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Phonon-Assisted Population Inversion of a Single InGaAs/GaAs Quantum Dot by Pulsed Laser Excitation

J. H. Quilter, A. J. Brash, F. Liu, M. Glässl, A. M. Barth, V. M. Axt, A. J. Ramsay, M. S. Skolnick, and A. M. Fox
Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 137401 – Published 30 March 2015
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Abstract

We demonstrate a new method to realize the population inversion of a single InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot excited by a laser pulse tuned within the neutral exciton phonon sideband. In contrast to the conventional method of inverting a two-level system by performing coherent Rabi oscillation, the inversion is achieved by rapid thermalization of the optically dressed states via incoherent phonon-assisted relaxation. A maximum exciton population of 0.67±0.06 is measured for a laser tuned 0.83 meV to higher energy. Furthermore, the phonon sideband is mapped using a two-color pump-probe technique, with its spectral form and magnitude in very good agreement with the result of path-integral calculations.

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  • Received 2 September 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.137401

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

© 2015 Published by American Physical Society

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Crystal Vibrations Invert Quantum Dot Exciton

Published 30 March 2015

Phonons assist in creating an excitation-dominated state, or population inversion, in a single quantum dot—an effect that could be used to realize single-photon sources.

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Authors & Affiliations

J. H. Quilter1, A. J. Brash1, F. Liu1,*, M. Glässl2, A. M. Barth2, V. M. Axt2, A. J. Ramsay3, M. S. Skolnick1, and A. M. Fox1

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom
  • 2Institut für Theoretische Physik III, Universität Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
  • 3Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, Hitachi Europe Ltd., Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom

  • *fengliu@sheffield.ac.uk

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Vol. 114, Iss. 13 — 3 April 2015

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