- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review B

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
  • Open Access

Spin properties in droplet epitaxy grown telecom quantum dots

Marius Cizauskas1,2,*, Elisa M. Sala3, Jon Heffernan3, A. Mark Fox2, Manfred Bayer1, and Alex Greilich1,†

  • *Contact author: marius.cizauskas@tu-dortmund.de
  • †Contact author: alex.greilich@tu-dortmund.de
PDF

Phys. Rev. B 112, 165412 – Published 9 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bm22-smcp

Abstract

We investigate the spin properties of InAs/InGaAs/InP quantum dots grown by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) deposition using droplet epitaxy, which emits in the telecom C band. Using pump-probe Faraday ellipticity measurements, we determine electron and hole g factors of |ge|=0.93 and |gh|=0.47, with the electron g factor being nearly twice as low as typical molecular beam epitaxy Stranski-Krastanov (SK) grown samples. Most significantly, we measure a longitudinal spin relaxation time T1=3.0µs, representing an order of magnitude improvement over comparable MBE SK grown samples. Despite significant electron g-factor anisotropy, we observed that it is reduced relative to similar material composition samples grown with MBE or MOVPE SK methods. We attribute this g-factor anisotropy and spin lifetime improvements to the enhanced structural symmetry achieved via MOVPE droplet epitaxy, which mitigates the inherent structural asymmetry in strain-driven growth approaches for InAs/InP quantum dots. These results demonstrate that MOVPE droplet epitaxy-grown InAs/InGaAs/InP quantum dots exhibit favorable spin properties for potential implementation in quantum information applications.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Corrections

9 December, 2025

Correction: A typographical error in the last sentence of the abstract has been fixed.

Article Text

References (62)

  1. S. J. van Enk and O. Hirota, Entangled coherent states: Teleportation and decoherence, Phys. Rev. A 64, 022313 (2001).
  2. J. G. Rarity, P. R. Tapster, P. M. Gorman, and P. Knight, Ground to satellite secure key exchange using quantum cryptography, New J. Phys. 4, 82 (2002).
  3. J.-P. Bourgoin, E. Meyer-Scott, B. L. Higgins, B. Helou, C. Erven, H. Hübel, B. Kumar, D. Hudson, I. D'Souza, R. Girard, R. Laflamme, and T. Jennewein, Corrigendum: A comprehensive design and performance analysis of low Earth orbit satellite quantum communication (2013 New J. Phys. 15 023006), New J. Phys. 16, 069502 (2014).
  4. D. Giggenbach and A. Shrestha, Atmospheric absorption and scattering impact on optical satellite-ground links, Int. J. Satell. Commun. Netw. 40, 157 (2022).
  5. C. Howe, M. Aziz, and A. Anwar, Towards scalable quantum networks, arXiv:2409.08416.
  6. M. K. Bhaskar, R. Riedinger, B. Machielse, D. S. Levonian, C. T. Nguyen, E. N. Knall, H. Park, D. Englund, M. Lončar, D. D. Sukachev, and M. D. Lukin, Experimental demonstration of memory-enhanced quantum communication, Nature (London) 580, 60 (2020).
  7. S. Bauer, D. Wang, N. Hoppe, C. Nawrath, J. Fischer, N. Witz, M. Kaschel, C. Schweikert, M. Jetter, S. L. Portalupi, M. Berroth, and P. Michler, Achieving stable fiber coupling of quantum dot telecom C-band single-photons to an SOI photonic device, Appl. Phys. Lett. 119, 211101 (2021).
  8. M. H. Rahaman, S. Harper, C.-M. Lee, K.-Y. Kim, M. A. Buyukkaya, V. J. Patel, S. D. Hawkins, J.-H. Kim, S. J. Addamane, and E. Waks, Efficient, indistinguishable telecom C-band photons using a tapered nanobeam waveguide, ACS Photon. 11, 2738 (2024).
  9. E. Evers, N. E. Kopteva, V. Nedelea, A. Kors, R. Kaur, J. Peter Reithmaier, M. Benyoucef, M. Bayer, and A. Greilich, Hole spin coherence in InAs/InAlGaAs self-assembled quantum dots emitting at telecom wavelengths, Phys. Status Solidi (B) 262, 2400174 (2025).
  10. M. Gawełczyk, Atypical dependence of excited exciton energy levels and electron-hole correlation on emission energy in pyramidal InP-based quantum dots, Sci. Rep. 12, 164 (2022).
  11. J. Huwer, R. M. Stevenson, J. Skiba-Szymanska, M. B. Ward, A. J. Shields, M. Felle, I. Farrer, D. A. Ritchie, and R. V. Penty, Quantum-dot-based telecommunication-wavelength quantum relay, Phys. Rev. Appl. 8, 024007 (2017).
  12. E. M. Sala, Y. I. Na, M. Godsland, and J. Heffernan, Self assembled InAs quantum dots on InGaAsP/InP(100) by modified droplet epitaxy in metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy around the telecom C-Band for quantum photonic applications, Phys. Status Solidi (RRL) 18, 2300340 (2023).
  13. T. Miyazawa, K. Takemoto, Y. Nambu, S. Miki, T. Yamashita, H. Terai, M. Fujiwara, M. Sasaki, Y. Sakuma, M. Takatsu, T. Yamamoto, and Y. Arakawa, Single-photon emission at 1.5 µm from an InAs/InP quantum dot with highly suppressed multi-photon emission probabilities, Appl. Phys. Lett. 109, 132106 (2016).
  14. P. Holewa, A. Sakanas, U. M. Gur, P. Mrowi'nski, A. Huck, B.-Y. Wang, A. Musiał, K. Yvind, N. Gregersen, M. Syperek, and E. Semenova, Bright quantum dot single-photon emitters at telecom bands heterogeneously integrated on Si, ACS Photon. 9, 2273 (2022).
  15. P. Laccotripes, T. Müller, R. M. Stevenson, J. Skiba-Szymanska, D. A. Ritchie, and A. J. Shields, Spin-photon entanglement with direct photon emission in the telecom C-band, Nat. Commun. 15, 9740 (2024).
  16. M. Anderson, T. Müller, J. Skiba-Szymanska, A. B. Krysa, J. Huwer, R. M. Stevenson, J. Heffernan, D. A. Ritchie, and A. J. Shields, Coherence in single photon emission from droplet epitaxy and Stranski–Krastanov quantum dots in the telecom C-band, Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 014003 (2021).
  17. E. M. Sala, Y. I. Na, M. Godsland, A. Trapalis, and J. Heffernan, InAs/InP quantum dots in etched pits by droplet epitaxy in metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy, Phys. Rap. Res. Ltrs 14, 2000173 (2020).
  18. E. M. Sala, M. Godsland, Y. I. Na, A. Trapalis, and J. Heffernan, Droplet epitaxy of InAs/InP quantum dots via MOVPE by using an InGaAs interlayer, Nanotechnology 33, 065601 (2022).
  19. I. A. Yugova, M. M. Glazov, E. L. Ivchenko, and A. L. Efros, Pump-probe faraday rotation and ellipticity in an ensemble of singly charged quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 80, 104436 (2009).
  20. A. Greilich, R. Oulton, E. A. Zhukov, I. A. Yugova, D. R. Yakovlev, M. Bayer, A. Shabaev, A. L. Efros, I. A. Merkulov, V. Stavarache, D. Reuter, and A. Wieck, Optical control of spin coherence in singly charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 227401 (2006).
  21. M. Syperek, D. R. Yakovlev, A. Greilich, J. Misiewicz, M. Bayer, D. Reuter, and A. D. Wieck, Spin coherence of holes in GaAs/(Al,Ga)As quantum wells, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 187401 (2007).
  22. M. M. Glazov, I. A. Yugova, S. Spatzek, A. Schwan, S. Varwig, D. R. Yakovlev, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, and M. Bayer, Effect of pump-probe detuning on the Faraday rotation and ellipticity signals of mode-locked spins in (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 82, 155325 (2010).
  23. B. Urbaszek, X. Marie, T. Amand, O. Krebs, P. Voisin, P. Maletinsky, A. Högele, and A. Imamoglu, Nuclear spin physics in quantum dots: An optical investigation, Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 79 (2013).
  24. M. M. Glazov, Coherent spin dynamics of electrons and excitons in nanostructures (a review), Phys. Solid State 54, 1 (2012).
  25. M. Bayer, A. Greilich, and D. R. Yakovlev, Coherent electron spin dynamics in quantum dots, in Single Semiconductor Quantum Dots, NanoScience and Technology (Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, 2009), pp. 121–143, Chap. 4.
  26. M. Syperek, D. R. Yakovlev, I. A. Yugova, J. Misiewicz, M. Jetter, M. Schulz, P. Michler, and M. Bayer, Electron and hole spins in InP/(Ga,In)P self-assembled quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 86, 125320 (2012).
  27. V. V. Belykh, A. Greilich, D. R. Yakovlev, M. Yacob, J. P. Reithmaier, M. Benyoucef, and M. Bayer, Electron and hole g factors in InAs/InAlGaAs self-assembled quantum dots emitting at telecom wavelengths, Phys. Rev. B 92, 165307 (2015).
  28. V. V. Belykh, D. R. Yakovlev, M. M. Glazov, P. S. Grigoryev, M. Hussain, J. Rautert, D. N. Dirin, M. V. Kovalenko, and M. Bayer, Coherent spin dynamics of electrons and holes in CsPbBr3 perovskite crystals, Nat. Commun. 10, 673 (2019).
  29. I. A. Yugova, A. Greilich, E. A. Zhukov, D. R. Yakovlev, M. Bayer, D. Reuter, and A. D. Wieck, Exciton fine structure in InGaAsGaAs quantum dots revisited by pump-probe Faraday rotation, Phys. Rev. B 75, 195325 (2007).
  30. L. Sapienza, R. M. Al-Khuzheyri, A. C. Dada, A. Griffiths, E. Clarke, and B. D. Gerardot, Magneto-optical spectroscopy of single charge-tunable InAs/GaAs quantum dots emitting at telecom wavelengths, Phys. Rev. B 93, 155301 (2016).
  31. I. Hapke-Wurst, U. Zeitler, R. Haug, and K. Pierz, Mapping the g factor anisotropy of InAs self-assembled quantum dots, Physica E 12, 802 (2002), proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on the Ele ctronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Systems.
  32. C. Testelin, F. Bernardot, B. Eble, and M. Chamarro, Hole–spin dephasing time associated with hyperfine interaction in quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 79, 195440 (2009).
  33. C. Carmesin, M. Schowalter, M. Lorke, D. Mourad, T. Grieb, K. Müller-Caspary, M. Yacob, J. P. Reithmaier, M. Benyoucef, A. Rosenauer, and F. Jahnke, Interplay of morphology, composition, and optical properties of InP-based quantum dots emitting at the 1.55µm telecom wavelength, Phys. Rev. B 96, 235309 (2017).
  34. E. G. Banfi, E. M. Sala, R. S. R. Gajjela, J. Heffernan, and P. M. Koenraad, An atomically resolved study of droplet epitaxy InAs quantum dots grown on InGa(As,P)/InP by MOVPE for quantum photonic applications, J. Appl. Phys. 137, 134401 (2025).
  35. N. A. J. M. Kleemans, J. van Bree, M. Bozkurt, P. J. van Veldhoven, P. A. Nouwens, R. Nötzel, A. Y. Silov, P. M. Koenraad, and M. E. Flatté, Size-dependent exciton g factor in self-assembled InAs/InP quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 79, 045311 (2009).
  36. W. Sheng and A. Babinski, Zero g factors and nonzero orbital momenta in self-assembled quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 75, 033316 (2007).
  37. V. V. Belykh, D. R. Yakovlev, J. J. Schindler, J. van Bree, P. M. Koenraad, N. S. Averkiev, M. Bayer, and A. Y. Silov, Dispersion of the electron g factor anisotropy in InAs/InP self-assembled quantum dots, J. Appl. Phys. 120, 084301 (2016).
  38. C. E. Pryor and M. E. Flatté, Landé g factors and orbital momentum quenching in semiconductor quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 026804 (2006).
  39. 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).
  40. A. Greilich, A. Pawlis, F. Liu, O. A. Yugov, D. R. Yakovlev, K. Lischka, Y. Yamamoto, and M. Bayer, Spin dephasing of fluorine-bound electrons in ZnSe, Phys. Rev. B 85, 121303(R) (2012).
  41. S. Varwig, A. Ren'e, A. Greilich, D. R. Yakovlev, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, and M. Bayer, Temperature dependence of hole spin coherence in (In,Ga)As quantum dots measured by mode-locking and echo techniques, Phys. Rev. B 87, 115307 (2013).
  42. A. V. Mikhailov, V. V. Belykh, D. R. Yakovlev, P. S. Grigoryev, J. P. Reithmaier, M. Benyoucef, and M. Bayer, Electron and hole spin relaxation in InP-based self-assembled quantum dots emitting at telecom wavelengths, Phys. Rev. B 98, 205306 (2018).
  43. J. Li, B. Venitucci, and Y.-M. Niquet, Hole-phonon interactions in quantum dots: Effects of phonon confinement and encapsulation materials on spin-orbit qubits, Phys. Rev. B 102, 075415 (2020).
  44. D. Das, H. Ghadi, B. Tongbram, S. Singh, and S. Chakrabarti, The impact of confinement enhancement AlGaAs barrier on the optical and structural properties of InAs/InGaAs/GaAs submonolayer quantum dot heterostructures, J. Lumin. 192, 277 (2017).
  45. V. V. Belykh, D. R. Yakovlev, J. J. Schindler, E. A. Zhukov, M. A. Semina, M. Yacob, J. P. Reithmaier, M. Benyoucef, and M. Bayer, Large anisotropy of electron and hole g factors in infrared-emitting InAs/InAlGaAs self-assembled quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 93, 125302 (2016).
  46. Z. Yan and Q. Li, Recent progress in epitaxial growth of dislocation tolerant and dislocation free III–V lasers on silicon, J. Phys. D 57, 213001 (2024).
  47. P. Holewa, S. Kadkhodazadeh, M. Gawełczyk, P. Baluta, A. Musiał, V. G. Dubrovskii, M. Syperek, and E. Semenova, Droplet epitaxy symmetric InAs/InP quantum dots for quantum emission in the third telecom window: Morphology, optical and electronic properties, Nanophotonics 11, 1515 (2022).
  48. D. S. Smirnov, E. A. Zhukov, D. R. Yakovlev, E. Kirstein, M. Bayer, and A. Greilich, Spin polarization recovery and Hanle effect for charge carriers interacting with nuclear spins in semiconductors, Phys. Rev. B 102, 235413 (2020).
  49. E. A. Zhukov, E. Kirstein, D. S. Smirnov, D. R. Yakovlev, M. M. Glazov, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, M. Bayer, and A. Greilich, Spin inertia of resident and photoexcited carriers in singly charged quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 98, 121304(R) (2018).
  50. C. Rittmann, M. Y. Petrov, A. N. Kamenskii, K. V. Kavokin, A. Y. Kuntsevich, Y. P. Efimov, S. A. Eliseev, M. Bayer, and A. Greilich, Unveiling the electron-nuclear spin dynamics in an n-doped ingaas epilayer by spin noise spectroscopy, Phys. Rev. B 106, 035202 (2022).
  51. F. Heisterkamp, E. A. Zhukov, A. Greilich, D. R. Yakovlev, V. L. Korenev, A. Pawlis, and M. Bayer, Longitudinal and transverse spin dynamics of donor-bound electrons in fluorine-doped ZnSe: Spin inertia versus hanle effect, Phys. Rev. B 91, 235432 (2015).
  52. M. Gong, W. Zhang, Z. Han, G. Guo, and L. He, Atomistic pseudopotential theory of optical properties of exciton complexes in InAs/InP quantum dots, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 231106 (2011).
  53. D. S. Smirnov, E. A. Zhukov, E. Kirstein, D. R. Yakovlev, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, M. Bayer, A. Greilich, and M. M. Glazov, Theory of spin inertia in singly charged quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 98, 125306 (2018).
  54. M. Kroutvar, Y. Ducommun, D. Heiss, M. Bichler, D. Schuh, G. Abstreiter, and J. J. Finley, Optically programmable electron spin memory using semiconductor quantum dots, Nature (London) 432, 81 (2004).
  55. W. I. L. Lawrie, N. W. Hendrickx, F. van Riggelen, M. Russ, L. Petit, A. Sammak, G. Scappucci, and M. Veldhorst, Spin relaxation benchmarks and individual qubit addressability for holes in quantum dots, Nano Lett. 20, 7237 (2020).
  56. F. Fras, B. Eble, P. Desfonds, F. Bernardot, C. Testelin, M. Chamarro, A. Miard, and A. Lemaître, Two-phonon process and hyperfine interaction limiting slow hole-spin relaxation time in InAs/GaAs quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 86, 045306 (2012).
  57. V. Nedelea, N. V. Leppenen, E. Evers, D. S. Smirnov, M. Bayer, and A. Greilich, Tuning the nuclei-induced spin relaxation of localized electrons by the quantum zeno and anti-zeno effects, Phys. Rev. Res. 5, L032032 (2023).
  58. N. A. Sinitsyn, Y. Li, S. A. Crooker, A. Saxena, and D. L. Smith, Role of nuclear quadrupole coupling on decoherence and relaxation of central spins in quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 166605 (2012).
  59. A. Bechtold, D. Rauch, F. Li, T. Simmet, P.-L. Ardelt, A. Regler, K. Müller, N. A. Sinitsyn, and J. J. Finley, Three-stage decoherence dynamics of an electron spin qubit in an optically active quantum dot, Nat. Phys. 11, 1005 (2015).
  60. F. G. G. Hernandez, A. Greilich, F. Brito, M. Wiemann, D. R. Yakovlev, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, and M. Bayer, Temperature-induced spin-coherence dissipation in quantum dots, Phys. Rev. B 78, 041303(R) (2008).
  61. A. Greilich, D. R. Yakovlev, A. Shabaev, A. L. Efros, I. A. Yugova, R. Oulton, V. Stavarache, D. Reuter, A. Wieck, and M. Bayer, Mode locking of electron spin coherences in singly charged quantum dots, Science 313, 341 (2006).
  62. R. S. Gajjela, E. Sala, J. Heffernan, and P. Koenraad, Control of morphology and substrate etching in InAs/InP droplet epitaxy quantum dots for single and entangled photon emitters, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 5, 8070 (2022).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. B 112, 165412– Published 9 October, 2025
  • Received 8 July 2025
  • Revised 9 September 2025
  • Accepted 25 September 2025
  • Corrected 9 December 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation