We report on a stable form of pulsed electroluminescence in a dopant-free direct band gap semiconductor heterostructure that we coin the "tidal effect." Swapping of an inducing gate voltage in an ambipolar field effect transistor allows incoming and outgoing carriers of opposite charge to meet and recombine radiatively. We develop a model to explain the carrier dynamics that underpins the frequency response of the pulsed electroluminescence intensity. Higher mobilities enable larger active emission areas than in previous reports, as well as stable emission over long timescales.
We report on transport characteristics of field effect two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in 24 nm wide indium arsenide surface quantum wells. High quality single-subband magnetotransport with clear quantized integer quantum Hall plateaus is observed to filling factor ν = 2 in magnetic fields of up to B = 18 T, at electron densities up to 8 ×1011/cm2. Peak mobility is 11 000 cm2/Vs at 2 ×1012/cm2. Large Rashba spin–orbit coefficients up to 124 meV Å are obtained through weak anti-localization measurements. Proximitized superconductivity is demonstrated in Nb-based superconductor-normal-superconductor (SNS) junctions, yielding 78%–99% interface transparencies from superconducting contacts fabricated ex situ (post-growth), using two commonly used experimental techniques for measuring transparencies. These transparencies are on a par with those reported for epitaxially grown superconductors. These SNS junctions show characteristic voltages IcRn up to 870 μV and critical current densities up to 9.6 μA/μm, among the largest values reported for Nb-InAs SNS devices.
Among superconductor/semiconductor hybrid structures, in situ aluminum (Al) grown on InGaAs/InAs is widely pursued for the experimental realization of Majorana Zero Mode quasiparticles. This is due to the high carrier mobility, low effective mass, and large Landé g-factor of InAs, coupled with the relatively high value of the in-plane critical magnetic field in thin Al films. However, growing a thin, continuous Al layer using the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is challenging due to aluminum's high surface mobility and tendency for 3D nucleation on semiconductor surfaces. A study of epitaxial Al thin film growth on In0.75Ga0.25As with MBE is presented, focusing on the effects of the Al growth rate and substrate temperature on the nucleation of Al layers. We find that for low deposition rates, 0.1 and 0.5 Å/s, the growth continues in 3D mode during the deposition of the nominal 100 Å of Al, resulting in isolated Al islands. However, for growth rates of 1.5 Å/s and above, the 3D growth mode quickly transitions into island coalescence, leading to a uniform 2D Al layer. Moreover, this transition is very abrupt, happening over an Al flux increase of less than 1%. We discuss the growth mechanisms explaining these observations. The results give new insights into the kinetics of Al deposition and show that with sufficiently high Al flux, a 2D growth on substrates at close to room temperature can be achieved already within the first few Al monolayers. This eliminates the need for complex cryogenic substrate cooling and paves the way for the development of high-quality superconductor-semiconductor interfaces in standard MBE systems.
Quantum communications and remote sensing protocols rely on preparing individual quanta of light, or photons, as carriers of quantum information. While it is easy to generate many-photon classical states of light (e.g., a light bulb or a laser), it is challenging to generate single quanta or pairs of entangled quanta on-demand. Yet, only in this latter regime can the fundamentally quantum nature of light be exploited to achieve performance exceeding classical bounds. We are developing a single-photon source based on combining a one-parameter single electron pump (Figure 1a,b) – an electrically controlled, on-demand, high-fidelity emitter of single electrons [1] – with a lateral p-n junction [2] (Figure 1c,d) in which injected single electrons recombine with holes to produce single photons. These devices are realized in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures and designed to be ambipolar. Such a quantum light source could lead to a paradigm shift in metrology, providing a quantum redefinition of two of the seven SI base units, the ampere and the candela. It is also possible in principle to realize scalable source arrays on a single chip. I will discuss progress towards realizing and characterizing these sources, including work on optimizing collection efficiency and Purcell enhancement using a lateral distributed Bragg reflector in a concentric ring geometry. Beyond fundamental studies, the proposed photon source will find practical use in quantum communications protocols (QKD), where it can offer fast data transmission rates, and quantum sensing with LiDAR, where it could outperform laser-based systems in the few-photon regime for low-power, stealth applications. [1] B. Buonacorsi et al, “Non-adiabatic single-electron pumps in a dopant-free GaAs/AlGaAs 2DEG”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 119 , 114001 (2021). [2] L. Tian et al, “Stable electroluminescence in ambipolar dopant-free lateral p-n junctions”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 123 , 061102 (2023). Figure 1
Dopant-free lateral p-n junctions in the GaAs/AlGaAs material system have attracted interest due to their potential use in quantum optoelectronics (e.g., optical quantum computers or quantum repeaters) and ease of integration with other components, such as single electron pumps and spin qubits. A major obstacle to integration has been unwanted charge accumulation at the p-n junction gap that suppresses light emission, either due to enhanced non-radiative recombination or inhibition of p-n current. Typically, samples must frequently be warmed to room temperature to dissipate this built-up charge and restore light emission in a subsequent cooldown. Here, we introduce a practical gate voltage protocol that clears this parasitic charge accumulation, in-situ at low temperature, enabling the indefinite cryogenic operation of devices. This reset protocol enabled the optical characterization of stable, bright, dopant-free lateral p-n junctions with electroluminescence linewidths among the narrowest (< 1 meV; < 0.5 nm) reported in this type of device. It also enabled the unambiguous identification of the ground state of neutral free excitons (heavy and light holes), as well as charged excitons (trions). The free exciton emission energies for both photoluminescence and electroluminescence are found to be nearly identical (within 0.2 meV or 0.1 nm). The binding and dissociation energies for free and charged excitons are reported. A free exciton lifetime of 237 ps was measured by time-resolved electroluminescence, compared to 419 ps with time-resolved photoluminescence.
We report on transport characteristics of field effect two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in surface indium antimonide quantum wells. The topmost 5 nm of the 30 nm wide quantum well is doped and shown to promote the formation of reliable, low resistance Ohmic contacts to surface InSb 2DEGs. High quality single-subband magnetotransport with clear quantized integer quantum Hall plateaus is observed to filling factor nu = 1 in magnetic fields of up to B = 18 T. We show that the electron density is gate-tunable, reproducible, and stable from pinch-off to 4 x 10(11) cm(-2), and peak mobilities exceed 24 000 cm(2)/Vs. Large Rashba spin-orbit coefficients up to 110meV . angstrom are obtained through weak anti-localization measurements. An effective mass of 0.019m(e) is determined from temperature-dependent magnetoresistance measurements, and a g-factor of 41 at a density of 3.6 x 10(11) cm(-2) is obtained from coincidence measurements in tilted magnetic fields. By comparing two heterostructures with and without a delta-doped layer beneath the quantum well, we find that the carrier density is stable with time when doping in the ternary Al0.1In0.9Sb barrier is not present. Finally, the effect of modulation doping on structural asymmetry between the two heterostructures is characterized.
In this research, we presents a novel design for an all-electrical single photon emitter that utilizes a single electron pump and a lateral p-n junction based on an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure. The fundamental promise of single photon emission is achieved by injecting one and only one electron into the p-n junction, where one photon is generated after e-h radiative recombination. This ensures an intrinsically on-demand and deterministic single photon source. Up to GHz repetition rate is expected given the single electron pump has demonstrated quantized generation of electrons in the GHz range. We will present some promising stable EL emission after overcoming the charge accumulation problem in our dopant-free architecture.
Illumination is performed at low temperature on dopant-free two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) of varying depths, under unbiased (gates grounded) and biased (gates at a positive or negative voltage) conditions. Unbiased illuminations in 2DEGs located more than 70 nm away from the surface result in a gain in mobility at a given electron density, primarily driven by the reduction of background impurities. In 2DEGs closer to the surface, unbiased illuminations result in a mobility loss, driven by an increase in surface charge density. Biased illuminations performed with positive applied gate voltages result in a mobility gain, whereas those performed with negative applied voltages result in a mobility loss. The magnitude of the mobility gain (loss) weakens with 2DEG depth, and is likely driven by a reduction (increase) in surface charge density. Remarkably, this mobility gain/loss is fully reversible by performing another biased illumination with the appropriate gate voltage, provided both $n$-type and $p$-type Ohmic contacts are present. Experimental results are modeled with Boltzmann transport theory, and possible mechanisms are discussed.
B. Buonacorsi, 2 F. Sfigakis, 3, 4, a) A. Shetty, 4 M. C. Tam, 6 H. S. Kim, 6 S. R. Harrigan, 2, 6 F. Hohls, M. E. Reimer, 2, 3, 5 Z. R. Wasilewski, 2, 3, 5, 6 and J. Baugh 2, 3, 4, 6, b) Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada Northern Quantum Lights Inc., Waterloo N2B 1N5, Canada Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
Silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) spin qubits have become a promising platform for quantum information processing, with recent demonstrations of high-fidelity single and two-qubit gates. To move beyond a few qubits, however, more scalable designs that reduce the fabrication complexity and electrode density are needed. Here, we introduce a two-metal-layer MOS quantum dot device in which tunnel barriers are naturally formed by gaps between electrodes and controlled by adjacent accumulation gates. The accumulation gates define the electron reservoirs and provide tunability of the tunnel rate of nearly 8.5 decades V-?1, determined by a combination of charge sensor electron counting measurements and by direct transport. The valley splitting in the few-electron regime is probed by magneto-spectroscopy up to a field of 6 T, providing an estimate for the ground-state gap of 290 ?eV. We show preliminary characterization of a double quantum dot, demonstrating that this design can be extended to linear dot arrays that should be useful in applications like electron shuttling. These results motivate further innovations in MOS quantum dot design that can improve the scalability prospects for spin qubits.
Illumination is performed at low temperature on dopant-free two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) of varying depths, under unbiased (gates grounded) and biased (gates at a positive or negative voltage) conditions. Unbiased illuminations in 2DEGs located more than 70 nm away from the surface result in a gain in mobility at a given electron density, primarily driven by the reduction of background impurities. In 2DEGs closer to the surface, unbiased illuminations result in a mobility loss, driven by an increase in surface charge density. Biased illuminations performed with positive applied gate voltages result in a mobility gain, whereas those performed with negative applied voltages result in a mobility loss. The magnitude of the mobility gain (loss) weakens with 2DEG depth, and is likely driven by a reduction (increase) in surface charge density. Remarkably, this mobility gain/loss is fully reversible by performing another biased illumination with the appropriate gate voltage, provided both n-type and p-type ohmic contacts are present. Experimental results are modeled with Boltzmann transport theory, and possible mechanisms are discussed.
We present observations of an anisotropic resistance state at Landau-level filling factor nu = 5/2 in a two-dimensional hole system (2DHS), which occurs for certain values of hole density p and average out-of-plane electric field E-perpendicular to. The 2DHS is induced by electric-field effect in an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well, where front and back gates allow independent tuning of p and E-perpendicular to, and hence the symmetry of the confining potential. For p approximate to 2 x 10(11 )cm(-2) and E-perpendicular to approximate to -2 x 10(5) V/m, the magnetoresistance along < 01 (1 >) over bar greatly exceeds that along < 011 >, suggesting the formation of a quantum Hall nematic or "stripe" phase. Reversing the sign of E-perpendicular to rotates the stripes by 90 degrees. We suggest this behavior may arise from the mixing of the hole Landau levels and a combination of the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling effects.
Comprehensive studies on the surface morphological evolution of AlInSb metamorphic buffers and InSb QWs grown on top were conducted as a function of the GaAs (001) substrate offcut angles. We confirmed our earlier postulation that the vicinal surfaces defined by the hillock facets have the exact surface orientation needed to achieve large-area hillock-free surfaces. The related morphological transitions were discussed with a graphic illustration. The optimum substrate offcut for InSb towards [1¯10] direction was found to be around 0.5–0.6° with our growth conditions. On 2-inch GaAs (001) substrates with this offcut, a hillock-free and atomically smooth surface morphology was successfully achieved for modulation-doped InSb QWs.
We conduct a comprehensive study of three different magnetic semiconductors, CrI3, CrBr3, and CrCl3, by incorporating both few-layer and bilayer samples in van der Waals tunnel junctions. We find that the interlayer magnetic ordering, exchange gap, magnetic anisotropy, and magnon excitations evolve systematically with changing halogen atom. By fitting to a spin wave theory that accounts for nearest-neighbor exchange interactions, we are able to further determine a simple spin Hamiltonian describing all three systems. These results extend the 2D magnetism platform to Ising, Heisenberg, and XY spin classes in a single material family. Using magneto-optical measurements, we additionally demonstrate that ferromagnetism can be stabilized down to monolayer in more isotropic CrBr3, with transition temperature still close to that of the bulk.
We measure the phase velocities of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) propagating at different crystal orientations on (001)-cut GaAs substrates and their temperature dependance. We design and fabricate sets of interdigital transducers (IDTs) to induce 4 μm SAWs via the inverse piezoelectric (PZE) effect between the PZE [110] direction (set as θ = 0°) and the non-PZE [100] direction (θ = 45°) on GaAs. We also prepare ZnO film sputtered GaAs substrates in order to launch SAWs efficiently by IDTs even in the non-PZE direction. We quantify acoustic velocities between 1.4 and 300 K from the resonant frequencies in the S11 parameter using a network analyzer. We observe parabolic velocity–temperature trends at all θ-values both on GaAs and ZnO/GaAs substrates. Below 200 K, in ZnO/GaAs substrates slower SAW modes appear around the [110] direction, which are unseen at RT.
We report the observation of a very large negative magnetoresistance effect in a van der Waals tunnel junction incorporating a thin magnetic semiconductor, CrI3, as the active layer. At constant voltage bias, current increases by nearly one million percent upon application of a 2 T field. The effect arises from a change between antiparallel to parallel alignment of spins across the different CrI3 layers. Our results elucidate the nature of the magnetic state in ultrathin CrI3 and present new opportunities for spintronics based on two-dimensional materials.