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arXiv:cond-mat/0506090 · Physical Review B

Singlet-triplet decoherence due to nuclear spins in a double quantum dot

W. A. Coish, Daniel Loss

Published Sep 21, 2005• 195 citations
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Abstract

We have evaluated hyperfine-induced electron spin dynamics for two electrons confined to a double quantum dot. Our quantum solution accounts for decay of a singlet-triplet correlator even in the presence of a fully static nuclear spin system, with no ensemble averaging over initial conditions. In contrast to an earlier semiclassical calculation, which neglects the exchange interaction, we find that the singlet-triplet correlator shows a long-time saturation value that differs from $\frac{1}{2}$, even in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Furthermore, we find that the form of the long-time decay undergoes a transition from a rapid Gaussian to a slow power law $(\ensuremath{\sim}1∕{t}^{3∕2})$ when the exchange interaction becomes nonzero and the singlet-triplet correlator acquires a phase shift given by a universal (parameter independent) value of $3\ensuremath{\pi}∕4$ at long times. The oscillation frequency and time-dependent phase shift of the singlet-triplet correlator can be used to perform a precision measurement of the exchange interaction and Overhauser field fluctuations in an experimentally accessible system. We also address the effect of orbital dephasing on singlet-triplet decoherence and find that there is an optimal operating point where orbital dephasing becomes negligible.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.72.125337

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We have evaluated hyperfine-induced electron spin dynamics for two electrons confined to a double quantum dot. Our quantum solution accounts for decay of a singlet-triplet correlator even in the presence of a fully static nuclear spin system, with no ensemble averaging over initial conditions. In contrast to an earlier semiclassical calculation, which neglects the exchange interaction, we find that the singlet-triplet correlator shows a long-time saturation value that differs from 12\frac{1}{2}21​, even in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Furthermore, we find that the form of the long-time decay undergoes a transition from a rapid Gaussian to a slow power law (\ensuremath∼1∕t3∕2)(\ensuremath{\sim}1∕{t}^{3∕2})(\ensuremath∼1∕t3∕2) when the exchange interaction becomes nonzero and the singlet-triplet correlator acquires a phase shift given by a universal (parameter independent) value of 3\ensuremathπ∕43\ensuremath{\pi}∕43\ensuremathπ∕4 at long times. The oscillation frequency and time-dependent phase shift of the singlet-triplet correlator can be used to perform a precision measurement of the exchange interaction and Overhauser field fluctuations in an experimentally accessible system. We also address the effect of orbital dephasing on singlet-triplet decoherence and find that there is an optimal operating point where orbital dephasing becomes negligible.
In double quantum dots, the exchange interaction between two electron spins renormalizes the excitation energy of pair flips in the nuclear spin bath, which in turn modifies the non-Markovian bath dynamics. As the energy renormalization varies with the static Overhauser field mismatch between the quantum dots, the electron singlet-triplet decoherence resulting from the bath dynamics depends on sampling of nuclear spin states from an ensemble, leading to the transition from superexponential decoherence in single-sample dynamics to power-law decay under ensemble averaging. In contrast, the decoherence of a single electron spin in one dot is essentially the same for different choices of the nuclear spin configuration.
We investigate theoretically the hyperfine-induced dephasing of two-electron-spin states in a double quantum dot with a finite singlet-triplet splitting JJJ. In particular, we derive an effective pure dephasing Hamiltonian, which is valid when the hyperfine-induced mixing is suppressed due to the relatively large JJJ and the external magnetic field. Using both a quantum theory based on resummation of ring diagrams and semiclassical methods, we identify the dominant dephasing processes in regimes defined by values of the external magnetic field, the singlet-triplet splitting, and inhomogeneity in the total effective magnetic field. We address both free induction and Hahn echo decay of superposition of singlet and unpolarized triplet states (both cases are relevant for singlet-triplet qubits realized in double quantum dots). We also study hyperfine-induced exchange gate errors for two single-spin qubits. Results for III-V semiconductors as well as silicon-based quantum dots are presented.
We consider a system of two strongly coupled electron spins in zero magnetic field, each of which is interacting with an individual bath of nuclear spins via the hyperfine interaction. Applying the long-spin approximation that we introduced in a previous paper [Europhys. Lett. 95, 47009 (2011)] (here each bath is replaced by a single long spin), we numerically study the electron spin and entanglement dynamics. We demonstrate that the decoherence time is scaling with the bath size according to a power law. As expected, the decaying part of the dynamics decreases with increasing bath polarization. However, surprisingly it turns out that, under certain circumstances, combining quantum dots of different geometry to the double dot setup has a very similar effect on the magnitude of the spin decay. Finally, we show that even for a comparatively weak exchange coupling the electron spins can be fully entangled.
We study spin dynamics and singlet-triplet decoherence due to the hyperfine interaction in a parabolic double quantum dot. We use exact diagonalization and perturbation theory for calculating the time evolution of the wave function. The probabilities for the singlet state exhibit damped oscillations and converge toward a value, which depends only on the strength of the hyperfine field and the exchange energy. We derive expressions for the asymptotic singlet probability and its variance using a $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2$ effective Hamiltonian matrix. The asymptotic values and variances for singlet probabilities are in agreement with previous experimental data.
We theoretically study the interplay of spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions in dynamical nuclear polarization in two-electron semiconductor double quantum dots near the singlet-triplet ($S\ensuremath{-}{T}_{+}$) anticrossing. The goal of the scheme under study is to extend the singlet-triplet ($S\ensuremath{-}{T}_{0}$) qubit decoherence time T2∗{T}_{2}^{*}T2∗​ by dynamically transferring the polarization from the electron spins to the nuclear spins. This polarization transfer is achieved by cycling the electron spins over the $S\ensuremath{-}{T}_{+}$ anticrossing. Here, we investigate, both quantitatively and qualitatively, how this hyperfine-mediated dynamical polarization transfer is influenced by the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction. In addition to T2∗{T}_{2}^{*}T2∗​, we determine the singlet return probability Ps{P}_{s}Ps​, a quantity that can be measured in experiments. Our results suggest that the spin-orbit interaction establishes a mechanism that can polarize the nuclear spins in the direction opposite to that of hyperfine-mediated nuclear spin polarization. In materials with relatively strong spin-orbit coupling, this interplay of spin-orbit and hyperfine-mediated nuclear spin polarizations prevents any notable increase in the $S\ensuremath{-}{T}_{0}$ qubit decoherence time T2∗{T}_{2}^{*}T2∗​.