Confinement and interaction of single indirect excitons in a voltage-controlled trap formed inside double InGaAs quantum Wells.

Voltage-tunable quantum traps confining individual spatially indirect and long-living excitons are realized by providing a coupled double quantum well with nanoscale gates. This enables us to study the transition from confined multiexcitons down to a single, electrostatically trapped indirect exciton. In the few exciton regime, we observe discrete emission lines identified as resulting from a single dipolar exciton, a biexciton, and a triexciton, respectively. Their energetic splitting is well described by Wigner-like molecular structures reflecting the interplay of dipolar interexcitonic repulsion and spatial quantization.

Microwave cavity-enhanced transduction for plug and play nanomechanics at room temperature.

Following recent insights into energy storage and loss mechanisms in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), nanomechanical resonators with increasingly high quality factors are possible. Consequently, efficient, non-dissipative transduction schemes are required to avoid the dominating influence of coupling losses. Here we present an integrated NEMS transducer based on a microwave cavity dielectrically coupled to an array of doubly clamped pre-stressed silicon nitride beam resonators. This cavity-enhanced detection scheme allows resolving of the resonators' Brownian motion at room temperature while preserving their high mechanical quality factor of 290,000 at 6.6 MHz. Furthermore, our approach constitutes an 'opto'-mechanical system in which backaction effects of the microwave field are employed to alter the effective damping of the resonators. In particular, cavity-pumped self-oscillation yields a linewidth of only 5 Hz. Thereby, an adjustement-free, all-integrated and self-driven nanoelectromechanical resonator array interfaced by just two microwave connectors is realised, which is potentially useful for applications in sensing and signal processing.

Density enhanced diffusion of dipolar excitons within a one-dimensional channel.

We experimentally investigate the lateral diffusion of dipolar excitons in coupled quantum wells in two (2D) and one (1D) dimensions. In 2D, the exciton expansion obeys nonlinear temporal dynamics due to the repulsive dipole pressure at a high exciton density, in accordance with recent reports. In contrast, the observed 1D expansion behaves linearly in time even at high exciton densities. The corresponding 1D diffusion coefficient exceeds the one in 2D by far and depends linearly on the exciton density. We attribute the findings to screening of quantum well disorder by the dipolar excitons.

Phonon-mediated nonequilibrium interaction between nanoscale devices.

Interactions between mesoscopic devices induced by interface acoustic phonons propagating in the plane of a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) are investigated by phonon spectroscopy. In our experiments, ballistic electrons injected from a biased quantum point contact emit phonons and a portion of them are reabsorbed exciting electrons in a nearby degenerate 2DES. We perform energy spectroscopy on these excited electrons employing a tunable electrostatic barrier in an electrically separate and unbiased detector circuit. The transferred energy is found to be bounded by a maximum value corresponding to Fermi-level electrons excited and backscattered by absorbing interface phonons. Our results imply that phonon-mediated interaction plays an important role for the decoherence of solid-state-based quantum circuits.

Counterflow of electrons in two isolated quantum point contacts.

We study the interaction between two adjacent but electrically isolated quantum point contacts (QPCs). At high enough source-drain bias on one QPC, the drive QPC, we detect a finite electric current in the second, unbiased, detector QPC. The current generated at the detector QPC always flows in the opposite direction than the current of the drive QPC. The generated current is maximal, if the detector QPC is tuned to a transition region between its quantized conductance plateaus and the drive QPC is almost pinched-off. We interpret this counterflow phenomenon in terms of an asymmetric phonon-induced excitation of electrons in the leads of the detector QPC.

Double-dot quantum ratchet driven by an independently biased quantum point contact.

We study a double quantum dot (DQD) coupled to a strongly biased quantum point contact (QPC), each embedded in independent electric circuits. For weak interdot tunneling we observe a finite current flowing through the Coulomb blockaded DQD in response to a strong bias on the QPC. The direction of the current through the DQD is determined by the relative detuning of the energy levels of the two quantum dots. The results are interpreted in terms of a quantum ratchet phenomenon in a DQD energized by a nearby QPC.

Periodic field emission from an isolated nanoscale electron island.

We observe field emission from an isolated nanomachined gold island. The island is able to mechanically oscillate between two facing electrodes, which provide recharging and detection of the emission current. We are able to trace and reproduce the transition from current flow through a rectangular tunneling barrier to the regime of field emission. A theoretical model via a master equation reproduces the experimental data and shows deviation from the Fowler-Nordheim description due to the island's electric isolation.

Rectification in mesoscopic systems with broken symmetry: quasiclassical ballistic versus classical transport.

In suitably designed mesoscopic semiconductor structures, the phenomenon of ballistic rectification can be observed. A currently discussed microscopic model relates the observations to the interplay between fully quantized and quasiclassical current paths. We present measurements that contribute substantially to the clarification of the fascinating topic. In particular, we observe the opposite sign of the output voltage as compared to the prediction. Demonstrating the basic principle upon which the rectification is based--the asymmetry of the voltage drop in a quasiclassical wire--and extending the model to the classical transport regime, we can well explain our experiments as being caused by the interplay of quasiclassical ballistic and classical transport. Tunable ballistic rectifiers generating very large output signals and operating at room temperature raise the hope for future applications.

Single-electron-phonon interaction in a suspended quantum dot phonon cavity.

An electron-phonon cavity consisting of a quantum dot embedded in a freestanding GaAs/AlGaAs membrane is characterized using Coulomb blockade measurements at low temperatures. We find a complete suppression of single electron tunneling around zero bias leading to the formation of an energy gap in the transport spectrum. The observed effect is induced by the excitation of a localized phonon mode confined in the cavity. This phonon blockade of transport is lifted at discrete magnetic fields where higher electronic states with nonzero angular momentum are brought into resonance with the phonon energy.

Nonlinear charge spreading visualized in voltage-controlled lateral superlattices.

Voltage-controlled lateral potential superlattices are used to dramatically increase the lifetime of photogenerated carriers in a quantum well. These long lifetimes, together with the ability to deliberately trigger radiative recombination, enable us to directly visualize the spreading character of nonlinear Maxwell relaxation of 2D charges along narrow channels. Our system allows for temporal and spatial resolution of Maxwell kinetics, usually a very fast process and difficult to observe. The observed spreading dynamics of a 2D hole plasma is in perfect agreement with our nonlinear model.

Spectroscopy of nanoscopic semiconductor rings.

Making use of self-assembly techniques, we realize nanoscopic semiconductor quantum rings in which the electronic states are in the true quantum limit. We employ two complementary spectroscopic techniques to investigate both the ground states and the excitations of these rings. Applying a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the rings, we find that, when approximately one flux quantum threads the interior of each ring, a change in the ground state from angular momentum l = 0 to l = -1 takes place. This ground state transition is revealed both by a drastic modification of the excitation spectrum and by a change in the magnetic-field dispersion of the single-electron charging energy.

Voltage controlled SAW velocity in GaAs/LiNbO(3)-hybrids.

The combination of the electronic properties of semiconductor heterojunctions and the acoustic properties of piezoelectric materials yields very promising surface acoustic wave (SAW) hybrid systems. Quasi-monolithical integration of thin GaAs/InGaAs/AlGaAs-quantum well structures on LiNbO(3) SAW devices is achieved using the epitaxial lift-off (ELO) technique. The conductivity of the two-dimensional electron system in the quantum well, which can be controlled via field effect, modifies the velocity of the SAW. Due to the high electromechanical coupling coefficient of LiNbO(3) a large phase shift can be obtained. As an example for this new class of voltage-tunable single chip SAW devices, a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented in which the output frequency can be tuned by an applied gate voltage.