Non-Markovian features in semiconductor quantum optics: quantifying the role of phonons in experiment and theory

Abstract

We discuss phonon-induced non-Markovian and Markovian features in QD-based optics. We cover lineshapes in linear absorption experiments, phonon-induced incoherence in the Heitler regime, and memory correlations in two-photon coherences. To quantitatively and qualitatively understand the underlying physics, we present several theoretical models which model the non-Markovian properties of the electron-phonon interaction accurately in different regimes. Examples are the Heisenberg equation of motion approach, the polaron master equation, and Liouville-propagator techniques in the independent boson limit and beyond via the path-integral method. Phenomenological modeling overestimates typically the dephasing due to the finite memory kernel of phonons and we give instructive examples of phonon-mediated coherence such as phonon-dressed anticrossings in Mollow physics, robust quantum state preparation, cavity-feeding and the stabilization of the collapse and revival phenomenon in the strong coupling limit. * alex@itp.tu-berlin.de arXiv:1904.10905v1 [quant-ph] 24 Apr 2019 of exciting phenomena in these systems due to the ubiquitous non-Markovian electron-phonon and electron-electron dynamics. To name a few, quantum wires show phonon-enabled thermal conductivity [63] based on a universal quantum of thermal conductance [64]. Pronounced non-Markovian decoherence is demonstrated in localized nanotube excitons [32] and also phonon-assisted Anderson localization phenomena have been investigated [65]. In quantum wells, coherent acoustic oscillations are studied [66], and non-equilibrium cooling effects bottlenecked by non-Markovian phonon dynamics have been discussed [67]. Four-wave mixing techniques allow to study and characterize giant excitonic resonances [68,69], and via two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy techniques incoherent exciton-phonon Green's function can be probed and extracted in disordered quantum wells [70,71].Moreover, optical and electronic two-dimensional spectroscopy has drawn a lot interest recently, as non-Markovian, anomalous lineshapes and relaxation/scattering processes can be characterized and studied in depth. For example, the study of signatures of spatially correlated noise and non-secular effects [72] has been performed, the read-out of Rabi oscillations in QDs [73], exciton coherence at room temperature [74] investigated, systematic study of dephasing processes including quadratic electron-phonon coupling for elevated temperatures [75,76] and phonon sidebands in transition metal dichalcogenides have been demonstrated [77]. Despite the exciting results in higher-dimensional nanostructures and two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy, we focus in the following on a single material platform, semiconductor QDs. This allows us to discuss in detail instructive experimental examples in which the phonon interaction is the dominant source of decoherence and theoretical models which are capable to capture their specific details and can partially be treated even analytically. These models are, however, not li...

Distinctive characteristics of carrier-phonon interactions in optically driven semiconductor quantum dots

“…A detailed description of the phonon influence on optical QD spectra addressing in particular the Non-Markovian effects can be found in the recent review [191].…”

Phonon effects in quantum dot single-photon sources

“…Furthermore, a larger parameter space and a range of new phenomena arise when the Fabry-Perot cavity is replaced with a non-Lorenzian cavity, which opens up a rich class of dynamics [83,84]. We also note that the topic of phonon effects in quantum dots has recently been reviewed with focus on optical excitation schemes [85] and in a broader scope, presenting a range of different phonon-induced phenomena and theoretical modeling techniques [86].…”

Pronounced non-Markovian features in multiply excited, multiple emitter waveguide QED: Retardation induced anomalous population trapping

“…(6)] and the initial state |ψ (0) = |7 until the steady state is reached. The Markovian case allows for a master-equation treatment with g 0 = √ 2πγ [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]79]. Tracing out the left-and rightmoving photons leads to a collective jump operator,…”

“…Beyond the single-excitation and/or single-emitter limit, the Markovian approximation becomes questionable and the aforementioned methods problematic [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]. In this work, we employ the matrix-product-state (MPS) representation to study exactly this regime, the multiple-excitation and multiple-emitter limit.…”