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Electrically tuned spin–orbit interaction in an InAs self-assembled quantum dot

Nature Nanotechnology volume 6, pages 511–516 (2011)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 28 December 2011

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Abstract

Electrical control over electron spin is a prerequisite for spintronics spin-based quantum information processing. In particular, control over the interaction between the orbital motion and the spin state of electrons would be valuable, because this interaction influences spin relaxation and dephasing. Electric fields have been used to tune the strength of the spin–orbit interaction in two-dimensional electron gases, but not, so far, in quantum dots. Here, we demonstrate that electrical gating can be used to vary the energy of the spin–orbit interaction in the range 50–150 µeV while maintaining the electron occupation of a single self-assembled InAs quantum dot. We determine the spin–orbit interaction energy by observing the splitting of Kondo effect features at high magnetic fields.

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Figure 1: Magnetic evolution of system ground states.
Figure 2: Hybridization of the orbital states.
Figure 3: Action of the side-gate.
Figure 4: Electrical control of SOI.
Figure 5: Azimuthal B-field rotation.

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Change history

  • 22 November 2011

    In the version of this Letter originally published, in the discussion of Fig. 5c on page 514, the fitting function should have been Δ = A|cos(θ − θ0 ± π/2)| + B, and the offsets of θ0 should have been −30 ± 4° and −39 ± 5° for Vsg = −0.5 V and 1.0 V, respectively. These errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the Letter.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge discussions with R. Sakano. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Research S (no. 19104007) and A (no. 21244046), MEXT KAKENHI ‘Quantum Cybernetics’ project, the Strategic International Cooperative Program, DFG-JST joint research project (‘Topological Electronics’), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through its Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST Program), and the Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology, MEXT (Japan). S. Tarucha acknowledges support from an IARPA grant (‘Multi-Qubit Coherent Operations’) through Harvard. S. Takahashi and Y.K. are supported by JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists.

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Author notes

  1. Y. Kanai and R. S. Deacon: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113-8656, Japan

    Y. Kanai, R. S. Deacon, S. Takahashi, A. Oiwa, K. Yoshida & S. Tarucha

  2. JST CREST, 4-1-8 Hon-cho, Kawaguchi-shi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan

    R. S. Deacon, A. Oiwa & K. Hirakawa

  3. Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan

    K. Shibata & K. Hirakawa

  4. INQIE, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan

    K. Hirakawa & S. Tarucha

  5. NTT Basic Research Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa, 243-0198, Japan

    Y. Tokura

  6. QPEC, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan

    S. Tarucha

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Contributions

Y.K. and R.S.D. performed measurements, analysed the results and wrote the manuscript. S. Takahashi contributed to interpretation of the data. K.Y. contributed to device fabrication. K.S. and K.H. grew the self-assembled InAs quantum dot samples. Y.T. performed simulations of the system, which were crucial to interpretation of data. A.O. and S. Tarucha directed the research. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. S. Deacon.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Kanai, Y., Deacon, R., Takahashi, S. et al. Electrically tuned spin–orbit interaction in an InAs self-assembled quantum dot. Nature Nanotech 6, 511–516 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.103

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