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Applied Physics Letters

Exciton storage in type-II quantum dots using the optical Aharonov-Bohm effect

Juan Ignacio Climente, Josep Planelles

Published May 12, 2014• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate the bright-to-dark exciton conversion efficiency in type-II quantum dots subject to a perpendicular magnetic field. To this end, we take the exciton storage protocol recently proposed by Simonin and co-workers [Phys. Rev. B 89, 075304 (2014)] and simulate its coherent dynamics. We confirm the storage is efficient in perfectly circular structures subject to weak external electric fields, where adiabatic evolution is dominant. In practice, however, the efficiency rapidly degrades with symmetry lowering. Besides, the use of excited states is likely unfeasible owing to the fast decay rates. We then propose an adaptation of the protocol which does not suffer from these limitations.

DOI
10.1063/1.4876479

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We investigate the bright-to-dark exciton conversion efficiency in type-II quantum dots subject to a perpendicular magnetic field. To this end, we take the exciton storage protocol recently proposed by Simonin and co-workers [Phys. Rev. B 89, 075304 (2014)] and simulate its coherent dynamics. We confirm the storage is efficient in perfectly circular structures subject to weak external electric fields, where adiabatic evolution is dominant. In practice, however, the efficiency rapidly degrades with symmetry lowering. Besides, the use of excited states is likely unfeasible owing to the fast decay rates. We then propose an adaptation of the protocol which does not suffer from these limitations.
Dark excitons in quantum dots are not directly optically accessible, which has limited their use in practical applications. Nevertheless, they offer promising features such as substantially longer lifetimes compared to bright excitons, making them attractive candidates for quantum information processing. While previous theoretical and experimental studies have explored their potential, their full capabilities remain largely untapped. In this work, we demonstrate an all-optical storage and retrieval of the spin-forbidden dark exciton in a quantum dot from the ground state using chirped pulses and an in-plane magnetic field. Our experimental findings are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions of the dynamics calculated using state-of-the-art product tensor methods. Our scheme enables an all-optical control of dark states without relying on any preceding decays. This opens up an unexplored dimension for optimal quantum control and time-bin entangled photon pair generation from quantum dots.
Extension of coherence time is a desired goal in the field of all-optical information processing implemented in both classical and quantum ways. Here we show how the decay time of a coherent signal from localized excitons can be significantly increased utilizing the spin degree of freedom. To experimentally demonstrate this effect, we studied three-pulse photon echoes from excitons in a single InGaAs/GaAs quantum well subject to a transverse magnetic field. Field-induced quantum beats lead to oscillation of the exciton population between short-lived bright and long-lived dark states during the coherence storage period between the second and third excitation pulses. In the aperiodic regime, the echo signal decay time tends to the dark exciton lifetime, which leads to an increase in the photon echo decay time by an order of magnitude.
Because dark excitons in quantum dots are not directly optically accessible, so far they have not played a significant role in using quantum dots for photon generation. They possess significantly longer lifetimes than their brighter counterparts and hence offer enormous potential for photon storage or manipulation. In this work, we demonstrate an all-optical storage and retrieval of the spin-forbidden dark exciton in a quantum dot from the ground state employing chirped pulses and an in-plane magnetic field. Our experimental findings are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions of the dynamics calculated using state-of-the-art product tensor methods. Our scheme enables an all-optical control of dark states without relying on any preceding decays. This opens up a new dimension for optimal quantum control and time-bin entangled photon pair generation from quantum dots.
The dark exciton state strongly affects the optical and quantum optical properties of flat InP/GaInP quantum dots. The exciton intensity drops sharply compared to the biexciton with rising pulsed laser excitation power while the opposite is true with temperature. Also, the decay rate is faster for the exciton than the biexciton and the dark-to-bright state spin flip is enhanced with temperature. Furthermore, long-lived dark state related memory effects are observed in second-order cross-correlation measurements between the exciton and biexciton and have been simulated using a rate-equation model.
We quantitatively investigate the usefulness and viability of the scheme developed by Viola and Lloyd [Phys. Rev. A 58, 2733 (1998)] to control dephasing in the context of exciton-based quantum computation with self-assembled quantum dots. We demonstrate that optical coherence of a confined exciton qubit exposed to phonon-induced dephasing can be substantially enhanced through the application of a simple periodic sequence of control pulses. The shape of the quantum dot has a significant effect on the dephasing properties. Remarkably, we find that quantum dots with parameters optimized for implementing quantum computation are among the most susceptible to dephasing, yet periodic decoupling is most efficient for exactly that type of dot. We also show that the presence of an electric field, which is a necessary ingredient for many exciton-based quantum computing schemes, may further increase the control efficiency. Our results suggest that dynamical decoupling may be a method of choice for robust storage of exciton qubits during idle stages of quantum algorithms.
We investigate exciton spin memory in individual InAs∕GaAs\mathrm{In}\mathrm{As}∕\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}InAs∕GaAs self-assembled quantum dots via optical alignment and conversion of exciton polarization in a magnetic field. Quasiresonant phonon-assisted excitation is successfully employed to define the initial spin polarization of neutral excitons. The conservation of the linear polarization generated along the bright exciton eigenaxes of up to 90% and the conversion from circular to linear polarization of up to 47% both demonstrate a very long spin relaxation time with respect to the radiative lifetime. Results are quantitatively compared to a model of pseudospin 1∕21∕21∕2 including heavy-to-light hole mixing.