2021, Ruf, J.P., Paik, H., Schreiber, N.J., Nair, H.P., Miao, L., Kawasaki, J.K., Nelson, J.N., Faeth, B.D., Lee, Y., Goodge, B.H., Pamuk, B., Fennie, C.J., Kourkoutis, L.F., Schlom, D.G., Shen, K.M.

Superconductivity is among the most fascinating and well-studied quantum states of matter. Despite over 100 years of research, a detailed understanding of how features of the normal-state electronic structure determine superconducting properties has remained elusive. For instance, the ability to deterministically enhance the superconducting transition temperature by design, rather than by serendipity, has been a long sought-after goal in condensed matter physics and materials science, but achieving this objective may require new tools, techniques and approaches. Here, we report the transmutation of a normal metal into a superconductor through the application of epitaxial strain. We demonstrate that synthesizing RuO2 thin films on (110)-oriented TiO2 substrates enhances the density of states near the Fermi level, which stabilizes superconductivity under strain, and suggests that a promising strategy to create new transition-metal superconductors is to apply judiciously chosen anisotropic strains that redistribute carriers within the low-energy manifold of d orbitals.

2022, Hollenbach, Michael, Klingner, Nico, Jagtap, Nagesh S., Bischoff, Lothar, Fowley, Ciarán, Kentsch, Ulrich, Hlawacek, Gregor, Erbe, Artur, Abrosimov, Nikolay V., Helm, Manfred, Berencén, Yonder, Astakhov, Georgy V.

A highly promising route to scale millions of qubits is to use quantum photonic integrated circuits (PICs), where deterministic photon sources, reconfigurable optical elements, and single-photon detectors are monolithically integrated on the same silicon chip. The isolation of single-photon emitters, such as the G centers and W centers, in the optical telecommunication O-band, has recently been realized in silicon. In all previous cases, however, single-photon emitters were created uncontrollably in random locations, preventing their scalability. Here, we report the controllable fabrication of single G and W centers in silicon wafers using focused ion beams (FIB) with high probability. We also implement a scalable, broad-beam implantation protocol compatible with the complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology to fabricate single telecom emitters at desired positions on the nanoscale. Our findings unlock a clear and easily exploitable pathway for industrial-scale photonic quantum processors with technology nodes below 100 nm.

2019, Ahrling, Robin, Boy, Johannes, Handwerg, Martin, Chiatti, Olivio, Mitdank, Rüdiger, Wagner, Günter, Galazka, Zbigniew, Fischer, Saskia F.

Thin films of the wide band gap semiconductor β-Ga2O3 have a high potential for applications in transparent electronics and high power devices. However, the role of interfaces remains to be explored. Here, we report on fundamental limits of transport properties in thin films. The conductivities, Hall densities and mobilities in thin homoepitaxially MOVPE grown (100)-orientated β-Ga2O3 films were measured as a function of temperature and film thickness. At room temperature, the electron mobilities ((115 ± 10) cm2/Vs) in thicker films (>150 nm) are comparable to the best of bulk. However, the mobility is strongly reduced by more than two orders of magnitude with decreasing film thickness ((5.5 ± 0.5) cm2/Vs for a 28 nm thin film). We find that the commonly applied classical Fuchs-Sondheimer model does not explain sufficiently the contribution of electron scattering at the film surfaces. Instead, by applying an electron wave model by Bergmann, a contribution to the mobility suppression due to the large de Broglie wavelength in β-Ga2O3 is proposed as a limiting quantum mechanical size effect.

2017, Ma, Dingyu, Rong, Xin, Zheng, Xiantong, Wang, Weiying, Wang, Ping, Schulz, Tobias, Albrecht, Martin, Metzner, Sebastian, Müller, Mathias, August, Olga, Bertram, Frank, Christen, Jürgen, Jin, Peng, Li, Mo, Zhang, Jian, Yang, Xuelin, Xu, Fujun, Qin, Zhixin, Ge, Weikun, Shen, Bo, Wang, Xinqiang

We investigate the emission from confined excitons in the structure of a single-monolayer-thick quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) Inx Ga1-x N layer inserted in GaN matrix. This quasi-2D InGaN layer was successfully achieved by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and an excellent in-plane uniformity in this layer was confirmed by cathodoluminescence mapping study. The carrier dynamics have also been investigated by time-resolved and excitation-power-dependent photoluminescence, proving that the recombination occurs via confined excitons within the ultrathin quasi-2D InGaN layer even at high temperature up to ∼220 K due to the enhanced exciton binding energy. This work indicates that such structure affords an interesting opportunity for developing high-performance photonic devices.

2021, Litvinenko, K.L., Le, Nguyen H., Redlich, B., Pidgeon, C.R., Abrosimov, N.V., Andreev, Y., Huang, Zhiming, Murdin, B.N.

The ordinary Fano effect occurs in many-electron atoms and requires an autoionizing state. With such a state, photo-ionization may proceed via pathways that interfere, and the characteristic asymmetric resonance structures appear in the continuum. Here we demonstrate that Fano structure may also be induced without need of auto-ionization, by dressing the continuum with an ordinary bound state in any atom by a coupling laser. Using multi-photon processes gives complete, ultra-fast control over the interference. We show that a line-shape index q near unity (maximum asymmetry) may be produced in hydrogenic silicon donors with a relatively weak beam. Since the Fano lineshape has both constructive and destructive interference, the laser control opens the possibility of state-selective detection with enhancement on one side of resonance and invisibility on the other. We discuss a variety of atomic and molecular spectroscopies, and in the case of silicon donors we provide a calculation for a qubit readout application.

2020, Chen, Hao, Zhou, Pinjia, Liu, Jiawei, Qiao, Jiabin, Oezyilmaz, Barbaros, Martin, Jens

Sign reversal of Berry curvature across two oppositely gated regions in bilayer graphene can give rise to counter-propagating 1D channels with opposite valley indices. Considering spin and sub-lattice degeneracy, there are four quantized conduction channels in each direction. Previous experimental work on gate-controlled valley polarizer achieved good contrast only in the presence of an external magnetic field. Yet, with increasing magnetic field the ungated regions of bilayer graphene will transit into the quantum Hall regime, limiting the applications of valley-polarized electrons. Here we present improved performance of a gate-controlled valley polarizer through optimized device geometry and stacking method. Electrical measurements show up to two orders of magnitude difference in conductance between the valley-polarized state and gapped states. The valley-polarized state displays conductance of nearly 4e2/h and produces contrast in a subsequent valley analyzer configuration. These results pave the way to further experiments on valley-polarized electrons in zero magnetic field.

2021, Zeuschner, S.P., Mattern, M., Pudell, J.-E., von Reppert, A., Rössle, M., Leitenberger, W., Schwarzkopf, J., Boschker, J.E., Herzog, M., Bargheer, M.

An experimental technique that allows faster assessment of out-of-plane strain dynamics of thin film heterostructures via x-ray diffraction is presented. In contrast to conventional high-speed reciprocal space-mapping setups, our approach reduces the measurement time drastically due to a fixed measurement geometry with a position-sensitive detector. This means that neither the incident (ω) nor the exit ( 2θ ) diffraction angle is scanned during the strain assessment via x-ray diffraction. Shifts of diffraction peaks on the fixed x-ray area detector originate from an out-of-plane strain within the sample. Quantitative strain assessment requires the determination of a factor relating the observed shift to the change in the reciprocal lattice vector. The factor depends only on the widths of the peak along certain directions in reciprocal space, the diffraction angle of the studied reflection, and the resolution of the instrumental setup. We provide a full theoretical explanation and exemplify the concept with picosecond strain dynamics of a thin layer of NbO2.

2021, Meisenheimer, P.B., Steinhardt, R.A., Sung, S.H., Williams, L.D., Zhuang, S., Nowakowski, M.E., Novakov, S., Torunbalci, M.M., Prasad, B., Zollner, C. J., Wang, Z., Dawley, N.M., Schubert, J., Hunter, A.H., Manipatruni, S., Nikonov, D.E., Young, I.A., Chen, L.Q., Bokor, J., Bhave, S.A., Ramesh, R., Hu, J.-M., Kioupakis, E., Hovden, R., Schlom, D.G., Heron, J.T.

Magnetostrictive materials transduce magnetic and mechanical energies and when combined with piezoelectric elements, evoke magnetoelectric transduction for high-sensitivity magnetic field sensors and energy-efficient beyond-CMOS technologies. The dearth of ductile, rare-earth-free materials with high magnetostrictive coefficients motivates the discovery of superior materials. Fe1−xGax alloys are amongst the highest performing rare-earth-free magnetostrictive materials; however, magnetostriction becomes sharply suppressed beyond x = 19% due to the formation of a parasitic ordered intermetallic phase. Here, we harness epitaxy to extend the stability of the BCC Fe1−xGax alloy to gallium compositions as high as x = 30% and in so doing dramatically boost the magnetostriction by as much as 10x relative to the bulk and 2x larger than canonical rare-earth based magnetostrictors. A Fe1−xGax − [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3]0.7−[PbTiO3]0.3 (PMN-PT) composite magnetoelectric shows robust 90° electrical switching of magnetic anisotropy and a converse magnetoelectric coefficient of 2.0 × 10−5 s m−1. When optimally scaled, this high coefficient implies stable switching at ~80 aJ per bit.

2017, Morse, Kevin J., Abraham, Rohan J. S., DeAbreu, Adam, Bowness, Camille, Richards, Timothy S., Riemann, Helge, Abrosimov, Nikolay V., Becker, Peter, Pohl, Hans-Joachim, Thewalt, Michael L. W., Simmons, Stephanie

Donor spins in silicon are highly competitive qubits for upcoming quantum technologies, offering complementary metal-oxide semiconductor compatibility, coherence (T2) times of minutes to hours, and simultaneous initialization, manipulation, and readout fidelities near ~99.9%. This allows for many quantum error correction protocols, which will be essential for scale-up. However, a proven method of reliably coupling spatially separated donor qubits has yet to be identified. We present a scalable silicon-based platform using the unique optical properties of “deep” chalcogen donors. For the prototypical 77Se+ donor, we measure lower bounds on the transition dipole moment and excited-state lifetime, enabling access to the strong coupling limit of cavity quantum electrodynamics using known silicon photonic resonator technology and integrated silicon photonics. We also report relatively strong photon emission from this same transition. These results unlock clear pathways for silicon-based quantum computing, spin-to-photon conversion, photonic memories, integrated single-photon sources, and all-optical switches.

2018, Stolyarchuk, N., Markurt, T., Courville, A., March, K., Zúñiga-Pérez, J., Vennéguès, P., Albrecht, M.

Nitride materials (AlN, GaN, InN and their alloys) are commonly used in optoelectronics, high-power and high-frequency electronics. Polarity is the essential characteristic of these materials: when grown along c-direction, the films may exhibit either N- or metal-polar surface, which strongly influences their physical properties. The possibility to manipulate the polarity during growth allows to establish unique polarity in nitride thin films and nanowires for existing applications but also opens up new opportunities for device applications, e.g., in non-linear optics. In this work, we show that the polarity of an AlN film can intentionally be inverted by applying an oxygen plasma. We anneal an initially mixed-polar AlN film, grown on sapphire substrate by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE), with an oxygen plasma in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) chamber; then, back in MOVPE, we deposit a 200 nm thick AlN film on top of the oxygen-treated surface. Analysis by high-resolution probe-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) evidences a switch of the N-polar domains to metal polarity. The polarity inversion is mediated through the formation of a thin AlxOyNz layer on the surface of the initial mixed polar film, induced by the oxygen annealing.