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arXiv:2202.13994 · Nanoscale

Optical measurement of electron spins in quantum dots: quantum Zeno effects

N. V. Leppenen, Dmitry S. Smirnov

Published Jan 1, 2022• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We describe theoretically the effects of the quantum back action under the continuous optical measurement of electron spins in quantum dots. We consider the system excitation by elliptically polarized light close to the trion resonance, which allows for simultaneous spin orientation and measurement. We microscopically demonstrate that the nuclei-induced spin relaxation can be both suppressed and accelerated by the continuous spin measurement due to the quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects, respectively. Our theoretical predictions can be directly compared with the future experimental results and straightforwardly generalized for pump-probe experiments.

DOI
10.1039/d2nr01241c

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arXiv:0912.2589•Physical Review B•Jun 16, 2010•30 citations
We describe theoretically the effects of the quantum back action under the continuous optical measurement of electron spins in quantum dots. We consider the system excitation by elliptically polarized light close to the trion resonance, which allows for simultaneous spin orientation and measurement. We microscopically demonstrate that the nuclei-induced spin relaxation can be both suppressed and accelerated by the continuous spin measurement due to the quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects, respectively. Our theoretical predictions can be directly compared with the future experimental results and straightforwardly generalized for pump-probe experiments.
The work presented in this dissertation contains the first observation of spin-resolved resonance fluorescence from a single quantum dot and its application of direct measurement of electron spin dynamics. The Mollow triplet and the Mollow quintuplet, which are the hallmarks of resonance fluorescence, are presented as the non-spin-resolved and spin-resolved resonance fluorescence spectrum, respectively. The negligible laser background contribution, the near pure radiative broadened spectrum and the anti-bunching photon statistics imply the sideband photons are background-free and near transform-limited single photons. This demonstration is a promising step towards the heralded single photon generation and electron spin readout. Instead of resolving spectrum, an alternative spin-readout scheme by counting resonance fluorescence photons under moderate laser power is demonstrated. The measurements of n-shot time-resolved resonance fluorescence readout are carried out to reveal electron spin dynamics of the measurement induced back action and the spin relaxation. Hyperfine interaction and heavy- light hole mixing are identified as the relevant mechanisms for the back action and phonon-assistant spin-orbit interaction dominates the spin relaxation. After a detailed discussion on charge-spin configurations in coupled quantum dots system, the single-shot readout on electron spin are proposed.
The optically-induced coherent spin dynamics in a charged quantum dot (QD) is studied theoretically using a new dynamical model for rigorous description of circularly polarized ultrashort optical pulse resonant interactions with the electron-trion system. Generalized pseudospin master equation is derived for description of the time evolution of spin coherences and spin populations in terms of the real state pseudospin (coherence) vector including dissipation in the system through spin relaxation processes. The equation is solved in the time domain self-consistently with the vector Maxwell equations for the optical wave propagation coupled to it via macroscopic medium polarization. Using the model the long-lived electron spin coherence left behind a single resonant ultrashort optical excitation of the electron-trion transition in a charged QD is simulated in the lowand high-intensity Rabi oscillations regime. Signatures of the polarized photoluminescence (PL) resulting from the numerical simulations, such as the appearance of a second echo pulse after the excitation and a characteristic PL trace shape, specific for initial spin-up orientation, are discussed for realization of high-fidelity schemes for coherent readout of a single spin polarization state.
In this work, we study the resonant nonlinear optical response obtained when optical fields are used to excite charged semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). The basic physics of charged excitons (trions) created by optical excitation of charged QDs is of interest from the point of view of optically driven spin based quantum computing (QC). Stimulated Raman excitation, resonantly enhanced by the optical dipole coupling to the trion state, was used to optically generate electron spin coherence in the ground state of charged QDs. The evolution of the spin coherence was monitored through quantum beats in the phase-sensitively detected four wave mixing signal. The decay of the beats is a measure of the spin coherence time, which was found to be at least an order of magnitude greater than either the trion dipole coherence, or the Raman coherence time between excitons in a single neutral QD. A fascinating outcome of the experiment was the first observation of a contribution to the spin coherence induced by the vacuum field, which is also responsible for spontaneous emission from the trion state, known as spontaneously generated coherence (SGC). QC demands that coherent optical manipulations should be performed within the spin coherence time. We performed coherent optical control experiments, with a pair of phase-locked pump pulses, that showed the quantum nature of the coherence through interference of different quantum mechanical pathways. We showed both in experiment and theory that we can manipulate the spin coherence on the time scale of the Larmor frequency, as well as on an ultrafast femtosecond time scale, corresponding to the optical frequency of the trion state. Finally, resonant optical excitation of both the bright and nominally forbidden transitions from a single electron spin in a QD to the trion state were demonstrated. This allows for direct optical access to all the transitions required for optically driven QC with QD electron spins. We used frequency-domain nonlinear spectroscopy measurements on single QD trions to obtain the trion dipole decoherence and decay rates. Further, we demonstrated that the single electron spin coherence could be generated and detected optically, and found that the spin coherence time was significantly greater than in ensemble measurements at the same magnetic field.
We theoretically describe the quantum Zeno effect in a spin-photon interface represented by a charged quantum dot in a micropillar cavity in the strong coupling regime. This simplest model allows for various generalizations for the different systems. We derive a simple expression for the spin measurement rate, which allows one to tune the electron spin precession frequency in an external magnetic field and spin relaxation time. We calculate the spin noise bispectrum, which reveals the qualitative change of the spin dynamics with an increase of the measurement strength and proves the quantum nature of the spin noise. We also calculate the quantum information gain rate and find the conditions when it equals the spin dephasing rate, i.e., reaches the quantum limit.
We investigate the effect of nuclear spins on the phase shift and polarization rotation of photons scattered off a quantum-dot--cavity system. We show that as the phase shift depends strongly on the resonance energy of an electronic transition in the quantum dot, it can provide a sensitive probe of the quantum state of nuclear spins that broaden this transition energy. By including the electron-nuclear spin coupling at a Hamiltonian level within an extended input-output formalism, we show how a photon-scattering event acts as a nuclear spin measurement, which when rapidly applied leads to an inhibition of the nuclear dynamics via the quantum Zeno effect, and a corresponding stabilization of the optical resonance. We show how such an effect manifests in the intensity autocorrelation ${g}^{(2)}(\ensuremath{\tau})$ of scattered photons, whose long-time bunching behavior changes from quadratic decay for low photon-scattering rates (weak laser intensities) to ever slower exponential decay for increasing laser intensities as optical measurements impede the nuclear spin evolution.
Optical control of the spin coherence of quantum well electrons by short laser pulses with circular or linear polarization is studied experimentally and theoretically. For that purpose the coherent electron spin dynamics in a nnn-doped CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum well structure was measured by time-resolved pump-probe Kerr rotation, using resonant excitation of the negatively charged exciton (trion) state. The amplitude and phase shifts of the electron spin beat signal in an external magnetic field, that are induced by laser control pulses, depend on the pump-control delay and polarization of the control relative to the pump pulse. Additive and nonadditive contributions to pump-induced signal due to the control are isolated experimentally. These contributions can be well described in the framework of a two-level model for the optical excitation of the resident electron to the trion.