Inelastic tunneling in a double quantum dot coupled to a bosonic environment

Coupling a quantum system to a bosonic environment always give rise to inelastic processes, which reduce the coherency of the system. We measure energy dependent rates for inelastic tunneling processes in a fully controllable two-level system of a double quantum dot. The emission and absorption rates are well repro-duced by Einstein's coefficients, which relate to the spontaneous emission rate. The inelastic tunneling rate can be comparable to the elastic tunneling rate if the boson occupation number becomes large. In the specific semiconductor double dot, the energy dependence of the inelastic rate suggests that acoustic phonons are coupled to the double dot piezoelectrically.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Time-resolved charge fractionalization in inhomogeneous Luttinger liquids

The recent observation of charge fractionalization in single Tomanga-Luttinger liquids (TLLs) [Kamata et al., Nature Nanotech., 9 177 (2014)] opens new routes for a systematic investigation of this exotic quantum phenomenon. In this Letter we perform measurements on two adjacent TLLs and put forward an accurate theoretical framework to address the experiments. The theory is based on the plasmon scattering approach and can deal with injected charge pulses of arbitrary shape in TLL regions. We accurately reproduce and interpret the time-resolved multiple fractionalization events in both single and double TLLs. The effect of inter-correlations between the two TLLs is also discussed.Comment: 5 pages + Supplementary Material. To appear in Phys. Rev. B: Rapid. Com

Non-equilibrium transport through a vertical quantum dot in the absence of spin-flip energy relaxation

We investigate non-equilibrium transport in the absence of spin-flip energy relaxation in a few-electron quantum dot artificial atom. Novel non-equilibrium tunneling processes involving high-spin states which cannot be excited from the ground state because of spin-blockade, and other processes involving more than two charge states are observed. These processes cannot be explained by orthodox Coulomb blockade theory. The absence of effective spin relaxation induces considerable fluctuation of the spin, charge, and total energy of the quantum dot. Although these features are revealed clearly by pulse excitation measurements, they are also observed in conventional dc current characteristics of quantum dots.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.Let

High Resolution VSOP Imaging of a Southern Blazar PKS 1921-293 at 1.6 GHz

We present a high resolution 1.6 GHz VSOP image of the southern blazar PKS 1921-293. The image shows a typical core-jet morphology, consistent with ground-based VLBI images. However, the addition of data from the space antenna has greatly improved the angular resolution (especially along the north-south direction for this source), and thus allowed us to clearly identify the core. Model fitting reveals an inner jet component ~1.5 mas north of the core. This jet feature may be moving on a common curved path connecting the jet within a few parsecs to the 10-parsec-scale jet. The compact core has a brightness temperature of 2.6*10**12 K (in the rest frame of the quasar), an indication of relativistic beaming. We analyzed the source in terms of three models, involving the inverse Compton catastrophe, an inhomogeneous relativistic jet, and the equipartition of energy between the radiating particles and the magnetic field. Our analysis of this gamma-ray-quiet blazar shows no preference to any particular one of these models.Comment: 7 pages including 2 figures and 1 table, PASJLaTeX, accepted for publication in PAS

Surface Acoustic Wave induced Transport in a Double Quantum Dot

We report on non-adiabatic transport through a double quantum dot under irradiation of surface acoustic waves generated on-chip. At low excitation powers, absorption and emission of single and multiple phonons is observed. At higher power, sequential phonon assisted tunneling processes excite the double dot in a highly non-equilibrium state. The present system is attractive for studying electron-phonon interaction with piezoelectric coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The Kondo Effect in the Unitary Limit

We observe a strong Kondo effect in a semiconductor quantum dot when a small magnetic field is applied. The Coulomb blockade for electron tunneling is overcome completely by the Kondo effect and the conductance reaches the unitary-limit value. We compare the experimental Kondo temperature with the theoretical predictions for the spin-1/2 Anderson impurity model. Excellent agreement is found throughout the Kondo regime. Phase coherence is preserved when a Kondo quantum dot is included in one of the arms of an Aharonov-Bohm ring structure and the phase behavior differs from previous results on a non-Kondo dot.Comment: 10 page

Dephasing of coupled spin qubit system during gate operations due to background charge fluctuations

It has been proposed that a quantum computer can be constructed based on electron spins in quantum dots or based on a superconducting nanocircuit. During two-qubit operations, the fluctuation of the coupling parameters is a critical factor. One source of such fluctuation is the stirring of the background charges. We focused on the influence of this fluctuation on a coupled spin qubit system. The induced fluctuation in exchange coupling changes the amount of entanglement, fidelity, and purity. In our previous study, the background charge fluctuations were found to be an important channel of dephasing for a single Josephson qubit.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure. to be publishe

Pauli-Spin-Blockade Transport through a Silicon Double Quantum Dot

We present measurements of resonant tunneling through discrete energy levels of a silicon double quantum dot formed in a thin silicon-on-insulator layer. In the absence of piezoelectric phonon coupling, spontaneous phonon emission with deformation-potential coupling accounts for inelastic tunneling through the ground states of the two dots. Such transport measurements enable us to observe a Pauli spin blockade due to effective two-electron spin-triplet correlations, evident in a distinct bias-polarity dependence of resonant tunneling through the ground states. The blockade is lifted by the excited-state resonance by virtue of efficient phonon emission between the ground states. Our experiment demonstrates considerable potential for investigating silicon-based spin dynamics and spin-based quantum information processing.Comment: 10 pages,3 figure