There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Quantum cryptography could well be the first application of quantum mechanics at the individual quanta level. The very fast progress in both theory and experiments over the recent years are reviewed, with emphasis on open questions and technological issues.

Quantum Cryptography

We present a comprehensive, up-to-date compilation of band parameters for the technologically important III–V zinc blende and wurtzite compound semiconductors: GaAs, GaSb, GaP, GaN, AlAs, AlSb, AlP, AlN, InAs, InSb, InP, and InN, along with their ternary and quaternary alloys. Based on a review of the existing literature, complete and consistent parameter sets are given for all materials. Emphasizing the quantities required for band structure calculations, we tabulate the direct and indirect energy gaps, spin-orbit, and crystal-field splittings, alloy bowing parameters, effective masses for electrons, heavy, light, and split-off holes, Luttinger parameters, interband momentum matrix elements, and deformation potentials, including temperature and alloy-composition dependences where available. Heterostructure band offsets are also given, on an absolute scale that allows any material to be aligned relative to any other.

Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys

The interaction of matter and light is one of the fundamental processes occurring in nature, and its most elementary form is realized when a single atom interacts with a single photon. Reaching this regime has been a major focus of research in atomic physics and quantum optics1 for several decades and has generated the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics2,3. Here we perform an experiment in which a superconducting two-level system, playing the role of an artificial atom, is coupled to an on-chip cavity consisting of a superconducting transmission line resonator. We show that the strong coupling regime can be attained in a solid-state system, and we experimentally observe the coherent interaction of a superconducting two-level system with a single microwave photon. The concept of circuit quantum electrodynamics opens many new possibilities for studying the strong interaction of light and matter. This system can also be exploited for quantum information processing and quantum communication and may lead to new approaches for single photon generation and detection.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0407325.pdf

Strong coupling of a single photon to a superconducting qubit using circuit quantum electrodynamics

In the coming decade, the ability to sense and detect the state of biological systems and living organisms optically, electrically and magnetically will be radically transformed by developments in materials physics and chemistry. The emerging ability to control the patterns of matter on the nanometer length scale can be expected to lead to entirely new types of biological sensors. These new systems will be capable of sensing at the single-molecule level in living cells, and capable of parallel integration for detection of multiple signals, enabling a diversity of simultaneous experiments, as well as better crosschecks and controls.

/pdf/the-use-of-nanocrystals-in-biological-detection-3f8dgrg9fx.pdf

The use of nanocrystals in biological detection

The photoluminescence spectrum of individual pairs of vertically stacked InAs quantum dots is investigated as a function of an external electric field along the growth direction. Comparing samples with different inter-dot distances, we find for the case of the closest pairs clear experimental evidences of single carrier transfer from one dot to the other, with a transfer rate that is controlled by the applied voltage. We model the spectra with a theoretical calculation, which takes into account both the field-dependent carrier kinetics and the many-body interactions in the quantum dot molecule.

Optical spectroscopy of single quantum dot molecules under applied electric field

A method for forming a boron doped region within a silicon material substrate, and the resulting silicon material substrate that includes the boron doped region, each use a boron doped aluminum oxide material layer as a boron dopant source layer. The method provides the boron doped region with a sheet resistance in a range from about 15 to about 300 ohms per square. The method is also applicable, in general, to forming an n doped region, a p doped region or an n and p co-doped region within a silicon material substrate.

Silicon material substrate doping method, structure and applications

It is demonstrated that the photoluminescence spectra of single self-assembled quantum dots are very sensitive to the experimental conditions, such as excitation energy and crystal temperature. A q ...

/pdf/carrier-diffusion-in-the-barrier-enabling-formation-of-1q5kdotdpi.pdf

Carrier Diffusion in the Barrier Enabling Formation of Charged Excitons in InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots

GaAs-based PIN detectors with mesa sizes 1, 25, 5, 75 and 10 mm were fabricated and characterized for alpha particle
response using a Po-210 alpha source By decoupling the neutron conversion process of a proximity moderator, we were
able to directly probe the alpha response characteristics of the PIN detectors as a function of device area Dark current
levels in the PIN detectors ranged from 61 to 95 pA at zero bias The dark current values were higher for larger devices
and a linear relationship between mesa size and dark current was observed The PIN detectors were found to have a
strong alpha response of up to 5 nA/mm 2 with a linear relation between the response current and mesa area The
measured responsivity of the detectors was 0014 A/W The average device efficiency was determined to be 315%
Using the measured alpha response properties of the GaAs PIN diodes one is able to select the optimal device area for a
given moderator and application specific neutron flux

Optimization of GaAs PIN diodes for neutron detection

/pdf/advanced-fabrication-technologies-for-micro-nano-optics-and-4se1pg9lov.pdf

Winston V. Schoenfeld

Papers

Optical spectroscopy of single quantum dot molecules under applied electric field

Silicon material substrate doping method, structure and applications

Carrier Diffusion in the Barrier Enabling Formation of Charged Excitons in InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots

Optimization of GaAs PIN diodes for neutron detection

Advanced Fabrication Technologies for Micro/Nano Optics and Photonics XI