Stabilization of an optical transition energy via nuclear Zeno dynamics in quantum-dot-cavity systems

Thomas Nutz, Petros Androvitsaneas, Andrew Young, Ruth Oulton, Dara P.S. McCutcheon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
246 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We investigate the effect of nuclear spins on the phase shift and polarization rotation of photons scattered off a quantum-dot-cavity system. We show that as the phase shift depends strongly on the resonance energy of an electronic transition in the quantum dot, it can provide a sensitive probe of the quantum state of nuclear spins that broaden this transition energy. By including the electron-nuclear spin coupling at a Hamiltonian level within an extended input-output formalism, we show how a photon-scattering event acts as a nuclear spin measurement, which when rapidly applied leads to an inhibition of the nuclear dynamics via the quantum Zeno effect, and a corresponding stabilization of the optical resonance. We show how such an effect manifests in the intensity autocorrelation g(2)(τ) of scattered photons, whose long-time bunching behavior changes from quadratic decay for low photon-scattering rates (weak laser intensities) to ever slower exponential decay for increasing laser intensities as optical measurements impede the nuclear spin evolution.

Original languageEnglish
Article number053853
Number of pages9
JournalPhysical Review A
Volume99
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 May 2019

Research Groups and Themes

  • Bristol Quantum Information Institute
  • QETLabs
  • Photonics and Quantum

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Stabilization of an optical transition energy via nuclear Zeno dynamics in quantum-dot-cavity systems'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this