145 research outputs found
A nanometer-scale optical electrometer
Self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots show remarkable optical and spin
coherence properties, which have lead to a concerted research effort examining
their potential as a quantum bit for quantum information science1-6. Here, we
present an alternative application for such devices, exploiting recent
achievements of charge occupation control and the spectral tunability of the
optical emission of quantum dots by electric fields7 to demonstrate
high-sensitivity electric field measurement. In contrast to existing
nanometer-scale electric field sensors, such as single electron transistors8-11
and mechanical resonators12,13, our approach relies on homodyning light
resonantly Rayleigh scattered from a quantum dot transition with the excitation
laser and phase sensitive lock-in detection. This offers both static and
transient field detection ability with high bandwidth operation and near unity
quantum efficiency. Our theoretical estimation of the static field sensitivity
for typical parameters, 0.5 V/m/ \surd Hz, compares favorably to the
theoretical limit for single electron transistor-based electrometers. The
sensitivity level of 5 V/m/ \surd Hz we report in this work, which corresponds
to 6.4 * 10-6 e/ \surd Hz at a distance of 12 nm, is worse than this
theoretical estimate, yet higher than any other result attained at 4.2 K or
higher operation temperature
Performance of Photon-Pair Quantum Key Distribution Systems
We analyze the quantitative improvement in performance provided by a novel
quantum key distribution (QKD) system that employs a correlated photon source
(CPS) and a photon-number resolving detector (PNR). Our calculations suggest
that given current technology, the CPR implementation offers an improvement of
several orders of magnitude in secure bit rate over previously described
implementations
Direct Measurement of Quantum Dot Spin Dynamics using Time-Resolved Resonance Fluorescence
We temporally resolve the resonance fluorescence from an electron spin
confined to a single self-assembled quantum dot to measure directly the spin's
optical initialization and natural relaxation timescales. Our measurements
demonstrate that spin initialization occurs on the order of microseconds in the
Faraday configuration when a laser resonantly drives the quantum dot
transition. We show that the mechanism mediating the optically induced
spin-flip changes from electron-nuclei interaction to hole-mixing interaction
at 0.6 Tesla external magnetic field. Spin relaxation measurements result in
times on the order of milliseconds and suggest that a magnetic field
dependence, due to spin-orbit coupling, is sustained all the way down to 2.2
Tesla.Comment: An additional EPAPS file in PDF format is available for download at
the publications section of our website
http://www.amop.phy.cam.ac.uk/amop-ma
Voltage-controlled electron-hole interaction in a single quantum dot
The ground state of neutral and negatively charged excitons confined to a
single self-assembled InGaAs quantum dot is probed in a direct absorption
experiment by high resolution laser spectroscopy. We show how the anisotropic
electron-hole exchange interaction depends on the exciton charge and
demonstrate how the interaction can be switched on and off with a small dc
voltage. Furthermore, we report polarization sensitive analysis of the
excitonic interband transition in a single quantum dot as a function of charge
with and without magnetic field.Comment: Conference Proceedings, Physics and Applications of Spin-Related
Phenomena in Semiconductors, Santa Barbara (CA), 2004. 4 pages, 4 figures;
content as publishe
Phonon-induced dephasing of chromium colour centres in diamond
We report on the coherence properties of single photons from chromium-based
colour centres in diamond. We use field-correlation and spectral lineshape
measurements to reveal the interplay between slow spectral wandering and fast
dephasing mechanisms as a function of temperature. We show that the zero-phonon
transition frequency and its linewidth follow a power-law dependence on
temperature indicating that the dominant fast dephasing mechanisms for these
centres are direct electron-phonon coupling and phonon-modulated Coulomb
coupling to nearby impurities. Further, the observed reduction in the quantum
yield for photon emission as a function of temperature is consistent with the
opening of additional nonradiative channels through thermal activation to
higher energy states predominantly and indicates a near-unity quantum
efficiency at 4 K
Comment on ``Dispersion-Independent High-Visibility Quantum Interference ... "
We show in this Comment that the interpretation of experimental data as well
as the theory presented in Atat\"ure et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 618 (2000)]
are incorrect and discuss why such a scheme cannot be used to "recover"
high-visibility quantum interference.Comment: Comment on Atat\"ure et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 618 (2000)], 2nd
revision, To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. April, (2001
Recommended from our members
Nanodiamond preparation and surface characterization for biological applications
Nanodiamonds contain stable fluorescent emitters and hence can be used for molecular fluorescence imaging and precision sensing of electromagnetic fields. The physical properties of these emitters together with their low reported cytotoxicity make them attractive for biological imaging applications. The controlled application of nanodiamonds for cellular imaging requires detailed understanding of surface chemistry, size ranges and aggregation, as these can all influence cellular interactions. We compared these characteristics for graphitic and oxidized nanodiamonds. Oxidation is generally used for surface functionalization, and was optimized by Thermogravimetric Analysis, achieved by 445±5°C heating in air for 5 hours, then confirmed via Raman and Infrared spectroscopies. Size ranges and aggregation were assessed using Atomic Force Microscopy and Dynamic Light Scattering. Biocompatibility in breast cancer cell lines was measured using a proliferation assay. Heating at 445±5°C reduced the Raman signal of graphitic carbon (1575 cm-1) as compared to that of diamond (1332 cm-1) from 0.31±0.07 Raman intensity units to 0.07±0.04. This temperature was substantially below the onset of major mass loss (observed at 535±1°C) and therefore achieved cost efficiency, convenience and high yield. Graphitic and oxidized nanodiamonds formed aggregates in water, with a mean particle size of 192±4nm and 166±2nm at a concentration of 66μg/mL. We then applied the graphitic and oxidized nanodiamonds to cells in culture at 1μg/mL and found no significant change in the proliferation rate (-5±2% and -1±3% respectively). Nanodiamonds may therefore be suitable for development as a novel transformative tool in the life sciences
Observation of Faraday rotation from a single confined spin
Ability to read-out the state of a single confined spin lies at the heart of
solid-state quantum information processing. While all-optical spin measurements
using Faraday rotation has been successfully implemented in ensembles of
semiconductor spins, read-out of a single semiconductor spin has only been
achieved using transport measurements based on spin-charge conversion. Here, we
demonstrate an all-optical dispersive measurement of the spin-state of a single
electron trapped in a semiconductor quantum dot. We obtain information on the
spin state through conditional Faraday rotation of a spectrally detuned optical
field, induced by the polarization- and spin-selective trion (charged quantum
dot) transitions. To assess the sensitivity of the technique, we use an
independent resonant laser for spin-state preparation. An all-optical
dispersive measurement on single spins has the important advantage of
channeling the measurement back-action onto a conjugate observable, thereby
allowing for repetitive or continuous quantum nondemolition (QND) read-out of
the spin-state. We infer from our results that there are of order unity
back-action induced spin-flip Raman scattering events within our measurement
timescale. Therefore, straightforward improvements such as the use of a
solid-immersion lens and higher efficiency detectors would allow for
back-action evading spin measurements, without the need for a cavity
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