Publications

Fractional quantum statistics are a signature prediction of fractional quantum Hall states, which have long been elusive in experiments. Here, we present the observation of anyonic interference and exchange phases in a novel co-propagating 'optical-like' Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. This architecture is free of charging and backscattering effects that often plague the widely used Fabry-Perot interferometer, thus exhibiting pristine Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference without fractional phase slips. We studied the three lowest Jain filling factors, {\nu}=1/3, 2/5, and 3/7, which host quasiparticles with fractional charges e*=e/3, e/5, and e/7, respectively. The observed AB interference patterns, plotted as a function of magnetic field B and modulation-gate voltage, VMG (known as pajamas), exhibited the expected flux periodicities: 3{\Phi}0, 5{\Phi}0, and 7{\Phi}0, with {\Phi}0 being the flux quantum. A small biased top gate (TG) deposited in the center of the interferometer induces local quasiparticles that are spatially isolated from the interfering modes. At non-zero TG voltage VTG, quantized phase slips appear in the AB pajamas approximately with every flux quantum that pierces the effective area below the TG. Moreover, when tuning VTG, at a constant magnetic field, abrupt phase jumps corresponding to adding one localized quasiparticle at a time under the top gate appear in the B-VTG pajamas.

We study the interaction of a dark exciton Bose-Einstein condensate with the nuclei in gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide coupled quantum wells and find clear evidence for nuclear polarization buildup that accompanies the appearance of the condensate. We show that the nuclei are polarized throughout the mesa area, extending to regions that are far away from the photoexcitation area and persisting for seconds after the excitation is switched off. Photoluminescence measurements in the presence of radio frequency radiation reveal that the hyperfine interaction between the nuclear and electron spins is enhanced by two orders of magnitude. We suggest that this large enhancement manifests the collective nature of the N-exciton condensate, which amplifies the interaction by a factor of √N.

Interferometry is a vital tool for studying fundamental features in the quantum Hall effect. For instance, Aharonov-Bohm interference in a quantum Hall interferometer can probe the wave-particle duality of electrons and quasiparticles. Here, we report an unusual Aharonov-Bohm interference of the outermost edge mode in a quantum Hall Fabry-Pérot interferometer, whose Coulomb interactions were suppressed with a grounded drain in the interior bulk of the interferometer. In a descending bulk filling factor from νb=3 to νb≈(5/3), the magnetic field periodicity, which corresponded to a single "flux quantum,"agreed accurately with the enclosed area of the interferometer. However, in the filling range, νb≈(5/3) to νb=1, the field periodicity increased markedly, a priori suggesting a drastic shrinkage of the Aharonov-Bohm area. Moreover, the modulation gate voltage periodicity decreased abruptly at this range. We attribute these unexpected observations to edge reconstruction, leading to area changing with the field and a modified modulation gate-edge capacitance. These reproducible results support future interference experiments with a quantum Hall Fabry-Pérot interferometer.

Here we discuss the effect of topology on the quantum Hall effect taking into account the direct Coulomb interactions, considering two distinct geometries, namely the Hall bar and the Corbino disc. The conse-quences of interactions are underestimated in the standard approaches to explain the quantized Hall effect. However, the local distributions of the electron number density, the electrochemical potential, and current distributions depend on electron-electron interactions. Accounting for the direct Coulomb interaction and realistic boundary conditions results in local variations of compressibility-namely metal-like compressible and (topological) insulator-like incompressible regions. Within the framework of the screening theory, we show in the coordinate space that for both geometries, the bulk is compressible within most of the magnetic field interval corresponding to a quantized Hall plateau. The non-incompressible bulk throughout the plateau directly contrasts the standard explanation of the quantized Hall effect but is confirmed by our transport experiments. Our experimental results with two inner contacts within the Hall bar imply that the QHE plateaus scattering free transport along the sample edges even if the bulk of the sample is clearly in a compressible state. The scattering free transport is thereby supported by incompressible stripes. Our results confirm that the often promoted analogy in coordinate space between the quantized Hall effect and topological insulators is invalid throughout the entire plateau. We conclude that the equivalence of Hall and Corbino geometries is questionable. In addition, family relations of quantized Hall effect and topological insulators are doubtful. Finally, we propose experiments which will enable us to distinguish the topological properties of the two geometries in the coordinate space.

In samples of field-effect transistors based on GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures with an electron system in a single 50-nm-wide GaAs quantum well, a transition stimulated by a quantizing magnetic field has been detected from a bilayer state of the system in zero magnetic field to a single-layer state when only the lowest Landau level is filled. In contrast to the results for the 60-nm-wide quantum well obtained in [S. I. Dorozhkin, A. A. Kapustin, I. V. Fedorov, V. Umansky, and J. H. Smet, Phys. Rev. V 102, 235307 (2020)], the single-layer state is observed not only in incompressible quantum Hall effect states of the electron system at filling factors of 1 and 2, but also in compressible states between these filling factors. The spatial location of the single-layer system in the quantum well has been established; it appears to be independent of the electron distribution over the layers in a low magnetic field. A possible qualitative explanation for this observation has been proposed. The detected transition is supposedly due to the negative compressibility of two-dimensional electron systems caused by exchange-correlation contributions to the electron-electron interaction.

Multielectron semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) provide a novel platform to study the Coulomb interaction-driven, spatially localized electron states of Wigner molecules (WMs). Although Wigner-molecularization has been confirmed by real-space imaging and coherent spectroscopy, the open system dynamics of the strongly correlated states with the environment are not yet well understood. Here, we demonstrate efficient control of spin transfer between an artificial three-electron WM and the nuclear environment in a GaAs double QD. A LandauZener sweep-based polarization sequence and low-lying anticrossings of spin multiplet states enabled by Wigner-molecularization are utilized. Combined with coherent control of spin states, we achieve control of magnitude, polarity, and site dependence of the nuclear field. We demonstrate that the same level of control cannot be achieved in the non-interacting regime. Thus, we confirm the spin structure of a WM, paving the way for active control of correlated electron states for application in mesoscopic environment engineering.

We report the simultaneous operation and two-qubit-coupling measurement of a pair of two-electron spin qubits, actively decoupled from quasi-static nuclear noise in a GaAs quadruple quantum dot array. Coherent Rabi oscillations of both qubits (decay time ≈2 μs; frequency few MHz) are achieved by continuously tuning their drive frequency using rapidly converging real-time Hamiltonian estimators. We observe strong two-qubit capacitive interaction (>190 MHz), combined with detuning pulses, inducing a state-conditional frequency shift. The two-qubit capacitive interaction is beyond the bilinear regime, consistent with recent theoretical predictions. We observe a high ratio (>16) between coherence and conditional phase-flip time, which supports the possibility of generating high-fidelity and fast quantum entanglement between encoded spin qubits using a simple capacitive interaction.

The resemblance between electrons and optical waves has strongly driven the advancement of mesoscopic physics, evidenced by the widespread use of terms such as fermion or electron optics. However, electron waves have yet to be understood in open cavity structures which have provided contemporary optics with rich insight towards non-Hermitian systems and complex interactions between resonance modes. Here, we report the realization of an open cavity resonator in a two-dimensional electronic system. We studied the resonant electron modes within the cavity and resolved the signatures of longitudinal and transverse quantization, showing that the modes are robust despite the cavity being highly coupled to the open background continuum. The transverse modes were investigated by applying a controlled deformation to the cavity, and their spatial distributions were further analyzed using magnetoconductance measurements and numerical simulation. These results lay the groundwork to exploring matter waves in the context of modern optical frameworks.

The topological order of a quantum Hall state is mirrored by the gapless edge modes owing to bulk-edge correspondence. The state at the filling of ν = 5/2, predicted to host non-abelian anyons, supports a variety of edge modes (integer, fractional, neutral). To ensure thermal equilibration between the edge modes and thus accurately determine the states nature, it is advantageous to isolate the fractional channel (1/2 and neutral modes). In this study, we gapped out the integer modes by interfacing the ν = 5/2 state with integer states ν = 2 and ν = 3 and measured the thermal conductance of the isolated-interface channel. Our measured half-quantized thermal conductance confirms the non-abelian nature of the ν = 5/2 state and its particle-hole Pfaffian topological order. Such an isolated channel may be more amenable to braiding experiments.

We report energy-selective tunneling readout-based Hamiltonian parameter estimation of a two-electron spin qubit in a GaAs quantum dot array. Optimization of readout fidelity enables a single-shot measurement time of 16 μs on average, with adaptive initialization and efficient qubit frequency estimation based on real-time Bayesian inference. For qubit operation in a frequency heralded mode, we observe a 40-fold increase in coherence time without resorting to dynamic nuclear polarization. We also demonstrate active frequency feedback with quantum oscillation visibility, single-shot measurement fidelity, and gate fidelity of 97.7%, 99%, and 99.6%, respectively, showcasing the improvements in the overall capabilities of GaAs-based spin qubits. By pushing the sensitivity of the energy-selective tunneling-based spin to charge conversion to the limit, the technique is useful for advanced quantum control protocols such as error mitigation schemes, where fast qubit parameter calibration with a large signal-to-noise ratio is crucial.

A high-electron-mobility GaAs/Al0.36Ga0.64As heterostructure is processed by electron-beam lithography to fabricate samples with a separation of the current-supplying Ohmic contacts of between 28μm and 1.3 mm. Voltage pulses of 20-ms duration, with a 4% filling factor and an amplitude up to 30 V, stimulate terahertz emission from samples cooled to 4 K. The radiation spectrum, centered at about 390 GHz (about 1.6 meV), registered with a Fabry-Perot interferometer, shows almost no dependence on the applied voltage or on the shape of the sample. The emission appears in a threshold manner and is accompanied by a jump of current by more than 2 orders of magnitude. The energy of the emitted photons is about three times smaller than in the case of any previously reported impurity-related emission from either bulk GaAs or GaAs-based quantum wells. The emission is interpreted as resulting from a two-step ionization-recombination process involving shallow donors in the (Al,Ga)As barrier, which create bound states of electrons in the GaAs quantum well. Thus, the frequency of emission is argued to be tuned by the width of the spacer layer. We present these as small convenient sources that can be used for calibration and check-up operation of cooled bolometric systems used in astronomical observations.

A novel experimental optical method, based on photoluminescence and photo-induced resonant reflection techniques, is used to investigate the spin transport over long distances in a new, recently discovered collective statemagnetofermionic condensate. The given BoseEinstein condensate exists in a purely fermionic system (ν = 2 quantum Hall insulator) due to the presence of a non-equilibrium ensemble of spin-triplet magnetoexcitonscomposite bosons. It is found that the condensate can spread over macroscopically long distances of approximately 200 µm. The propagation velocity of long-lived spin excitations is measured to be 25 m/s.

Studies of energy flow in quantum systems complement the information provided by common conductance measurements. The quantum limit of heat flow in one dimensional (1D) ballistic modes was predicted, and experimentally demonstrated, to have a universal value for bosons, fermions, and fractionally charged anyons. A fraction of this value is expected in non-abelian states. Nevertheless, open questions about energy relaxation along the propagation length in 1D modes remain. Here, we introduce a novel experimental setup that measures the energy relaxation in chiral 1D modes of the quantum Hall effect (QHE). Edge modes, emanating from a heated reservoir, are partitioned by a quantum point contact (QPC) located at their path. The resulting noise allows a determination of the 'effective temperature' at the location of the QPC. We found energy relaxation in all the tested QHE states, being integers or fractional. However, the relaxation was found to be mild in particle-like states, and prominent in hole-conjugate states.

The realization of integrated quantum circuits requires precise on-chip control of charge carriers. Aiming at the coherent coupling of distant nanostructures at zero magnetic field, here we study the ballistic electron transport through two quantum point contacts (QPCs) in series in a three terminal configuration. We enhance the coupling between the QPCs by electrostatic focusing using a field effect lens. To study the emission and collection properties of QPCs in detail we combine the electrostatic focusing with magnetic deflection. Comparing our measurements with quantum mechanical and classical calculations we discuss generic features of the quantum circuit and demonstrate how the coherent and ballistic dynamics depend on the details of the QPC confinement potentials.

Fast and high-fidelity quantum state detection is essential for building robust spin-based quantum information processing platforms in semiconductors. The Pauli spin blockade (PSB)-based spin-to-charge conversion and its variants are widely used for the spin state discrimination of two-electron singlet-triplet (ST0) qubits; however, the single-shot measurement fidelity is limited by either the low signal contrast, or the short lifetime of the triplet state at the PSB energy detuning, especially due to strong mixing with singlet states at large magnetic field gradients. Ultimately, the limited single-shot measurement fidelity leads to low visibility of quantum operations. Here, we demonstrate an alternative method to achieve spin-to-charge conversion of ST(0)qubit states using energy-selective tunneling between doubly occupied quantum dots (QDs) and electron reservoirs. We demonstrate a single-shot measurement fidelity of 90% and an S-T(0)oscillation visibility of 81% at a field gradient of 100 mT (similar to 500MHz h (g*center dot mu(B))(-1)); this allows single-shot readout with full electron charge signal contrast and, at the same time, long and tunable measurement time with negligible effect of relaxation even at strong magnetic field gradients. Using an rf-sensor positioned opposite to the QD array, we apply this method to two ST(0)qubits and show high-visibility readout of two individual single-qubit gate operations is possible with a single rf single-electron transistor sensor. We expect our measurement scheme for two-electron spin states can be applied to various hosting materials and provides a simplified and complementary route for multiple qubit state detection with high accuracy in QD-based quantum computing platforms.

Quantum point contacts (QPCs) are fundamental building blocks of nanoelectronic circuits. For their emission dynamics as well as for interaction effects such as the 0.7 anomaly the details of the electrostatic potential are important, but the precise potential shapes are usually unknown. Here, we measure the one-dimensional subband spacings of various QPCs as a function of their conductance and compare our findings with models of lateral parabolic versus hard-wall confinement. We find that a gate-defined QPC near pinch-off is compatible with the parabolic saddle-point scenario. However, as the number of populated subbands is increased, Coulomb screening flattens the potential bottom and a description in terms of a finite hard-wall potential becomes more realistic.

An experimental technique based on time-resolved Kerr rotation allows a comparison of the spin stiffnesses of different spin-polarized and depolarized states in a two-dimensional electron system. With this technique, a new spin-correlated phase that has no known analogues was discovered. The new spin-depolarized phase is characterized by high spin stiffness equal to that of a spin-polarized quantum Hall ferromagnet.

We report raster scan multiplexed charge-stability diagram measurements for tuning multiple gate-defined quantum dots in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. We evaluate the charge sensitivity of the quantum point contact (QPC) in both radio frequency (rf)-reflectometry and direct current-transport modes, where we measure the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 40 for rf-QPC with an integration time per pixel of 10 ms, corresponding to 1.14 ms for resolving single electron transition in the few electron regime. The high SNR for reasonable integration time allows fast two-dimensional (2D) scanning, which we use to facilitate double and triple quantum dot (TQD) tuning processes. We configure a highly stable raster scan multiplexed quantum dot tuning platform using a switching matrix and transformer-coupled alternating current ramp sources with software control. As an example of high-throughput multiple quantum dot tuning, we demonstrate systematic TQD formation using this platform in which a multiplexed combination of 2D scans enables the identification of the few electron regime in multiple quantum dots in just a few minutes. The method presented here is general, and we expect that the tuning platform is applicable to more complex multiple quantum dot arrays, allowing efficient quantum dot system Hamiltonian parameter calibration.

Three different methods of experimental mesoscopic physics, namely, weak antilocalization effects, universal conductance fluctuations, and Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, have been used to extract the electron phase-coherence scattering rate in two-dimensional gas of InGaAs/AlInAs heterostructures. The Aharonov-Bohm oscillations reveal strong beating effects, indicating the existence of two similar periodicities of the flux dependencies. As suggested by certain theoretical models, such a behavior might be expected from the so-called Berry phase acquired by electrons with different spin orientations in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting. In our paper we deduce the experimental values of the dephasing length and try to compare the observed beating pattern with possible scenarios for the appearance of the Berry phase.

The temperature dependence of microwave absorption minima observed at cyclotron resonance harmonics in a two-dimensional electron system implemented in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure has been studied. The coexistence of this effect with the temperature-dependent giant negative magnetoresistance has been revealed. A possible explanation of the results by the effect of electron-electron scattering on the non-Markovian electron kinetics has been discussed.

The effect of microwave radiation on the amplitudes of the quantum magnetocapacitance oscillations in field-effect transistors has been studied. It has been found that the microwave-induced variation of the oscillation amplitude depends nonmonotonically on the magnetic field including the amplitude enhancement effect. It has been shown that this behavior is due to the band bending near the edge of the gate. The effect has been attributed to the interference of quantum oscillations with radiation-induced magneto-oscillations of the screening length of a static electric field.

The temperature dependence of the microwave photovoltage has been studied in microwave-induced states of a two-dimensional electron system, which are characterized by an almost dissipationless flow of a low-frequency current. At decreasing temperature, a smooth transition has been found from a bistable state, where the photovoltage demonstrates switching between two levels, which are due to reversals of the spontaneous electric field in a domain structure, to a steady state. The transition occurs as the shift of one of the levels of the bistable photovoltage to the other level accompanied by a decrease in the switching frequency. The results indicate the freezing of the dynamic domain structure in the state corresponding to the more stable configuration of the electric field.

Topological states of matter are characterized by topological invariants, which are physical quantities whose values are quantized and do not depend on the details of the system (such as its shape, size and impurities). Of these quantities, the easiest to probe is the electrical Hall conductance, and fractional values (in units of e ²/h, where e is the electronic charge and h is the Planck constant) of this quantity attest to topologically ordered states, which carry quasiparticles with fractional charge and anyonic statistics. Another topological invariant is the thermal Hall conductance, which is harder to measure. For the quantized thermal Hall conductance, a fractional value in units of κ ₀ (κ ₀ = π ²k _B²/(3h), where k _B is the Boltzmann constant) proves that the state of matter is non-Abelian. Such non-Abelian states lead to ground-state degeneracy and perform topological unitary transformations when braided, which can be useful for topological quantum computation. Here we report measurements of the thermal Hall conductance of several quantum Hall states in the first excited Landau level and find that the thermal Hall conductance of the 5/2 state is compatible with a half-integer value of 2.5κ ₀, demonstrating its non-Abelian nature.

Electronic systems harboring one-dimensional helical modes, where spin and momentum are locked, have lately become an important field of its own. When coupled to a conventional superconductor, such systems are expected to manifest topological superconductivity; a unique phase hosting exotic Majorana zero modes. Even more interesting are fractional helical modes, yet to be observed, which open the route for realizing generalized parafermions. Possessing non-abelian exchange statistics, these quasiparticles may serve as building blocks in topological quantum computing. Here, we present a new approach to form protected one-dimensional helical edge modes in the quantum Hall regime. The novel platform is based on a carefully designed double-quantum-well structure in a GaAs based system hosting two electronic sub-bands; each tuned to the quantum Hall effect regime. By electrostatic gating of different areas of the structure, counter-propagating integer, as well as fractional, edge modes with opposite spins are formed. We demonstrate that due to spin-protection, these helical modes remain ballistic for large distances. In addition to the formation of helical modes, this platform can serve as a rich playground for artificial induction of compounded fractional edge modes, and for construction of edge modes based interferometers.

In recent interference experiments with an electronic Fabry-Pérot interferometer (FPI), implemented in the integer quantum Hall effect regime, a flux periodicity of h/2e was observed at bulk fillings νB>2.5. The halved periodicity was accompanied by an interfering charge e∗=2e, determined by shot-noise measurements. Here, we present measurements demonstrating that, counterintuitively, the coherence and the interference periodicity of the interfering chiral edge channel are solely determined by the coherence and the enclosed flux of the adjacent edge channel. Our results elucidate the important role of the latter and suggest that a neutral chiral edge mode plays a crucial role in the pairing phenomenon. Our findings reveal that the observed pairing of electrons is not a curious isolated phenomenon, but one of many manifestations of unexpected edge physics in the quantum Hall effect regime.

The temperature dependence of the switching frequency of a microwave-induced spontaneous electric field forming a domain structure and the conductance of a doping layer that provides electrons to the two-dimensional electron system have been measured on samples fabricated from the same GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. Both quantities have been found to obey the thermally activated dependence (Arrhenius law) with close activation energies. This result indicates a relation between the quantities and confirms a hypothesis that the observed dynamics of the domain structure originates from the dynamical screening of the spontaneous electric field of domains by charges in the doping layer.

The physics of itinerant electrons in condensed matter is by and large governed by repulsive Coulomb forces. However, attractive interactions may emerge and prevail in determining the ground state despite the pervasive Coulomb repulsion. A notable example is electron pairing and superconductivity. The interplay of attractive and repulsive interactions may also instigate spontaneous symmetry lowering and clustering of charges in geometric patterns even without net attraction. Both types of attractive interaction triggered physics - pairing and charge ordering - are at play in two-dimensional electron systems exposed to a quantizing magnetic field. The charge ordering has been concluded indirectly from transport behaviour. Here we report the observation of negative permittivity present solely when bubble and stripe phases form. In conjunction with a theoretical model, the negative permittivity provides evidence for the underlying attractive exchange-correlation energy which sufficiently countervails Coulomb repulsion at small distances to enable and mediate charge clustering.

We have studied the absorption of monochromatic microwave radiation in high-quality two-dimensional electron systems for the frequency span from 10 to 380 GHz using a bolometric method. For frequencies above 100 GHz the absorption exhibits an anomalous magnetic field dependence. Minima form at harmonics of the cyclotron resonance frequency. The results contrast previously reported data for other frequency ranges. Quasiclassical memory effects originating from the non-Markovian dynamics of electrons in a disorder potential containing short-range scatterers on top of a smooth potential background favorably account for the observed behavior.

The quantum of thermal conductance of ballistic (collisionless) onedimensional channels is a unique fundamental constant1. Although the quantization of the electrical conductance of one-dimensional ballistic conductors has long been experimentally established2, demonstrating the quantization of thermal conductance has been challenging as it necessitated an accurate measurement of very small temperature increase. It has been accomplished for weakly interacting systems of phonons(3,4), photons(5) and electronic Fermi liquids(6-8); however, it should theoretically also hold in strongly interacting systems, such as those in which the fractional quantum Hall effect is observed. This effect describes the fractionalization of electrons into anyons and chargeless quasiparticles, which in some cases can be Majorana fermions(2). Because the bulk is incompressible in the fractional quantum Hall regime, it is not expected to contribute substantially to the thermal conductance, which is instead determined by chiral, one-dimensional edge modes. The thermal conductance thus reflects the topological properties of the fractional quantum Hall electronic system, to which measurements of the electrical conductance give no access(9-12). Here we report measurements of thermal conductance in particle-like (LaughlinJain series) states and the more complex (and less studied) hole-like states in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas in GaAsAlGaAs heterostructures. Hole-like states, which have fractional Landau-level fillings of 1/2 to 1, support downstream charged modes as well as upstream neutral modes(13), and are expected to have a thermal conductance that is determined by the net chirality of all of their downstream and upstream edge modes. Our results establish the universality of the quantization of thermal conductance for fractionally charged and neutral modes. Measurements of anyonic heat flow provide access to information that is not easily accessible from measurements of conductance

The authors compare four methods to investigate the threading dislocations (TDs) observed in metamorphic buffers used in the growth of InSb quantum well on GaAs (001) substrates. Three types of buffers with varying number of Al0.24In0.76Sb interlayers (N = 0, 1, and 3) were studied. Cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) revealed an effective dislocation filtering by the interlayers. Individual TDs were identified with atomic-force microscopy (AFM) as distinct morphological features of dislocation outcrops on the surface. Threading dislocation density (TDD) is reduced by 1 order of magnitude with three interlayers, consistent with the STEM observation. TDD measured with a scanning electron microscope in electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) mode agrees closely with the AFM analysis, except for the N = 0 buffer where the ECCI gives TDD lower by more than a factor of two. The etch pit density of N = 3 buffer, measured with a Nomarski differential interference contrast microscope after defect selective etching (DSE), is almost 1 order of magnitude lower than the TDD measured by AFM and ECCI. Due to the large pit size, the used etching recipe only works well for samples with TDD lower than 10(7) cm(-2). AFM, ECCI, and DSE are excellent alternatives to transmission electron microscopy in the process of metamorphic buffer optimization. The AFM technique offers the additional advantage of high vertical resolution morphology mapping. Such capability is of great importance for the optimization of metamorphic buffers from the perspective of surface smoothness improvement. (C) 2017 American Vacuum Society.

In a two-dimensional electron system, microwave radiation may induce giant resistance oscillations. Their origin has been debated controversially and numerous mechanisms based on very different physical phenomena have been invoked. However, none of them have been unambiguously experimentally identified, since they produce similar effects in transport studies. The capacitance of a two-subband system is sensitive to a redistribution of electrons over energy states, since it entails a shift of the electron charge perpendicular to the plane. In such a system, microwave-induced magnetocapacitance oscillations have been observed. They can only be accounted for by an electron distribution function oscillating with energy due to Landau quantization, one of the quantum mechanisms proposed for the resistance oscillations.

This Rapid Communication was motivated by the quest for observing interference of fractionally charged quasiparticles. Here, we study the behavior of an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer at the integer quantum Hall effect regime at filling factors greater than 1. Both the visibility and the velocity were measured and found to be highly correlated as a function of the filling factor. As the filling factor approached unity, the visibility quenched, not to recover for filling factors smaller than unity. Alternatively, the velocity saturated around a minimal value at the unity filling factor. We highlight the significant role interactions between the interfering edge and the bulk play as well as that of the defining potential at the edge. Shot-noise measurements suggest that phase averaging (due to phase randomization), rather than single-particle decoherence, is likely to be the cause of the dephasing in the fractional regime.

Nanoscale device fabrication has enabled remarkable scientific advances. Yet a single broken electrode can render a complex device useless. The authors consider local electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) of platinum as a method for restoring function to devices with damaged gate electrodes. The authors find that platinum deposits written with EBID at low acceleration voltage (350V) remain conductive down to millikelvin temperatures, if they are annealed after deposition in the presence of oxygen. The authors apply this technique to a complex quantum dot device based on a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure.

The central-spin problem is a widely studied model of quantum decoherence. Dynamic nuclear polarization occurs in central-spin systems when electronic angular momentum is transferred to nuclear spins and is exploited in quantum information processing for coherent spin manipulation. However, the mechanisms limiting this process remain only partially understood. Here we show that spin-orbit coupling can quench dynamic nuclear polarization in a GaAs quantum dot, because spin conservation is violated in the electron-nuclear system, despite weak spin-orbit coupling in GaAs. Using Landau-Zener sweeps to measure static and dynamic properties of the electron spin-flip probability, we observe that the size of the spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions depends on the magnitude and direction of applied magnetic field. We find that dynamic nuclear polarization is quenched when the spin-orbit contribution exceeds the hyperfine, in agreement with a theoretical model. Our results shed light on the surprisingly strong effect of spin-orbit coupling in central-spin systems.

The nuclear spin relaxation rate (1/T₁) is measured for GaAs two-dimensional (2D) electron systems in the quantum Hall regime with an all-electrical technique for agitating and probing the nuclear spins. A "tilted plateau" feature is observed near the Landau level filling factor v = 1 in 1/T₁ versus v. Both the width and magnitude of the plateau increase with decreasing electron density. At low temperatures, 1/T₁ exhibits an Arrhenius temperature dependence within the tilted plateau regime. The extracted energy gaps are up to two orders of magnitude smaller than the corresponding charge transport gaps. These results point to a nontrivial mechanism for the disorder-enhanced nuclear spin relaxation, in which microscopic inhomogeneities play a key role for the low energy spin excitations related to skyrmions.

Terahertz spectroscopy experiments at magnetic fields and low temperatures were carried out on samples of different gate shapes processed on a high electron mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. For a given radiation frequency, multiple magnetoplasmon resonances were observed with a dispersion relation described within a local approximation of the magnetoconductivity tensor. The second harmonic of the cyclotron resonance was observed and its appearance was interpreted as resulting from a high-frequency, inhomogeneous electromagnetic field on the border of a two-dimensional electron gas with a metallic gate and/or an ohmic contact.

Unwanted interaction between a quantum system and its fluctuating environment leads to decoherence and is the primary obstacle to establishing a scalable quantum information processing architecture. Strategies such as environmental and materials engineering, quantum error correction and dynamical decoupling can mitigate decoherence, but generally increase experimental complexity. Here we improve coherence in a qubit using real-time Hamiltonian parameter estimation. Using a rapidly converging Bayesian approach, we precisely measure the splitting in a singlet-triplet spin qubit faster than the surrounding nuclear bath fluctuates. We continuously adjust qubit control parameters based on this information, thereby improving the inhomogenously broadened coherence time (T∗₂) from tens of nanoseconds to >2 μs. Because the technique demonstrated here is compatible with arbitrary qubit operations, it is a natural complement to quantum error correction and can be used to improve the performance of a wide variety of qubits in both meteorological and quantum information processing applications.

Low temperature, high magnetic field experiments were carried out with monochromatic terahertz (THz) sources to reveal multimode spectra of magnetoplasmons excited in gated and ungated samples processed on a high electron mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. We show that playing with the geometry and thickness of the gate one can control both the plasmon dispersion relation and selection rules for plasmon excitation, giving a tool to a better control of plasmon resonances in THz detectors.

In order to characterize magnetic field (B) tunable THz plasmonic detectors, spectroscopy experiments were carried out at liquid helium temperatures and high magnetic fields on devices fabricated on a high electron mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. The samples were either gated (the gate of a meander shape) or ungated. Spectra of a photovoltage generated by THz radiation were obtained as a function of B at a fixed THz excitation from a THz laser or as a function of THz photon frequency at a fixed B with a Fourier spectrometer. In the first type of measurements, the wave vector of magnetoplasmons excited was defined by geometrical features of samples. It was also found that the magnetoplasmon spectrum depended on the gate geometry which gives an additional parameter to control plasma excitations in THz detectors. Fourier spectra showed a strong dependence of the magnetoplasmon resonance amplitude on the conduction-band electron filling factor which was explained within a model of the electron gas heating with THz radiation. The study allows to define both the advantages and limitations of plasmonic devices based on high-mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures for THz detection at low temperatures and high magnetic fields.

We report an observation, via sensitive shot noise measurements, of charge fractionalization of chiral edge electrons in the integer quantum Hall effect regime. Such fractionalization results solely from interchannel Coulomb interaction, leading electrons to decompose to excitations carrying fractional charges. The experiment was performed by guiding a partitioned current carrying edge channel in proximity to another unbiased edge channel, leading to shot noise in the unbiased edge channel without net current, which exhibited an unconventional dependence on the partitioning. The determination of the fractional excitations, as well as the relative velocities of the two original (prior to the interaction) channels, relied on a recent theory pertaining to this measurement. Our result exemplifies the correlated nature of multiple chiral edge channels in the integer quantum Hall effect regime.

Excitons in semiconductors may form correlated phases at low temperatures. We report the observation of an exciton liquid in gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide-coupled quantum wells. Above a critical density and below a critical temperature, the photogenerated electrons and holes separate into two phases: an electron-hole plasma and an exciton liquid, with a clear sharp boundary between them. The two phases are characterized by distinct photoluminescence spectra and by different electrical conductance. The liquid phase is formed by the repulsive interaction between the dipolar excitons and exhibits a short-range order, which is manifested in the photoluminescence line shape.

Terahertz detectors based on GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure were investigated at low temperatures and high magnetic fields. A response of detectors showed a line caused by a cyclotron resonance transition which was accompanied by several peaks originated form excitation of magnetopasmons. Illumination with a visible light caused an increase of the plasma concentration and resulted in a change of the magnetoplasmon spectrum. An analysis of spectra allowed to determine changes in the plasmon dispersion relation with a visible light which gives a tool to tune a THz response of a plasmonic detector.

We describe in some detail the desired characteristics of an exceedingly clean MBE system, its optimal growth conditions, and the main parameters of structures design needed in order to obtain extremely high purity AlGaAs-GaAs heterostructures embedding low disorder two-dimensional (2D) electron systems. A significant part of the chapter deals with the main scattering mechanisms and, consequently, with a variety of methods of modulation doping, as it governs the detailed disorder in the 2D electron gas. We discuss the limited applicability of the well known electron mobility, being thus far the main figure of merit for the quality of 2D electron gas, to an observed system behavior in the fractional quantum Hall effect. The implications on basic science as well as on applied one are also put in perspective.

We have observed a multimode spectrum of magnetoplasmons in the Hall bars processed on a high electron mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. We have found that the dispersion relation of these excitation follows square root dependence. Calculated wavelength of the fundamental magnetoplasmon mode fits to the width of sample.

Metamaterials with negative refractive indices can manipulate electromagnetic waves in unusual ways, and can be used to achieve, for example, sub-diffraction-limit focusing, the bending of light in the wrong direction, and reversed Doppler and Cerenkov effects. These counterintuitive and technologically useful behaviours have spurred considerable efforts to synthesize a broad array of negative-index metamaterials with engineered electric, magnetic or optical properties. Here we demonstrate another route to negative refraction by exploiting the inertia of electrons in semiconductor two-dimensional electron gases, collectively accelerated by electromagnetic waves according to Newtons second law of motion, where this acceleration effect manifests as kinetic inductance. Using kinetic inductance to attain negative refraction was theoretically proposed for three-dimensional metallic nanoparticles and seen experimentally with surface plasmons on the surface of a three-dimensional metal. The two-dimensional electron gas that we use at cryogenic temperatures has a larger kinetic inductance than three-dimensional metals, leading to extraordinarily strong negative refraction at gigahertz frequencies, with an index as large as -700. This pronounced negative refractive index and the corresponding reduction in the effective wavelength opens a path to miniaturization in the science and technology of negative refraction.

Counterpropagating (upstream) chiral neutral edge modes, which were predicted to be present in hole-conjugate states, were observed recently in a variety of fractional quantum Hall states (ν=2/3, ν=3/5, ν=8/3, and ν=5/2), by measuring the charge noise that resulted after partitioning the neutral mode by a constriction (denoted, as N→C). Particularly noticeable was the observation of such modes in the ν=5/2 fractional state-as it sheds light on the non-Abelian nature of the state's wave function. Yet, the nature of these unique, upstream, chargeless modes and the microscopic process in which they generate shot noise, are not understood. Here, we study the ubiquitous ν=2/3 state and report of two main observations: First, the nature of the neutral modes was tested by "colliding" two modes, emanating from two opposing sources, in a narrow constriction. The resultant charge noise was consistent with local heating of the partitioned quasiparticles. Second, partitioning of a downstream charge mode by a constriction gave birth to a dual process, namely, the appearance of an upstream neutral mode (C→N). In other words, splitting "hole conjugated" type quasiparticles will lead to an energy loss and decoherence, with energy carried away by neutral modes.

Quantum computers have the potential to solve certain problems faster than classical computers. To exploit their power, it is necessary to perform interqubit operations and generate entangled states. Spin qubits are a promising candidate for implementing a quantum processor because of their potential for scalability and miniaturization. However, their weak interactions with the environment, which lead to their long coherence times, make interqubit operations challenging. We performed a controlled two-qubit operation between singlet-triplet qubits using a dynamically decoupled sequence that maintains the two-qubit coupling while decoupling each qubit from its fluctuating environment. Using state tomography, we measured the full density matrix of the system and determined the concurrence and the fidelity of the generated state, providing proof of entanglement.

The evolution of the fractional quantum Hall state at filling 5/2 is studied in density tunable two-dimensional electron systems formed in wide wells in which it is possible to induce a transition from single- to two-subband occupancy. In 80 and 60 nm wells, the quantum Hall state at 5/2 filling of the lowest subband is observed even when the second subband is occupied. In a 50 nm well, the 5/2 state vanishes upon second subband population. We attribute this distinct behavior to the width dependence of the capacitive energy for intersubband charge transfer and of the overlap of the subband probability densities.

Fractionally charged quasiparticles, which obey non-Abelian statistics, were predicted to exist in the ν=8/3, ν=5/2, and ν=7/3 fractional quantum Hall states (in the second Landau level). Here we present measurements of charge and neutral modes in these states. For both ν=7/3 and ν=8/3 states, we found a quasiparticle charge e=1/3 and an upstream neutral mode only in ν=8/3-excluding the possibility of non-Abelian Read-Rezayi states and supporting Laughlin-like states. The absence of an upstream neutral mode in the ν=7/3 state also proves that edge reconstruction was not present in the ν=7/3 state, suggesting its absence also in ν=5/2 state, and thus may provide further support for the non-Abelian anti-Pfaffian nature of the ν=5/2 state.

We investigate the quantum Hall stripe phase at filling factor 9/2 at the microscopic level by probing the dispersion of its collective modes with the help of surface acoustic waves with wavelengths down to 60 nm. The dispersion is strongly anisotropic. It is highly dispersive and exhibits a roton minimum for wave vectors aligned along the easy transport direction. In the perpendicular direction, however, the dispersion is featureless, although not flat as predicted by theory. Oscillatory behavior in the absorption intensity of the collective mode with a wave vector perpendicular to the stripes is attributed to a commensurability effect. It allows us to extract the periodicity of the quantum Hall stripes.

We report on the first experimental observation of neutral modes in particle-hole conjugate fractional quantum Hall states using shot noise measurements. The presence of the neutral modes, in addition to producing excess noise in a quantum point contact (QPC), was seen to affect strongly the charge of the tunneling quasiparticles of the charge mode in the QPC and to increase their apparent temperature. The observation of an upstream neutral mode in the 5/2 state may constitute an added indication of its non-abelian nature.

We present the study of DC currents of an open dot generated from two time dependent electric fields in the absence of external bias. Two electrical setups were applied. In one configuration, two fast oscillating voltages were applied on two side gates; in the other, one of the oscillating biases was directly applied to the source lead. The DC current as a function of frequency, coupling strength, and magnetic field was investigated. The current is sinusoidally dependent with the phase shift and bilinearly dependent with the excitation voltage for both configurations. However, the current as a function of frequency, coupling strength, and magnetic fields behaves differently in these two setups. The results indicate that the currents generated in different setups originate from different mechanisms, and moreover, not from any classical circuitry effect.

Experimental results examining the photoluminescence spectra of selectively Si-doped GaAs/ Al_x Ga_1-x As heterostructures is presented. Possible mechanisms of carrier recombination are discussed with a special emphasis on the peculiarities of excitonic photoluminescence. Strong intensity lines in photoluminescence spectra are associated with the formation and enhancement of free exciton and exciton-polariton emission in the flat band region of an active i -GaAs layer. The excitonic PL intensity is sensitive to the excitation intensity indicating high nonlinear behavior of spectral-integrated photoluminescence intensity and exciton line narrowing. These observed phenomena may be related to the collective interaction of excitons and the interaction of excitons with emitted electromagnetic waves. The gain of the amplification of the excitonic photoluminescence intensity in the heterostructure was found to be more than 1000 times larger than the intensity of i -GaAs active layer. The quality factor of the exciton line emission and the exciton-polariton line was found to be 3800 and 7600, respectively.

The quantum Hall effect takes place in a two-dimensional electron gas under a strong magnetic field and involves current flow along the edges of the sample. For some particleĝ\u20ac"hole conjugate states of the fractional regime (for example, with fillings between 1/2 and 1 of the lowest Landau level), early predictions suggested the presence of counter-propagating edge currents in addition to the expected ones. When this did not agree with the measured conductance, it was suggested that disorder and interactions will lead to counter-propagating modes that carry only energyĝ\u20ac"the so called neutral modes. In addition, a neutral upstream mode (the Majorana mode) was expected for selected wavefunctions proposed for the even-denominator filling 5/2. Here we report the direct observation of counter-propagating neutral modes for fillings of 2/3, 3/5 and 5/2. The basis of our approach is that, if such modes impinge on a narrow constriction, the neutral quasiparticles will be partly reflected and fragmented into charge carriers, which can be detected through shot noise measurements. We find that the resultant shot noise is proportional to the injected current. Moreover, when we simultaneously inject a charge mode, the presence of the neutral mode was found to significantly affect the Fano factor and the temperature of the backscattered charge mode. In particular, such observations for filling 5/2 may single out the non-Abelian wavefunctions for the state.

Charged excitations in the fractional quantum Hall effect are known to carry fractional charges, as theoretically predicted and experimentally verified. Here we report on the dependence of the tunneling quasiparticle charge, as determined via highly sensitive shot noise measurements, on the measurement conditions, in the odd denominators states v=1/3 and v=7/3, and in the even denominator state v=5/2. In particular, for very weak backscattering probability and sufficiently small excitation energies (temperature and applied voltage), tunneling charges across a constriction were found to be significantly higher than the theoretically predicted fundamental quasiparticle charges.

We report the observation of inverse magnetic field periodic, radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures prepared in W. Wegscheider's group, compare their characteristics with similar oscillations in V. Umansky's material, and describe the lineshape variation vs the radiation power, P, in the two systems. We find that the radiation-induced oscillatory resistance, ΔR_xx, in both materials, can be described by ΔR_xx=-A exp(-λ/B)sin(2πF/B), where A is the amplitude, λ is the damping parameter, and F is the oscillation frequency. Both λ and F turn out to be insensitive to P. On the other hand, A grows nonlinearly with P.

We have measured the electric transport of double quantum point contacts in series at low temperatures. Two pairs of metal gates are placed longitudinally and sequentially with an edge-to-edge distance of 600 nm. They are used to form two quantum point contacts in a GaAs / Al_x Ga_{1 - x} As heterostructure. Isolating from an insulating layer, a top gate is also fabricated on top of the quantum point contacts to modify the electron densities in the quantum point contacts and the two dimensional electron gas as well. The transport is characterized by the direct transmission probability T_d which represents the portions of electrons travelling ballistically from one quantum point contact to the other. Our results show that the parameter T_d decreases with decreasing carrier density. The transport is partially adiabatic in high 2D electron densities and transits to completely ohmic regimes in low densities. Because of the correlation between the coherence length and transmission probability, we attribute the result to the reduction of the coherence length and mean free path in the unconstricted electron gas between quantum point contacts.

A density-tunable GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure is used to study the density dependence of the filling factor ν= 5 2 and other fractional and reentrant integer quantum-Hall states in the second Landau level. The activation energy at ν= 5 2 can be determined for densities between 1.3 and 2.7× 1011 / cm2 and reaches up to 310 mK. The 5/2 energy gap is calculated numerically, including finite width and Landau-level-mixing corrections, both as a function of electron density. The discrepancy between theory and experiment increases moderately with density and reaches about 1.5 K at the highest density. We argue that the activation energy is strongly influenced by disorder from ionized donors and attribute this to the surprisingly large size of the 5/2 quasiparticles. We find that the quasiparticles have a diameter of at least 12 times the magnetic length or 150 nm at a magnetic field of 4 T. Implications for heterostructure design are discussed.

The exact structure of edge modes in "hole conjugate" fractional quantum Hall states remains an unsolved issue despite significant experimental and theoretical efforts devoted to their understanding. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in such studies led by the search for neutral modes, which in some cases may lead to exotic statistical properties of the excitations. In this Letter, we report on detailed measurements of shot noise, produced by partitioning of the more familiar 2/3 state. We find a fractional charge of (2/3)e at the lowest temperature, decreasing to e/3 at an elevated temperature. Surprisingly, strong shot noise had been measured on a clear 1/3 plateau upon partitioning the 2/3 state. This behavior suggests an uncommon picture of the composite edge channels quite different from the accepted one.

The rich correlation physics in two-dimensional (2D) electron systems is governed by the dispersion of its excitations. In the fractional quantum Hall regime, excitations involve fractionally charged quasi particles, which exhibit dispersion minima at large momenta referred to as rotons. These rotons are difficult to access with conventional techniques because of the lack of penetration depth or sample volume. Our method overcomes the limitations of conventional methods and traces the dispersion of excitations across momentum space for buried systems involving small material volume. We used surface acoustic waves, launched across the 2D system, to allow incident radiation to trigger these excitations at large momenta. Optics probed their resonant absorption. Our technique unveils the full dispersion of such excitations of several prominent correlated ground states of the 2D electron system, which has so far been inaccessible for experimentation.

Optical absorption measurements are used to probe the spin polarization in the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect regimes. The system is fully spin polarized only at filling factor ν=1 and at very low temperatures (∼40mK). A small change in filling factor (δν ±0.01) leads to a significant depolarization. This suggests that the itinerant quantum Hall ferromagnet at ν=1 is surprisingly fragile against increasing temperature, or against small changes in filling factor.

The electron transport in a short quasi-1D quantum wire is studied. In addition to the conductance quantization, several resonances are observed. Two of the resonances appear as extra plateaus below 2e(2)/h. A gate voltage offset is used to tune the local potential of the quantum wire. A robust resonance is seen and the resonances evolve continuously with respect to the offset. The conductance has opposite responses to temperature in successive regions of gate voltage V-g. In the source-drain bias spectroscopy, two more conductance peaks are observed in addition to the Zero-Bias-Anomaly. The locations of the extra peaks evolve with respect to V-g showing a pattern similar to that in a quantum dot. We suggest that a bound state forms in the quantum wire. The prominent 0.7 anomally in our quantum wire is recognized as the residue of conductance resonance.

We report transport and nuclear spin relaxation studies of a density tunable two-dimensional electron system at filling v = 1/2 in tilted magnetic fields. The transition from partial to full spin polarization with an in-plane field leaves a clear signature in the resistance. Nuclear spin relaxation studies suggest that puddles of minority spins are responsible for an observed non-Korringa temperature dependence. This inhomogeneous spin polarization, similarly encountered in manganites where it strongly affects resistance, may help with understanding the spin dependent transport at v =1/2.

We report on noise measurements in a quantum dot in the presence of Kondo correlations. Close to the unitary limit, with the conductance reaching 1.8 e2 h, we observed an average backscattered charge of e* ∼5e 3, while weakly biasing the quantum dot. This result held to bias voltages up to half the Kondo temperature. Away from the unitary limit, the charge was measured to be e as expected. These results confirm and extend theoretical predictions that suggested that two-electron backscattering processes dominate over single-electron backscattering processes near the unitary limit, with an average backscattered charge e* ∼5e 3.

In this work we study the phase diagram of indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells and show that the system undergoes a phase transition to an unbound electron-hole plasma. This transition is manifested as an abrupt change in the photoluminescence linewidth and peak energy at some critical power density and temperature. By measuring the exciton diamagnetism, we show that the transition is associated with an abrupt increase in the exciton radius. We find that the transition is stimulated by the presence of direct excitons in one of the wells and show that they serve as a catalyst of the transition.

We report on an inelastic light scattering study in the two-dimensional electron system at filling factor nu=1. The energy and the inelastic cross section of the cyclotron spin-flip mode are analyzed. The exchange enhanced electronic g factor in the quantum Hall ferromagnet is measured. In addition to the magnetoplasmon and cyclotron spin-flip modes, inelastic scattering lines associated with spin-singlet and spin-triplet D- complexes are observed. The inelastic light scattering is shown to probe the thermodynamics of the quantum Hall ferromagnet and gives insight into the formation of ferromagnetic order in two dimensions. It is established that at temperatures above the bare Zeeman energy, the ferromagnet breaks up into domains, whose size and number change with temperature. The experimental data allow us to construct a stability diagram of the nu=1 quantum Hall ferromagnet in the temperature versus magnetic field plane.

The complementarity principle demands that a particle reveals wave-like properties only when the different paths that it can take are indistinguishable. The complementarity has been demonstrated in optics with pairs of correlated photons and in two-path solid-state interferometers with phase-coherent electrons. In the latter experiment, a charge detector embedded near one path of a two-path electron interferometer provided which-path information. Here, we report on electron dephasing in an Aharonov-Bohm ring interferometer via a charge detector adjacent to the ring. In contrast to the two-path interferometer, charge detection in the ring does not always provide path information. The interference was suppressed only when path information could be acquired, even if only in principle. Thisconfirms that dephasing is not always induced by disturbingthe interfering particle through the interferometer- environment interactions: path information of the particle must be available too. Our experiment suggests that acquisition of which-path information is more fundamental than the back-action in understanding quantum mechanical complementarity.

In a controlled dephasing experiment, an interferometer loses its coherence owing to entanglement of the interfering electron with a controlled quantum system, which effectively is equivalent to path detection. In previous experiments, only partial dephasing was achieved owing to weak interactions between many detector electrons and the interfering electron, leading to a gaussian-phase randomizing process. Here, we report the opposite extreme, where interference is completely destroyed by a few (that is, one to three) detector electrons, each of which has a strong randomizing effect on the phase. We observe quenching of the interference pattern in a periodic, lobe-type fashion as the detector current is varied, and with a peculiar V-shaped dependence on the detectors partitioning. We ascribe these features to the non-gaussian nature of the noise, which is also important for qubit decoherence. In other words, the interference seems to be highly sensitive to the full counting statistics of the detectors shot noise.

Very much like the ubiquitous quantum interference of a single particle with itself, quantum interference of two independent, but indistinguishable, particles is also possible. For a single particle, the interference is between the amplitudes of the particle's wavefunctions, whereas the interference between two particles is a direct result of quantum exchange statistics. Such interference is observed only in the joint probability of finding the particles in two separated detectors, after they were injected from two spatially separated and independent sources. Experimental realizations of two-particle interferometers have been proposed; in these proposals it was shown that such correlations are a direct signature of quantum entanglement between the spatial degrees of freedom of the two particles ('orbital entanglement'), even though they do not interact with each other. In optics, experiments using indistinguishable pairs of photons encountered difficulties in generating pairs of independent photons and synchronizing their arrival times; thus they have concentrated on detecting bunching of photons (bosons) by coincidence measurements. Similar experiments with electrons are rather scarce. Cross-correlation measurements between partitioned currents, emanating from one source, yielded similar information to that obtained from auto-correlation (shot noise) measurements. The proposal of ref. 3 is an electronic analogue to the historical Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment with classical light. It is based on the electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer that uses edge channels in the quantum Hall effect regime. Here we implement such an interferometer. We partitioned two independent and mutually incoherent electron beams into two trajectories, so that the combined four trajectories enclosed an Aharonov-Bohm flux. Although individual currents and their fluctuations (shot noise measured by auto-correlation) were found to be independent of the Aharonov-Bohm flux, the cross-correlation between current fluctuations at two opposite points across the device exhibited strong Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, suggesting orbital entanglement between the two electron beams.

The microwave response of a two-dimensional electron system with a nearby in situ grown back gate has been investigated in transport. Several resonant absorption peaks are detected in the magnetoresistance and can be assigned to the excitation of collective magnetoplasma modes. The results are compared with data measured on a similar electron system but without gate. The two-dimensional plasma spectrum is drastically altered by the gate and exhibits a linear dispersion instead of the conventional square-root dependence anticipated from theoretical considerations.

We present measurements of optical interband absorption in the fractional quantum Hall regime in a GaAs quantum well in the range 0

Shot noise measurements provide information on particle charge and its correlations. We report on shot noise measurements in a generic quantum dot under a quantized magnetic field. The measured noise at the peaks of a sequence of conductance resonances was some 9 times higher than expected, suggesting bunching of electrons as they traverse through the dot. This enhancement might be mediated by an additional level, weakly coupled to the leads or an excited state. Note that in the absence of a magnetic filed no bunching had been observed.

The measurement of phase in coherent electron systems-that is, 'mesoscopic' systems such as quantum dots-can yield information about fundamental transport properties that is not readily apparent from conductance measurements. Phase measurements on relatively large quantum dots recently revealed that the phase evolution for electrons traversing the dots exhibits a 'universal' behaviour, independent of dot size, shape, and electron occupancy. Specifically, for quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime, the transmission phase increases monotonically by π throughout each conductance peak; in the conductance valleys, the phase returns sharply to its starting value. The expected mesoscopic features in the phase evolution-related to the dot's shape, spin degeneracy or to exchange effects-have not been observed, and there is at present no satisfactory explanation for the observed universality in phase behaviour. Here we report the results of phase measurements on a series of small quantum dots, having occupancies of between only 1-20 electrons, where the phase behaviour for electron transmission should in principle be easier to interpret. In contrast to the universal behaviour observed thus far only in the larger dots, we see clear mesoscopic features in the phase measurements when the dot occupancy is less than ∼10 electrons. As the occupancy increases, the manner of phase evolution changes and universal behaviour is recovered for some 14 electrons or more. The identification of a transition from the expected mesoscopic behaviour to universal phase evolution should help to direct and constrain theoretical models for the latter.

Using a scanning single electron transistor we probe the individual localized states in the integer quantum Hall regime. We find that the observed states are utterly different than those predicted by the single-particle theory and are mainly determined by Coulomb interactions. They appear only when quantization of kinetic energy limits the screening ability of electrons. Consequently, the QH effect becomes more diverse acquiring new regimes and phase transitions, absent in the single-particle framework. Our experiments suggest a unified picture of localization within the QH phenomena, in which the validity of the single-particle model is constrained only to the limit of strong disorder.

An outstanding question pertaining to the microscopic properties of the fractional quantum Hall effect is understanding the nature of the particles that participate in the localization but that do not contribute to electronic transport. By using a scanning single electron transistor, we imaged the individual localized states in the fractional quantum Hall regime and determined the charge of the localizing particles. Highlighting the symmetry between filling factors 1/3 and 2/3, our measurements show that quasi-particles with fractional charge e*= e/3 localize in space to submicrometer dimensions, where e is the electron charge.

The optical absorption spectrum of a two dimensional electron system (2DES) in a GaAs quantum well was measured in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic fields. The study focus on Absorption spectrum, which consist of bound electron-hole complexes, trionlike and excitonlike, clears evidence for the formation of electron hole complexes around v=1. It was suggested that the optical spectrum in the fractional quantum hall regime should be understood in terms of bound electron hole complexes for the probe of the 2DES. The results show that oscillator strength were considered as a powerful probes of the 2DES spartial correlation and found that near v = 1 the 2DES ground state consists of Skyrmions of small size.

The spectrum of two dimensional electrons subject to a weak two dimensional potential and a perpendicular magnetic field was discussed. The study suggests that it was composed of Landau bands with a fractal internal pattern of subbands and minigaps referred as a Hofstadter's butterfly. It was observed that due to advance in sampling quality and fabrication, it was possible to resolve higher order minigaps in Hofstadter's energy spectrum with quantum Hall effect. The results shows that complex behavior of the Hall conductance assigned to Landau band-coupling-induced rearrangements within the butterfly.

The dephasing experiment of a quantum dot in the Kondo regime was performed. Dephasing was induced by a capacitively coupled quantum point contact (QPC), which serves as a which path detector. The qualitative dephasing is similar to that of a QD in the Coulomb blockade regime. The results show that the suppression strength is inversely proportional to the Kondo temperature.

A f-independent 1/4-cycle phase shift of the extrema in the radiation-induced oscillary magnetoresistance in GsAs/AlGaAs devices was demonstrated. The phase and the period of the magnetoresistance was examined by utilizing in situ magnetic field calibration by electron spin resonance of diphenyl-picryl-hydrazal. The phase of the R_xx oscillation were consistence with a 1/4- cycle phase shifts only at low B. The small reduction in the effective mas ration with respect to the standard value for GaAs/AlGaAs devices.

We report measurements of spin transitions for GaAs quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime and compare ground and excited state transport spectroscopy to direct measurements of the spin polarization of emitted current. Transport spectroscopy reveals both spin-increasing and spin-decreasing transitions, as well as higher-spin ground states, and allows [Formula presented] factors to be measured down to a single electron. The spin of emitted current in the Coulomb blockade regime, measured using spin-sensitive electron focusing, is found to be polarized along the direction of the applied magnetic field regardless of the ground state spin transition.

Fractionally charged quasiparticles in edge states, are expected to condense to a chiral Luttinger liquid (CLL). We studied their condensation by measuring the conductance and shot noise due to an artificial backscatterer embedded in their path. At sufficiently low-temperatures backscattering events were found to be strongly correlated, producing a highly nonlinear current-voltage characteristic and a nonclassical shot noiseboth are expected in a CLL. When, however, the impinging beam of quasiparticles was made dilute, either artificially via an additional weak backscatterer or by increasing the temperature, the resultant outgoing noise was classical, indicating the scattering of independent quasiparticles. Here, we study in some detail this surprising crossover from correlated particle behavior to an independent behavior, as a function of beam dilution and temperature.

We report the unexpected bunching of Laughlins quasiparticles, induced by an extremely weak backscattering potential at exceptionally low electron temperatures ([Formula presented]), deduced from shot noise measurements. Backscattered charges [Formula presented], specifically, [Formula presented], [Formula presented], and [Formula presented], in the respective filling factors, were measured. For the same settings but at a slightly higher electron temperature, the measured backscattered charges were [Formula presented], [Formula presented], and [Formula presented], as expected. Moreover, the backscattered current exhibited distinct temperature dependence that was correlated to the backscattered charge and the filling factor. This observation suggests the existence of \u201clow\u201d and \u201chigh\u201d temperature backscattering states, each with its characteristic charge and energy.

Significant long-range correlations which exist in the disorder potential is shown. It focuses on broad quantum wells (QWs) in which the short-range behavior is averaged by the scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) tip and studies in detail the vertical and lateral long-range order of the exciton energy distribution. It is found that the seemingly random exciton energy fluctuations exhibit a well-defined order.

An overview is given on the experimental evidence that at low temperature the unpaired spin associated with the 0.7 structure forms a Kondo-like many-body state. The evidence presented includes: 1) a narrow conductance peak at zero source-drain bias that forms at low temperature, 2) collapse of conductance data onto a single function, 3) correspondence between the Kondo scaling factor and the width of the zero-bias peak, and 4) splitting of the zero-bias peak in a magnetic field.

We present a microscopic understanding of the underlying physics that governs the photoluminescence spectrum at low electron densities. By performing near- and far-field measurements we show how the various characteristics of the spectrum (intensity, energy, width) are affected by the background electron density and the potential fluctuations due to the remote ionized donors.

A study of internal transitions of quasi-two-dimensional, negatively charged magnetoexcitons (X^-) and their evolution with excess electron density, in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells, was presented. The optically detected resonance spectra were dominated by bound-to-continuum bands, in dilute electron limit, in contrast to negatively charged donor system due to magnetic translational invariance. Magnetoplasmons bound to a mobile valence band hole was used to explain the blueshifted transitions.

We have investigated the magnetoresistance of high mobility two-dimensional electron gases (2DEG) under the influence of periodically arranged ferromagnetic nanopillars. A huge positive magnetoresistance and commensurability oscillations (COs) indicate that the 2DEG is subjected to a surprisingly strong modulation. Angular-dependent magnetoresistance measurements as well as the phase of the COs suggest that the modulation is dominated by electrostatic rather than by magnetic contributions.

Two-dimensional electron systems were laterally modulated using the method of in situ interferometric illumination. Magnetotransport measurements on 1D and 2D modulated systems revealed a phase change of the commensurability oscillations depending on temperature. This behaviour is surprising and cannot be explained by existing theories.

We employ shot noise measurements to characterize the effective charge of quasiparticles, at filling factor [Formula presented] of the fractional quantum Hall regime, as they scatter from an array of identical weak backscatterers. Upon scattering, quasiparticles are known to bunch, e.g., only three [Formula presented] charges, or \u201celectrons\u201d are found to traverse a rather opaque potential barrier. We find here that the effective charge scattered by an array of scatterers is determined by the scattering strength of an individual scatterer and not by the combined scattering strength of the array, which can be very small. Moreover, we also rule out intraedge equilibration of [Formula presented] quasiparticles over a length scale of hundreds of microns.

We have studied the capacitance between a two-dimensional electron system and a gate of field-effect transistors, produced from three different wafers with a single remotely doped GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs heterojunction. In the vicinity of the Landau-level filling factor v = 1/2, the increment of the capacitance relative to its zero-magnetic-field value, deltaC(1/2), was found to be insensitive to the carrier density, and close to the value as if the particles are noninteracting. This observation implies that electron-electron interaction affects the compressibility of the zero-field and composite-fermion metallic states in a very similar manner.

We demonstrate the feasibility of monolithic integration of a quantum-well infrared detector and a read-out circuit on the same GaAs/AlGaAs crystal. Charge storage capability of 2 × 10⁷ electrons in a 50 × 50 μm² pixel is obtained. The operation of a 5 × 5 test array is reported, performing all the basic functions of a practical focal plane array.

A study was carried out, with the aim of extending the range of quantum point contact (QPC) reflection to the strong backscattering limit. In particular, the evolution of an opaque barrier was followed. As a case, the e/3 and e/5 quasiparticles were considered.

The fractional quantum Hall effect occurs in the conduction properties of a two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a strong perpendicular magnetic field. In this regime, the Hall conductance shows plateaux, or fractional states, at rational fractional multiples of e²/h, where e is the charge of an electron and h is Planck's constant. The explanation of this behaviour invokes strong Coulomb interactions among the electrons that give rise to fractionally charged quasiparticles which can be regarded as noninteracting current carriers. Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of quasiparticles with one-third of an electron's charge, the same fraction as that of the respective fractional state. An outstanding ambiguity is therefore whether these studies measured the charge or the conductance. Here we report the observation of quasiparticles with a charge of e/5 in the 2/5 fractional state, from measurements of shot noise in a two-dimensional electron gas. Our results imply that charge can be measured independently of conductance in the fractional quantum Hall regime, generalizing previous observations of fractionally charged quasiparticles.

The charge of quasi-particles in the fractional quantum Hall regime was determined via quantum shot noise measurements. The noise is generated by a current flow through a partially transmitting quantum point contact in a two dimensional electron gas and is directly proportional to the charge of the quasi-particles. We measured quantum shot noise at a filling factor of 1/3 and found that the charge of the quasi-particles is e/3 as predicted by Laughlin. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

We have investigated magnetotransport through two-dimensional lateral superlattices with periods a of 100 and 120 nm prepared on a shallow, high mobility heterojunction. Measurements of the longitudinal and Hall resistance were carried out at a temperature of 50 mK with the bias voltage of the top gate as parameter. The longitudinal resistance displays an unprecedented richness in oscillatory features of both semiclassical and quantum mechanical origin. The results are discussed on the basis of the zero field miniband energy spectrum and the subband splitting of single Landau-levels.

The interactions between adsorbed organic molecules and the electronic charge carriers in specially made GaAs structures are studied by time- and wavelength-dependent measurements of the photocurrent. The adsorption of the molecules modifies the photocurrent decay time by orders of magnitude. The effects are molecularly specific, as they depend on the electronic properties and absorption spectrum of the molecules. These observations are rationalized by assuming that new surface states are created upon adsorption of the molecules and that the character of these states is controlled by the relative electronegativity of the substrates and the adsorbed molecules. The relevance for surface passivation and for construction of semiconductor-based sensors is indicated.

We present transport measurements on surface superlattices fabricated on a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas. Significant suppression of the conductance is found with increasing electric fields and with increasing temperature T. We attribute these effects to e-e scattering, which can significantly affect the resistance in the presence of a spatially modulated static potential.

The effects of chemisorbed molecules on the electronic transport through an ungated high electron mobility transistor and through an ungated field effect transistor are examined, Current versus voltage measurements in the dark reveal that the adsorbed molecules and their chemical nature have a pronounced effect on the structures' performance, as they reduce the current by up to one order of magnitude. The molecular specificity of the devices is expressed in the wavelength dependence of photo current decay. The decay time, which increases by several orders of magnitude upon adsorption of the molecules, changes drastically when the excitation wavelength matches the absorption of the adsorbed molecules. Effect of Cu ions caught by adsorbed organic molecules on the photo current decay is clearly demonstrated. The observations open new possibilities in constructing semiconductor based light and chemical sensors.

Since Millikan's famous oil-drop experiments, it has been well known that electrical charge is quantized in units of the charge of an electron, e. For this reason, the theoretical prediction by Laughlin of the existence of fractionally charged 'quasiparticles'-proposed as an explanation for the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect-is very counterintuitive. The FQH effect is a phenomenon observed in the conduction properties of a two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a strong perpendicular magnetic field. This effect results from the strong interaction between electrons, brought about by the magnetic field, giving rise to the aforementioned fractionally charged quasiparticles which carry the current. Here we report the direct observation of these counterintuitive entities by using measurements of quantum shot noise. Quantum shot noise results from the discreteness of the current- carrying charges and so is proportional to both the charge of the quasiparticles and the average current. Our measurements of quantum shot noise show unambiguously that current in a two-dimensional electron gas in the FQH regime is carried by fractional charges-e/3 in the present case-in agreement with Laughlin's prediction.

We study the effect of spatial correlation of ionized donors on the single-particle scattering time and on spin splitting in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). As the correlation is being reduced we observe a reduction in the scattering time and a collapse of the spin-splitted peaks into a single peak. We find these electronic properties to be much more sensitive than the momentum relaxation time (or mobility) in high mobility 2DEG. We compare our results with Monte Carlo simulations and find them to be in partial agreement.