3,386 research outputs found
Engineering of quantum dot photon sources via electro-elastic fields
The possibility to generate and manipulate non-classical light using the
tools of mature semiconductor technology carries great promise for the
implementation of quantum communication science. This is indeed one of the main
driving forces behind ongoing research on the study of semiconductor quantum
dots. Often referred to as artificial atoms, quantum dots can generate single
and entangled photons on demand and, unlike their natural counterpart, can be
easily integrated into well-established optoelectronic devices. However, the
inherent random nature of the quantum dot growth processes results in a lack of
control of their emission properties. This represents a major roadblock towards
the exploitation of these quantum emitters in the foreseen applications. This
chapter describes a novel class of quantum dot devices that uses the combined
action of strain and electric fields to reshape the emission properties of
single quantum dots. The resulting electro-elastic fields allow for control of
emission and binding energies, charge states, and energy level splittings and
are suitable to correct for the quantum dot structural asymmetries that usually
prevent these semiconductor nanostructures from emitting polarization-entangled
photons. Key experiments in this field are presented and future directions are
discussed.Comment: to appear as a book chapter in a compilation "Engineering the
Atom-Photon Interaction" published by Springer in 2015, edited by A.
Predojevic and M. W. Mitchel
Visualizing electrostatic gating effects in two-dimensional heterostructures
The ability to directly observe electronic band structure in modern nanoscale
field-effect devices could transform understanding of their physics and
function. One could, for example, visualize local changes in the electrical and
chemical potentials as a gate voltage is applied. One could also study
intriguing physical phenomena such as electrically induced topological
transitions and many-body spectral reconstructions. Here we show that submicron
angle-resolved photoemission (micro-ARPES) applied to two-dimensional (2D) van
der Waals heterostructures affords this ability. In graphene devices, we
observe a shift of the chemical potential by 0.6 eV across the Dirac point as a
gate voltage is applied. In several 2D semiconductors we see the conduction
band edge appear as electrons accumulate, establishing its energy and momentum,
and observe significant band-gap renormalization at low densities. We also show
that micro-ARPES and optical spectroscopy can be applied to a single device,
allowing rigorous study of the relationship between gate-controlled electronic
and excitonic properties.Comment: Original manuscript with 9 pages with 4 figures in main text, 5 pages
with 4 figures in supplement. Substantially edited manuscript accepted at
Natur
The LISA PathFinder DMU and Radiation Monitor
The LISA PathFinder DMU (Data Management Unit) flight model was formally
accepted by ESA and ASD on 11 February 2010, after all hardware and software
tests had been successfully completed. The diagnostics items are scheduled to
be delivered by the end of 2010. In this paper we review the requirements and
performance of this instrumentation, specially focusing on the Radiation
Monitor and the DMU, as well as the status of their programmed use during
mission operations, on which work is ongoing at the time of writing.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, prepared for the Proceedings of the 8th
International LISA Symposium, Classical and Quantum Gravit
Matter in extremis: ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions at RHIC
We review the physics of nuclear matter at high energy density and the
experimental search for the Quark-Gluon Plasma at the Relativistic Heavy Ion
Collider (RHIC). The data obtained in the first three years of the RHIC physics
program provide several lines of evidence that a novel state of matter has been
created in the most violent, head-on collisions of nuclei at
GeV. Jet quenching and global measurements show that the initial
energy density of the strongly interacting medium generated in the collision is
about two orders of magnitude larger than that of cold nuclear matter, well
above the critical density for the deconfinement phase transition predicted by
lattice QCD. The observed collective flow patterns imply that the system
thermalizes early in its evolution, with the dynamics of its expansion
consistent with ideal hydrodynamic flow based on a Quark-Gluon Plasma equation
of state.Comment: 93 pages, 46 figures; final version for journal incorporating minor
changes and correction
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