fine structure splittings and their polarization orientations, Physica E 40, 2153 (2008).
  30. V. Mlinar and A. Zunger, Effect of atomic-scale randomness on the optical polarization of semiconductor quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 79, 115416 (2009).
  31. R. J. Young, R. M. Stevenson, A. J. Shields, P. Atkinson, K. Cooper, D. A. Ritchie, K. M. Groom, A. I. Tartakovskii, and M. S. Skolnick, Inversion of exciton level splitting in quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 72, 113305 (2005).
  32. D. Huber, M. Reindl, S. F. Covre da Silva, C. Schimpf, J. Martín-Sánchez, H. Huang, G. Piredda, J. Edlinger, A. Rastelli, and R. Trotta, Strain-tunable GaAs quantum dot: A nearly dephasing-free source of entangled photon pairs on demand, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 033902 (2018).
  33. M. Zieliński, Dark-bright excitons mixing in alloyed InGaAs self-assembled quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 103, 155418 (2021).
  34. A. Schwan, B.-M. Meiners, A. Greilich, D. Yakovlev, M. Bayer, A. Maia, A. Quivy, and A. Henriques, Anisotropy of electron and hole g-factors in (In,Ga)As quantum dots, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 221914 (2011).
  35. R. Zielke, F. Maier, and D. Loss, Anisotropic g factor in InAs self-assembled quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 89, 115438 (2014).
  36. C. E. Pryor and M. E. Flatté, Landé g factors and orbital momentum quenching in semiconductor quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 026804 (2006).
  37. I. A. Yugova, A. Greilich, E. A. Zhukov, D. R. Yakovlev, M. Bayer, D. Reuter, and A. D. Wieck, Exciton fine structure in InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots revisited by pump-probe Faraday rotation, Phys. Rev. B 75, 195325 (2007).
  38. W. Sheng, S. J. Xu, and P. Hawrylak, Electron g-factor distribution in self-assembled quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 77, 241307(R) (2008).
  39. M. Kahraman and C. Bulutay, Electron ground state g factor in embedded InGaAs quantum dots: An atomistic study, Phys. Rev. B 103, 115303 (2021).
  40. S. A. Crooker, J. Brandt, C. Sandfort, A. Greilich, D. R. Yakovlev, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, and M. Bayer, Spin noise of electrons and holes in self-assembled quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 036601 (2010).
  41. A. Trifonov, I. A. Akimov, L. E. Golub, E. L. Ivchenko, I. A. Yugova, A. N. Kosarev, S. E. Scholz, C. Sgroi, A. Ludwig, A. D. Wieck, D. R. Yakovlev, and M. Bayer, Homogeneous optical anisotropy in an ensemble of InGaAs quantum dots induced by strong enhancement of the heavy-hole band Landé parameter q, Phys. Rev. B 104, L161405 (2021).
  42. E. Poem, Y. Kodriano, C. Tradonsky, N. Lindner, B. Gerardot, P. Petroff, and D. Gershoni, Accessing the dark exciton with light, Nat. Phys. 6, 993 (2010).
  43. M. Bayer, O. Stern, A. Kuther, and A. Forchel, Spectroscopic study of dark excitons in InxGa1−xAs self-assembled quantum dots by a magnetic-field-induced symmetry breaking, Phys. Rev. B 61, 7273 (2000).
  44. E. Schmidgall, I. Schwartz, D. Cogan, L. Gantz, Y. Don, and D. Gershoni, Coherent control of dark excitons in semiconductor quantum dots, in Quantum Dots for Quantum Information Technologies, edited by P. Michler (Springer, Berlin, 2017), Chap. 4, pp. 123–164.

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation