Nonlinear dynamics of quantum dot nuclear spins

Resonant laser scattering along with photon correlation measurements have established the atom-like character of quantum dots. Here, we present measurements which challenge this identification for a wide range of experimental parameters: the absorption lineshapes that we measure at magnetic fields exceeding 1 Tesla indicate that the nuclear spins polarize by an amount that ensures locking of the quantum dot resonances to the incident laser frequency. In contrast to earlier ex...

The electron-nuclei (hyperfine) interaction is central to spin qubits in solid state systems. It can be a severe decoherence source but also allows dynamic access to the nuclear spin states. We study a double quantum dot exposed to an on-chip single-domain nanomagnet and show that its inhomogeneous magnetic field crucially modifies the complex nuclear spin dynamics such that the Overhauser field tends to compensate external magnetic fields. This turns out to be beneficial for...

We show that optical pumping of electron spins in individual InGaAs quantum dots leads to strong nuclear polarisation that we measure via the Overhauser shift (OHS) in magneto-photoluminescence experiments between 0 and 4T. We find a strongly non-monotonous dependence of the OHS on the applied magnetic field, with a maximum nuclear polarisation of 40% for intermediate magnetic fields. We observe that the OHS is larger for nuclear fields anti-parallel to the external field tha...

Highly polarized nuclear spins within a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) induce effective magnetic (Overhauser) fields of up to several Tesla acting on the electron spin or up to a few hundred mT for the hole spin. Recently this has been recognized as a resource for intrinsic control of QD-based spin quantum bits. However, only static long-lived Overhauser fields could be used. Here we demonstrate fast redirection on the microsecond time-scale of Overhauser fields of the order ...

Semiconductor quantum dots provide a spin-coupled system of an electron and nuclei via enhanced hyperfine interaction. We showed that the nuclear spin polarization in single quantum dots can have three stable branches under a longitudinal magnetic field. The states were accompanied by hysteresis loops around the boundaries of each branch with a change in the excitation condition. To explain these findings, we incorporated the electron spin relaxation caused by the nuclear spi...

The coherence of electron spin can be significantly enhanced by locking the Overhauser field from nuclear spins using the nuclear spin preparation. We propose a theoretical model to calculate the long time dynamics of the Overhauser field under intrinsic nuclear spin diffusion in a quantum dot. We obtain a simplified diffusion equation that can be numerically solved and show quantitatively how the Knight shift and the electron-mediated nuclear spin flip-flop affect the nuclea...

Linearly polarized light tuned slightly below the optical transition of the negatively charged exciton (trion) in a single quantum dot causes the spontaneous nuclear spin polarization (self-polarization) at a level close to 100%. The effective magnetic field of spin-polarized nuclei brings the optical transition energy into resonance with photon energy. The resonantly enhanced Overhauser effect sustains the stability of the nuclear self-polarization even in the absence of spi...

Early experiments on spin-blockaded double quantum dots revealed surprising robust, large-amplitude current oscillations in the presence of a static (dc) source-drain bias [see e.g. K. Ono, S. Tarucha, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 256803 (2004)]. Experimental evidence strongly indicates that dynamical nuclear polarization plays a central role, but the mechanism has remained a mystery. Here we introduce a minimal albeit realistic model of coupled electron and nuclear spin dynamics whi...

We analyze nuclear spin dynamics in quantum dots and defect centers with a bound electron under electron-mediated coupling between nuclear spins due to the hyperfine interaction ("J-coupling" in NMR). Our analysis shows that the Overhauser field generated by the nuclei at the position of the electron has short-time dynamics quadratic in time for an initial nuclear spin state without transverse coherence. The quadratic short-time behavior allows for an extension of the Overhau...

In many electron spin qubit systems coherent control is impaired by the fluctuating nuclear spin bath of the host material. Previous experiments have shown dynamic nuclear polarization with feedback to significantly prolong the inhomogeneous dephasing time $T_2^*$ by narrowing the distribution of nuclear Overhauser field fluctuations. We present a model relating the achievable narrowing of the Overhauser field to both the pump rate and the noise magnitude and find reasonable ...