Phonon Bath Temperature Research Articles

Phonon-induced interactions and entanglement formation between two microcavity modes mediated by two semiconductor quantum dots

Using a polaron master equation approach, we investigate the cooperative two-photon resonance behavior between two modes of a field inside a semiconductor microcavity containing two quantum dots. The cooperative two-mode two-photon resonance occurs when two off-resonant quantum dots, initially prepared in exciton states, emit one photon in each cavity mode and deexcite simultaneously. Using this two-photon two-mode interaction, we demonstrate how to generate an entangled state of two qutrits (tripartite unit of quantum information). The bases for the qutrits are formed by the states of the cavity modes containing zero, one, and two photons. We also study the effect of exciton-phonon coupling on the entanglement and the probability of generating two-qutrit states, and explore the role of the phonon bath temperature.

Generation of frequency-tunable squeezed single photons from a single quantum dot

We demonstrate the generation of frequency-tunable squeezed single photons from a continuous wave laser-driven single-quantum-dot system using a rigorous theoretical formalism, the so-called polaron master equation theory for accurately incorporating the exciton–phonon coupling. We investigate the squeezing for both resonant and off-resonant excitations and show that even for an appropriate off-resonant excitation, the degree of quadrature squeezing can be equal to or even greater than the maximum value obtained for a resonant excitation due to the increased purity of the quantum dot system. We further demonstrate, without losing the degree of squeezing, the tunability of the central frequency of squeezed photons by adjusting the detuning. We show that the detrimental effects due to the exciton–phonon coupling remain negligible up to the phonon bath temperature of 20 K and become quite appreciable beyond this temperature, particularly at higher phonon cutoff frequencies.

Theory of non-Markovian dynamics in resonance fluorescence spectrum

We present a detailed theoretical study of non-Markovian dynamics in the fluorescence spectrum of a driven semiconductor quantum dot (QD), embedded in a cavity and coupled to a three-dimensional (3D) acoustic phonon reservoir. In particular, we investigate the effect of pure dephasing on one of the side-peaks of the Mollow-triplet spectrum, expressed in terms of the off-diagonal element of the reduced system operator. The QD is modeled as a two-level system with an excited state representing a single exciton, and ground state represents the absence of an exciton. Coupling to the radiative modes of the cavity is treated within usual Born-Markov approximation, whereas dot-phonon coupling is discussed within non-Markovian regime beyond Born approximation. Using an equation-of-motion technique, the dot-phonon coupling is solved exactly and found that the exact result coincides with that of obtained within Born approximation. Furthermore, a Markov approximation is carried out with respect to the phonon interaction and compared with the non- Markovian lineshape for different values of the phonon bath temperature. We have found that coupling to the phonons vanishes for a resonant pump laser. For a non-resonant pump, we have characterzied the effect of dot-laser detuning and temperature of the phonon bath on the lineshape. The sideband undergoes a distinct narrowing and aquires an asymmetric shape with increasing phonon bath temperature. We have explained this behavior using a dressed-state picture of the QD levels.

Enhanced quasiparticle lifetime in a superconductor by selective blocking of recombination phonons with a phononic crystal

When quasiparticles in a BCS superconductor recombine into Cooper pairs, phonons are emitted within a narrow band of energies above the pairing energy at 2$\Delta$. We show that a phonon bandgap restricting the escape of recombination phonons from a superconductor can increase the quasiparticle recombination lifetime by more than an order of magnitude. A phonon bandgap can be realized and matched to the recombination energy with a phononic crystal, a periodically-patterned dielectric membrane. We discuss in detail the non-equilibrium quasiparticle and phonon distributions that arise in a superconductor due to a phonon bandgap and a pair-breaking photon signal. Although intrinsically a non-equilibrium effect, the lifetime enhancement in the small-signal regime is remarkably similar to an estimate from an equilibrium formulation. The equilibrium estimate closely follows $\exp(\Omega_{bg}/k_BT_b)$, where $\Omega_{bg}$ is the phonon bandgap energy bandwidth above 2$\Delta$, and $T_b$ is the phonon bath temperature of the coupled electron-phonon system. We discuss the impact of a phononic bandgap on the performance of superconducting devices, and propose a superconducting microwave resonator circuit to measure the enhancement in the quasiparticle lifetime.

Onset of optical-phonon cooling in multilayer graphene revealed by RF noise and black-body radiation thermometries

We report on electron cooling power measurements in few-layer graphene excited by Joule heating by means of a new setup combining electrical and optical probes of the electron and phonon baths temperatures. At low bias, noise thermometry allows us to retrieve the well known acoustic phonon cooling regimes below and above the Bloch-Grüneisen temperature, with additional control over the phonon bath temperature. At high electrical bias, we show the relevance of direct optical investigation of the electronic temperature by means of black-body radiation measurements. In this regime, the onset of new efficient relaxation pathways involving optical modes is observed.

Direct Observation of Charge-Carrier Heating at WZ–ZB InP Nanowire Heterojunctions

We have investigated the dynamics of hot charge carriers in InP nanowire ensembles containing a range of densities of zinc-blende inclusions along the otherwise wurtzite nanowires. From time-dependent photoluminescence spectra, we extract the temperature of the charge carriers as a function of time after nonresonant excitation. We find that charge-carrier temperature initially decreases rapidly with time in accordance with efficient heat transfer to lattice vibrations. However, cooling rates are subsequently slowed and are significantly lower for nanowires containing a higher density of stacking faults. We conclude that the transfer of charges across the type II interface is followed by release of additional energy to the lattice, which raises the phonon bath temperature above equilibrium and impedes the carrier cooling occurring through interaction with such phonons. These results demonstrate that type II heterointerfaces in semiconductor nanowires can sustain a hot charge-carrier distribution over an extended time period. In photovoltaic applications, such heterointerfaces may hence both reduce recombination rates and limit energy losses by allowing hot-carrier harvesting.

Phonon-mediated population inversion in a semiconductor quantum-dot cavity system

We investigate pump-induced exciton inversion in a quantum-dot cavity system with continuous wave drive. Using a polaron-based master equation, we demonstrate excited-state populations above 0.9 for an InAs quantum dot at a phonon bath temperature of 4 K. In an exciton-driven system, the dominant mechanism is incoherent excitation from the phonon bath. For cavity driving, the mechanism is phonon-mediated switching between ground- and excited-state branches of the ladder of photon states, as quantum trajectory simulations clearly show. The exciton inversion as a function of detuning is found to be qualitatively different for exciton and cavity driving, primarily due to cavity filtering. The master equation approach allows us to include important radiative and non-radiative decay processes on the zero phonon line, provides a clear underlying dynamic in terms of photon and phonon scattering, and admits simple analytical approximations that help to explain the physics.

Logarithmic relaxation and stress aging in the electron glass

Slow relaxation and aging of the conductance are experimental features of a range of materials, which are collectively known as electron glasses. We report dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of the standard electron glass lattice model. In a nonequilibrium state, the electrons will often form a Fermi distribution with an effective electron temperature higher than the phonon bath temperature. We study the effective temperature as a function of time in three different situations: relaxation after a quench from an initial random state, during driving by an external electric field, and during relaxation after such driving. We observe logarithmic relaxation of the effective temperature after a quench from a random initial state as well as after driving the system for some time ${t}_{w}$ with a strong electric field. For not too strong electric field and not too long ${t}_{w}$ we observe that data for the effective temperature at different waiting times collapse when plotted as functions of $t/{t}_{w}$---the so-called simple aging. During the driving period we study how the effective temperature is established, separating the contributions from the sites involved in jumps from those that were not involved. It is found that the heating mainly affects the sites involved in jumps, but at strong driving, also the remaining sites are heated.

Nonlinear photon transport in a semiconductor waveguide-cavity system containing a single quantum dot: Anharmonic cavity-QED regime

We present a semiconductor master equation technique to study the input/output characteristics of coherent photon transport in a semiconductor waveguide-cavity system containing a single quantum dot. We use this approach to investigate the effects of photon propagation and anharmonic cavity-QED for various dot-cavity interaction strengths, including weakly-coupled, intermediately-coupled, and strongly-coupled regimes. We demonstrate that for mean photon numbers much less than 0.1, the commonly adopted weak excitation (single quantum) approximation breaks down, even in the weak coupling regime. As a measure of the anharmonic multiphoton-correlations, we compute the Fano factor and the correlation error associated with making a semiclassical approximation. We also explore the role of electron--acoustic-phonon scattering and find that phonon-mediated scattering plays a qualitatively important role on the light propagation characteristics. As an application of the theory, we simulate a conditional phase gate at a phonon bath temperature of $20 $K in the strong coupling regime.

Nonlinear conductivity of two-dimensional Coulomb glasses

We have studied the nonlinear conductivity of two-dimensional Coulomb glasses. We have used a Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate the dynamic of the system under an applied electric field $E$. We found that in the nonlinear regime the site occupancy in the Coulomb gap follows a Fermi-Dirac distribution with an effective temperature $T_{\rm eff}$, higher than the phonon bath temperature $T$. The value of the effective temperature is compatible with that obtained for slow modes from the generalized fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The nonlinear conductivity for a given electric field and $T$ is fairly similar to the linear conductivity at the corresponding $T_{\rm eff}$. We found that the dissipated power and the effective temperature are related by an expression of the form $(T_{\rm eff}^\alpha-T^\alpha)T_{\rm eff}^{\beta-\alpha}$.

Optically driven Mott-Hubbard systems out of thermodynamic equilibrium

We have studied the nonlinear conductivity of two-dimensional Coulomb glasses. We have used a Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate the dynamic of the system under an applied electric field E. We have compared results for two different models: a regular square lattice with only diagonal disorder and a random array of sites with diagonal and off-diagonal disorder. We have found that for moderate fields the logarithm of the conductivity is proportional to reproducing experimental results. We have also found that in the nonlinear regime the site occupancy in the Coulomb gap follows a Fermi-Dirac distribution with an effective temperature Teff higher than the phonon bath temperature T.

Non-linear conductivity in Coulomb glasses

We have studied the nonlinear conductivity of two-dimensional Coulomb glasses. We have used a Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate the dynamic of the system under an applied electric field E. We have compared results for two different models: a regular square lattice with only diagonal disorder and a random array of sites with diagonal and off-diagonal disorder. We have found that for moderate fields the logarithm of the conductivity is proportional to √ E/T 2 , reproducing experimental results. We have also found that in the nonlinear regime the site occupancy in the Coulomb gap follows a Fermi-Dirac distribution with an effective temperature Teff higher than the phonon bath temperature T . c

Non‐linear conductivity in Coulomb glasses

AbstractWe have studied the nonlinear conductivity of two‐dimensional Coulomb glasses. We have used a Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate the dynamic of the system under an applied electric field E. We have compared results for two different models: a regular square lattice with only diagonal disorder and a random array of sites with diagonal and off‐diagonal disorder. We have found that for moderate fields the logarithm of the conductivity is proportional to reproducing experimental results. We have also found that in the nonlinear regime the site occupancy in the Coulomb gap follows a Fermi‐Dirac distribution with an effective temperature Teff higher than the phonon bath temperature T.

Study of Temperature Dependence of Electron–Phonon Relaxation and Dephasing in Semiconductor Double-Dot Nanostructures

This paper examines mechanisms of relaxation and dephasing of electrons in double-dot nanostructures due to interaction with acoustic phonon modes. The effect of temperature of phonon bath on decay on electron quantum evolution is obtained. Our results set the temperature ranges outside of which the quantum dynamics of electrons will be significantly suppressed.

EXCITON MIGRATION IN DENDRITIC AGGREGATE SYSTEMS USING THE QUANTUM MASTER EQUATION APPROACH INVOLVING WEAK EXCITON-PHONON COUPLING

The quantum master equation approach involving a weak exciton-phonon coupling is applied to the exciton migration dynamics of dendritic molecular aggregates modeled after a phenylacetylene dendrimer, D25, which exhibits an efficient light-harvesting property. The mechanism of efficient exciton migration from the periphery to the core is studied by analyzing relaxation terms among the exciton states originating in weak exciton-phonon coupling. Partial overlaps of exciton distributions between neighboring exciton states are found to be important for realizing the unique migration behavior by step-by-step transfer from the periphery to the core via multi-step exciton states. The same calculation method is applied to the exciton dynamics of a larger dendritic aggregate model, D127, modeled after the largest synthesized phenylacetylene dendrimer D127 in order to examine the dependencies of the exciton migration on the strength of the intermolecular interaction and the temperature of phonon bath. In the case of the relatively weak dipole-dipole coupling, exciton is not observed to migrate efficiently from the periphery to the core, while the largest exciton population is found to remain in the intermediate generations. This is ascribed to the fact that the thermal excitation to the higher exciton states significantly contributes to the exciton distribution in the equilibrium state when the weak intermolecular interaction reduces the energy difference between exciton states. This indicates that the intermolecular interaction is important not only for the overlaps of the exciton distributions between the exciton states, but also the relation between the exciton energy differences and thermal excitations, which spoil the distinct concentration of exciton distribution in the core generation. In the case of a low temperature, even if the intermolecular interaction is weak, the exciton population in the core region is found to be the largest in all the generations. This suggests that exciton tends to efficiently migrate from the periphery to the core when the temperature is sufficiently low. Implications of these theoretical results are discussed in relation to design of magneto-optical materials and other technological applications.

Laser studies of vibrational energy transfer and relaxation of CO trapped in solid neon and argon

The infrared emission of CO trapped in solid Ne and Ar is observed at low temperature. The first vibrational level of 12C 16O is excited by a Q-switched frequency doubled CO 2 laser. The emission spectrum consists of several lines arising from upper vibrational levels of 12C 16O and also of 13C 16O and 12C 18O which are present in natural abundance. An interpretation is proposed which is based on the assumption that long range dipole—dipole interaction is the main physical process involved in these experiments. Resonance energy transfer produces an energy migration among 12C 16O molecules without any change in vibrational populations. Phonon assisted energy transfer takes place between vibrational levels of the various isotopic species present in the solution. In order to satisfy the resonance condition a phonon is emitted or absorbed whose energy compensates for the energy mismatch between the transitions in each interacting molecule due to isotopic effect and or vibrational anharmonicity. The range of this process is greatly extended by energy migration. At the low phonon bath temperature phonon emission is much more probable than phonon absorption. So a strong excitation of upper vibrational levels with in some cases population inversions is observed. Molecular impurities act as efficient quenching centers even at very low concentration. When highly purified samples are used, the fluorescence decay time is found to be 20.6 ms in Ne and 14.5 ms in Ar and does not significantly depend upon concentration and temperature. It is concluded that radiationless relaxation is unimportant.