Homogeneous Linewidth Narrowing of the Charged Exciton via Nuclear Spin Screening in an InAs/GaAs Quantum Dot Ensemble

Published

November 18, 2014

Author(s)

Galan A. Moody, Mingming M. Feng, Corey A. McDonald, Richard P. Mirin, Kevin L. Silverman

Abstract

In semiconductor quantum dots, the electron hyperfine interaction with the nuclear spin bath is the leading source of spin decoherence at cryogenic temperature. Using high-resolution two-color differential transmission spectroscopy, we demonstrate that such electron-nuclear coupling also imposes a lower limit for the positively-charged exciton dephasing rate, gamma, in an ensemble of InAs/GaAs quantum dots. We find that gamma is sensitive to the strength of the hyperfine interaction, which can be controlled through the application of an external magnetic field in the Faraday configuration. At zero applied field, strong electron-nuclear coupling induces additional dephasing beyond the radiative limit and gamma = 230 MHz (0.95 micro-eV). Screening of the hyperfine interaction is achieved for an external field of ~ 1.5 T, resulting in gamma = 172 MHz (0.71 micro-eV) limited only by spontaneous recombination. On the other hand, application of a Voigt magnetic field mixes the spin eigenstates, which increases gamma by up to 75%. These results are reproduced with a simple and intuitive model that captures the essential features of the electron hyperfine interaction and its influence on gamma.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

90

Issue

20

Pub Type

Journals

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DOI Link

Keywords

Quantum Dots, Charged Excitons, Hyperfine Interaction, Homogeneous Linewidth, Optical Spectroscopy, Spectral Hole Burning, Magnetic Field

Citation

Moody, G. , Feng, M. , McDonald, C. , Mirin, R. and Silverman, K. (2014), Homogeneous Linewidth Narrowing of the Charged Exciton via Nuclear Spin Screening in an InAs/GaAs Quantum Dot Ensemble, Physical Review B, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.205306 (Accessed April 19, 2024)