Bare LO-Phonon Peak in THz-Emission Signals: a Dielectric-Function Analysis

We present a normal-mode analysis of coupled photocarrier-phonon dynamics in Te. We consider a dielectric function which accounts for LO phonons and the electron-hole gas within the Debye-Huckel model and RPA. Our main finding is the existence of a bare LO phonon mode in the system even at high carrier density. This oscillation is an unscreened L- mode arising from ineffective screening at large wave vectors. This mode is consistent with the bare LO-phonon peak in recent THz-emission spectra of Te.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Special Issue: Proceedings of the 10th Brazilian Workshop on Semiconductor Physics, Guaruja/SP, April/200

Closed-form weak localization magnetoconductivity in quantum wells with arbitrary Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions

We derive a closed-form expression for the weak localization (WL) corrections to the magnetoconductivity of a 2D electron system with arbitrary Rashba $\alpha$ and Dresselhaus $\beta$ (linear) and $\beta_3$ (cubic) spin-orbit interaction couplings, in a perpendicular magnetic field geometry. In a system of reference with an in-plane $\hat{z}$ axis chosen as the high spin-symmetry direction at $\alpha = \beta$, we formulate a new algorithm to calculate the three independent contributions that lead to WL. The antilocalization is counterbalanced by the term associated with the spin-relaxation along $\hat{z}$, dependent only on $\alpha - \beta$. The other term is generated by two identical scattering modes characterized by spin-relaxation rates which are explicit functions of the orientation of the scattered momentum. Excellent agreement is found with data from GaAs quantum wells, where in particular our theory correctly captures the shift of the minima of the WL curves as a function of $\alpha/\beta$. This suggests that the anisotropy of the effective spin relaxation rates is fundamental to understanding the effect of the SO coupling in transport.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Subtle leakage of a Majorana mode into a quantum dot

We investigate quantum transport through a quantum dot connected to source and drain leads and side-coupled to a topological superconducting nanowire (Kitaev chain) sustaining Majorana end modes. Using a recursive Green's function approach, we determine the local density of states (LDOS) of the system and find that the end Majorana mode of the wire leaks into the dot thus emerging as a unique dot level {\it pinned} to the Fermi energy $\varepsilon_F$ of the leads. Surprisingly, this resonance pinning, resembling in this sense a "Kondo resonance", occurs even when the gate-controlled dot level $\varepsilon_\text{dot}(V_g)$ is far above or far below $\varepsilon_F$. The calculated conductance $G$ of the dot exhibits an unambiguous signature for the Majorana end mode of the wire: in essence, an off-resonance dot [$\varepsilon_\text{dot}(V_g)\neq \varepsilon_F$], which should have $G=0$, shows instead a conductance $e^2/2h$ over a wide range of $V_g$, due to this pinned dot mode. Interestingly, this pinning effect only occurs when the dot level is coupled to a Majorana mode; ordinary fermionic modes (e.g., disorder) in the wire simply split and broaden (if a continuum) the dot level. We discuss experimental scenarios to probe Majorana modes in wires via these leaked/pinned dot modes.Comment: 3 figures, 5 pages, published in Phys. Rev. B (Editors' suggestion

Spin relaxation in diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots

Electron spin relaxation induced by phonon-mediated s-d exchange interaction in a II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dot is investigated theoretically. The electron-acoustic phonon interaction due to piezoelectric coupling and deformation potential is included. The resulting spin lifetime is typically on the order of microseconds. The effectiveness of the phonon-mediated spin-flip mechanism increases with increasing Mn concentration, electron spin splitting, vertical confining strength and lateral diameter, while it shows non-monotonic dependence on the magnetic field and temperature. An interesting finding is that the spin relaxation in a small quantum dot is suppressed for strong magnetic field and low Mn concentration at low temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Detecting entanglement using a double quantum dot turnstile

We propose a scheme based on using the singlet ground state of an electron spin pair in a double quantum dot nanostructure as a suitable set-up for detecting entanglement between electron spins via the measurement of an optimal entanglement witness. Using time-dependent gate voltages and magnetic fields the entangled spins are separated and coherently rotated in the quantum dots and subsequently detected at spin-polarized quantum point contacts. We analyze the coherent time evolution of the entangled pair and show that by counting coincidences in the four exits an entanglement test can be done. This set-up is close to present-day experimental possibilities and can be used to produce pairs of entangled electrons ``on demand''.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures - published versio

Optical Generation and Quantitative Characterizations of Electron-hole Entanglement

Using a method of characterizing entanglement in the framework of quantum field theory, we investigate the optical generation and quantitative characterizations of quantum entanglement in an electron-hole system, in presence of spin-orbit coupling, and especially make a theoretical analysis of a recent experimental result. Basically, such entanglement should be considered as between occupation numbers of single particle basis states, and is essentially generated by coupling between different single particle basis states in the second quantized Hamiltonian. Interaction with two resonant light modes of different circular polarizations generically leads to a superposition of ground state and two heavy-hole excitonic states. When and only when the state is a superposition of only the two excitonic eigenstates, the entanglement reduces to that between two distinguishable particles, each with two degrees of freedom, namely, band index, as characterized by angular momentum, and orbit, as characterized by position or momentum. The band-index state, obtained by tracing over the orbital degree of freedom, is found to be a pure state, hence the band-index and orbital degrees of freedom are separated in this state. We propose some basic ideas on spatially separating the electron and the hole, so that the entanglement of band-indices, or angular momenta, is between spatially separated electron and hole.Comment: 8 pages. Journal versio

Electrical spin protection and manipulation via gate-locked spin-orbit fields

The spin-orbit (SO) interaction couples electron spin and momentum via a relativistic, effective magnetic field. While conveniently facilitating coherent spin manipulation in semiconductors, the SO interaction also inherently causes spin relaxation. A unique situation arises when the Rashba and Dresselhaus SO fields are matched, strongly protecting spins from relaxation, as recently demonstrated. Quantum computation and spintronics devices such as the paradigmatic spin transistor could vastly benefit if such spin protection could be expanded from a single point into a broad range accessible with in-situ gate-control, making possible tunable SO rotations under protection from relaxation. Here, we demonstrate broad, independent control of all relevant SO fields in GaAs quantum wells, allowing us to tune the Rashba and Dresselhaus SO fields while keeping both locked to each other using gate voltages. Thus, we can electrically control and simultaneously protect the spin. Our experiments employ quantum interference corrections to electrical conductivity as a sensitive probe of SO coupling. Finally, we combine transport data with numerical SO simulations to precisely quantify all SO terms.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (color), plus supplementary information 18 pages, 8 figures (color) as ancillary arXiv pd

Spin dependent electron transport through a magnetic resonant tunneling diode

Electron transport properties in nanostructures can be modeled, for example, by using the semiclassical Wigner formalism or the quantum mechanical Green's functions formalism. We compare the performance and the results of these methods in the case of magnetic resonant-tunneling diodes. We have implemented the two methods within the self-consistent spin-density-functional theory. Our numerical implementation of the Wigner formalism is based on the finite-difference scheme whereas for the Green's function formalism the finite-element method is used. As a specific application, we consider the device studied by Slobodskyy et all. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 246601 (2003)] and analyze their experimental results. The Wigner and Green's functions formalisms give similar electron densities and potentials but, surprisingly, the former method requires much more computer resources in order to obtain numerically accurate results for currents. Both of the formalisms can successfully be used to model magnetic resonant tunneling diode structures.Comment: 13 pages and 12 figure

Energy spectra for quantum wires and 2DEGs in magnetic fields with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions

We introduce an analytical approximation scheme to diagonalize parabolically confined two dimensional electron systems with both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. The starting point of our perturbative expansion is a zeroth-order Hamiltonian for an electron confined in a quantum wire with an effective spin-orbit induced magnetic field along the wire, obtained by properly rotating the usual spin-orbit Hamiltonian. We find that the spin-orbit-related transverse coupling terms can be recast into two parts W and V, which couple crossing and non-crossing adjacent transverse modes, respectively. Interestingly, the zeroth-order Hamiltonian together with W can be solved exactly, as it maps onto the Jaynes-Cummings model of quantum optics. We treat the V coupling by performing a Schrieffer-Wolff transformation. This allows us to obtain an effective Hamiltonian to third order in the coupling strength k_Rl of V, which can be straightforwardly diagonalized via an additional unitary transformation. We also apply our approach to other types of effective parabolic confinement, e.g., 2D electrons in a perpendicular magnetic field. To demonstrate the usefulness of our approximate eigensolutions, we obtain analytical expressions for the n^th Landau-level g_n-factors in the presence of both Rashba and Dresselhaus couplings. For small values of the bulk g-factors, we find that spin-orbit effects cancel out entirely for particular values of the spin-orbit couplings. By solving simple transcendental equations we also obtain the band minima of a Rashba-coupled quantum wire as a function of an external magnetic field. These can be used to describe Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. This procedure makes it easier to extract the strength of the spin-orbit interaction in these systems via proper fitting of the data.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure