Happy Hearts : Frohliche Herzen

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Direct observation of acoustic phonon mediated relaxation between coupled exciton states in a single quantum dot molecule

We probe acoustic phonon mediated relaxation between tunnel coupled exciton states in an individual quantum dot molecule in which the inter-dot quantum coupling and energy separation between exciton states is continuously tuned using static electric field. Time resolved and temperature dependent optical spectroscopy are used to probe inter-level relaxation around the point of maximum coupling. The radiative lifetimes of the coupled excitonic states can be tuned from ~2 ns to ~10 ns as the spatially direct and indirect character of the wavefunction is varied by detuning from resonance. Acoustic phonon mediated inter-level relaxation is shown to proceed over timescales comparable to the direct exciton radiative lifetime, indicative of a relaxation bottleneck for level spacings in the range $\Delta E\$ ~3-6 meV.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publicatio

Direct Observation of Controlled Coupling in an Individual Quantum Dot Molecule

We report the direct observation of quantum coupling in individual quantum dot molecules and its manipulation using static electric fields. A pronounced anti-crossing of different excitonic transitions is observed as the electric field is tuned. Comparison of our experimental results with theory shows that the observed anti-crossing occurs between excitons with predominant spatially \emph{direct} and \emph{indirect} character. The electron component of the exciton wavefunction is shown to have molecular character at the anti-crossing and the quantum coupling strength is deduced optically. In addition, we determine the dependence of the coupling strength on the inter-dot separation and identify a field driven transition of the nature of the molecular ground state.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures submitted to Physical Review Letter

Recent advances in exciton based quantum information processing in quantum dot nanostructures

Recent experimental developments in the field of semiconductor quantum dot spectroscopy will be discussed. First we report about single quantum dot exciton two-level systems and their coherent properties in terms of single qubit manipulations. In the second part we report on coherent quantum coupling in a prototype "two-qubit" system consisting of a vertically stacked pair of quantum dots. The interaction can be tuned in such quantum dot molecule devices using an applied voltage as external parameter.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures, submitted to New Journal of Physics, focus issue on Solid State Quantum Information, added reference

Climigration? Population and climate change in Arctic Alaska

Residents of towns and villages in Arctic Alaska live on “the front line of climate change.” Some communities face immediate threats from erosion and flooding associated with thawing permafrost, increasing river flows, and reduced sea ice protection of shorelines. The term climigration, referring to migration caused by climate change, originally was coined for these places. Although initial applications emphasized the need for government relocation policies, it has elsewhere been applied more broadly to encompass unplanned migration as well. Some historical movements have been attributed to climate change, but closer study tends to find multiple causes, making it difficult to quantify the climate contribution. Clearer attribution might come from comparisons of migration rates among places that are similar in most respects, apart from known climatic impacts. We apply this approach using annual 1990–2014 time series on 43 Arctic Alaska towns and villages. Within-community time plots show no indication of enhanced out-migration from the most at-risk communities. More formally, there is no significant difference between net migration rates of at-risk and other places, testing several alternative classifications. Although climigration is not detectable to date, growing risks make either planned or unplanned movements unavoidable in the near future

Modeling of Semiconductor Nanostructures with nextnano3\text{}^{3}

nextnano$\text{}^{3}$ is a simulation tool that aims at providing global insight into the basic physical properties of realistic three-dimensional mesoscopic semiconductor structures. It focuses on quantum mechanical properties such as the global electronic structure, optical properties, and the effects of electric and magnetic fields for virtually any geometry and combination of semiconducting materials. For the calculation of the carrier dynamics a drift-diffusion model based on a quantum-mechanically calculated density is employed. In this paper we present an overview of the capabilities of nextnano$\text{}^{3}$ and discuss some of the main equations that are implemented into the code. As examples, we first discuss the strain tensor components and the piezoelectric effect associated with a compressively strained InAs layer for different growth directions, secondly, we calculate self-consistently the quantum mechanical electron density of a Double Gate MOSFET, then we compare the intersubband transitions in a multi-quantum well structure that have been obtained with a single-band effective mass approach and with an 8-band k·p model, and finally, we calculate the energy spectrum of a structure in a uniform magnetic field

Measurement of the internal quantum efficiency of InGaN quantum wells

The internal quantum efficiency as a function of the internal electric field was studied in InGaN/GaN based quantumwell heterostructures. Most striking, we find the IQE to be independent of the electron hole overlap for a standard green-emitting single quantum-well LED structure. In standard c-plane grown InGaN quantum wells, internal piezo-fields are responsible for a reduced overlap of electron and hole wavefunction. Minimization of these fields, for example by growth on non-polar m- and a-planes, is generally considered a key to improve the performance of nitride-based light emitting devices. In our experiment, we manipulate the overlap by applying different bias voltages to the standard c-plane grown sample, thus superimposing a voltage induced band-bending to the internal fields. In contrast to the IQE measurement, the dependence of carrier lifetime and wavelength shift on bias voltage could be explained solely by the internal piezo-fields according to the quantum confined Stark effect. Measurements were performed using temperature and bias dependent resonant photoluminescence, measuring luminescence and photocurrent simultaneously. Furthermore, the doping profile in the immediate vicinity of the QWs was found to be a key parameter that strongly influences the IQE measurement. A doping induced intrinsic hole reservoir inside the QWs is suggested to enhance the radiative exciton recombination rate and thus to improve saturation of photoluminescence efficiency