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Physical Review Letters

Lattice Fluctuations at a Double Phonon Frequency with and without Squeezing: An Exactly Solvable Model of an Optically Excited Quantum Dot

Steffen Sauer, J. M. Daniels, Doris E. Reiter, T. Kühn, Alexei Vagov, V. M. Axt

Published Oct 5, 2010• 27 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Time-dependent lattice fluctuations of an optically excited strongly confined quantum dot are investigated with the aim to analyze the characteristics commonly used for identifying the presence of squeezed phonon states. It is demonstrated that the appearance of fluctuations oscillating with twice the phonon frequency, commonly regarded as a clear indication of squeezed states, cannot be considered as such. The source of the discrepancy with earlier investigations is discussed. Conditions for generating a squeezed state by using a two-pulse excitation are analyzed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.105.157401

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Time-dependent lattice fluctuations of an optically excited strongly confined quantum dot are investigated with the aim to analyze the characteristics commonly used for identifying the presence of squeezed phonon states. It is demonstrated that the appearance of fluctuations oscillating with twice the phonon frequency, commonly regarded as a clear indication of squeezed states, cannot be considered as such. The source of the discrepancy with earlier investigations is discussed. Conditions for generating a squeezed state by using a two-pulse excitation are analyzed.
A theoretical analysis of the fluctuation properties of optical phonons generated by the optical excitation of a quantum dot is presented. In particular we study whether squeezed states may be generated where either the fluctuations of the displacement or of the momentum fall below the vacuum level. The calculations are based on a generating functions formalism which provides analytical results for the case of excitation by ultrashort optical pulses. While after a single pulse excitation no squeezing occurs we find that after an excitation with two phase-locked pulses phonon states can be created where the uncertainties of displacement or momentum temporarily fall below their vacuum values.
Abstract In this paper, the fluctuation properties of phonons after the optical excitation of a quantum dot with an ultrashort laser pulse are studied theoretically. When a single pulse with pulse area π creates an exciton in the system, a coherent phonon state builds up. Fluctuations of coherent states are time independent and equal to the vacuum fluctuations. By an excitation with a π/2 pulse a superposition of ground and exciton state is created. In this case the phonon system becomes entangled with the electronic system. In the phonon subsystem this leads to the formation of a statistical mixture of the vacuum and the coherent state. The fluctuations of this mixture oscillate in time with both the single and the double phonon frequency, but never exhibit squeezing. The discrepancies with the predictions made in a Raman tensor model are briefly discussed. All scenarios are illustrated using the Wigner function.
A model of semiconductor quantum dots coupled to phonons and laser light, which is relevant in the limit of strong electronic confinement, is investigated. For an arbitrary sequence of excitations by ultrafast pulses, analytical solutions are obtained for all pertinent density-matrix elements. The results are nonperturbative with respect to the coupling to both phonons and laser light. The derivation depends neither on a particular choice of electronic wave functions nor on a particular wave-vector dependence of the phonon interaction or phonon dispersion. All components of the density matrix exhibit oscillatory dependences on the pulse areas of the exciting pulses analogously to the Rabi oscillations known from simple two-level systems. Three typical applications of the general results are worked out: (a) the influence of phonons on four-wave-mixing spectra, (b) the coherent control of electronic dot occupations in the presence of phonons, and (c) the dynamics of phonon correlations including the formation of a stable polaron spatially localized in the dot and the emission of a pulsed phonon wave packet that leaves the dot.
We present quantum kinetic calculations showing how squeezed phonon states can be generated in a biased quantum well by optical driving. In such states the uncertainty of the lattice displacement or momentum is reduced below its zero-point value. It is shown that quantitative results that are meaningful for real observations require accounting for the inevitably limited spatial resolution. Our simulations yield results for the strength of the squeezing and predict under which conditions it can occur: Optical excitations on the lowest absorption line need at least two pulses to generate squeezing, while a single pulse below the band gap may produce a squeezed state which has an almost minimum-value uncertainty product.
The spin of an electron confined into a lateral semiconductor quantum dot has been proposed as a possible physical realization of a qubit. While the spin has the advantage of large decoherence times, operations with more than one qubit will necessarily involve orbital degrees of freedom, namely, charge, which is much more prone to decoherence. There are also alternative quantum dot qubit proposals that are entirely based on charge. We have used a realistic model to quantify the limitations imposed by acoustic phonons on the operation of quantum dot-based qubits. Our treatment includes essential aspects of the setup geometry, wave function profile and materials characteristics. The time dependence of the qubit density matrix is the presence of a phonon bath solved within the Born-Markov approximation. We find that the inclusion of geometric form factors makes the phonon-induced decoherence rates in double dot charge qubits nearly one order of magnitude lower than estimates previously in the literature. Moreover, our theoretical prediction for the quality factor of coherent charge oscillations based on phonon decoherence are higher than the values recently observed experimentally. This allows us to conclude that phonons are not the primary source of decoherence in double quantum dot qubits.