arXiv subjects

P. Atkinson

Publications and source records attributed to P. Atkinson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Sensor operating point calibration and monitoring of the ALICE Inner Tracking System during LHC Run 3

The new Inner Tracking System (ITS2) of the ALICE experiment began operation in 2021 with the start of LHC Run 3. Compared to its predecessor, ITS2 offers substantial improvements in pointing resolution, tracking efficiency at low transverse momenta, and readout-rate capabilities. The detector employs silicon Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) featuring a pixel size of 26.88$\times$29.24 $\mu$m$^2$ and an intrinsic spatial resolution of approximately 5 $\mu$m. With a remarkably low material budget of 0.36% of radiation length ($X_{0}$) per layer in the three innermost layers and a total sensitive area of about 10 m$^2$, the ITS2 constitutes the largest-scale application of MAPS technology in a high-energy physics experiment and the first of its kind operated at the LHC. For stable data taking, it is crucial to calibrate different parameters of the detector, such as in-pixel charge thresholds and the masking of noisy pixels. The calibration of 24120 monolithic sensors, comprising a total of 12.6$\times$10$^{9}$ pixels, represents a major operational challenge. This paper presents the methods developed for the calibration of the ITS2 and outlines the strategies for monitoring and dynamically adjusting the detector's key performance parameters over time.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

First demonstration of in-beam performance of bent Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors

A novel approach for designing the next generation of vertex detectors foresees to employ wafer-scale sensors that can be bent to truly cylindrical geometries after thinning them to thicknesses of 20-40$\mu$m. To solidify this concept, the feasibility of operating bent MAPS was demonstrated using 1.5$\times$3cm ALPIDE chips. Already with their thickness of 50$\mu$m, they can be successfully bent to radii of about 2cm without any signs of mechanical or electrical damage. During a subsequent characterisation using a 5.4GeV electron beam, it was further confirmed that they preserve their full electrical functionality as well as particle detection performance. In this article, the bending procedure and the setup used for characterisation are detailed. Furthermore, the analysis of the beam test, including the measurement of the detection efficiency as a function of beam position and local inclination angle, is discussed. The results show that the sensors maintain their excellent performance after bending to radii of 2cm, with detection efficiencies above 99.9% at typical operating conditions, paving the way towards a new class of detectors with unprecedented low material budget and ideal geometrical properties.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Magnetic Levitation Stabilized by Streaming Fluid Flows

We demonstrate that the ubiquitous laboratory magnetic stirrer provides a simple passive method of magnetic levitation, in which the so-called `flea' levitates indefinitely. We study the onset of levitation and quantify the flea's motion (a combination of vertical oscillation, spinning and "waggling"), finding excellent agreement with a mechanical analytical model. The waggling motion drives recirculating flow, producing a centripetal reaction force that stabilises the flea. Our findings have implications for the locomotion of artificial swimmers, for the development of bidirectional microfluidic pumps and provide an alternative to sophisticated commercial levitators.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2015

Fast atom diffraction inside a molecular beam epitaxy chamber, a rich combination

Two aspects of the contribution of grazing incidence fast atom diffraction (GIFAD) to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are reviewed here: the ability of GIFAD to provide \emph{in-situ} a precise description of the atomic-scale surface topology, and its ability to follow larger-scale changes in surface roughness during layer-by-layer growth. Recent experimental and theoretical results obtained for the He atom beam incident along the highly corrugated $[ 1\bar{1}0 ]$ direction of the $\beta_{2}$(2$\times$4) reconstructed GaAs(001) surface are summarized and complemented by the measurements and calculations for the beam incidence along the weakly corrugated [010] direction where a periodicity twice smaller as expected is observed. The combination of the experiment, quantum scattering matrix calculations, and semiclassical analysis allows in this case to reveal structural characteristics of the surface. For the in situ measurements of GIFAD during molecular beam epitaxy of GaAs on GaAs surface we analyse the change in elastic and inelastic contributions in the scattered beam, and the variation of the diffraction pattern in polar angle scattering. This analysis outlines the robustness, the simplicity and the richness of the GIFAD as a technique to monitor the layer-by-layer epitaxial growth.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

An artificial atom locked to natural atoms

Single-photon sources that emit photons at the same energy play a key role in the emerging concepts of quantum information, such as entanglement swapping, quantum teleportation and quantum networks. They can be realized in a variety of systems, where semiconductor quantum dots, or 'artificial atoms', are arguably among the most attractive. However, unlike 'natural atoms', no two artificial atoms are alike. This peculiarity is a serious hurdle for quantum information applications that require photonic quantum states with identical energies. Here we demonstrate a single artificial atom that generates photons with an absolute energy that is locked to an optical transition in a natural atom. Furthermore, we show that our system is robust and immune to drifts and fluctuations in the environment of the emitter. Our demonstration is crucial for realization of a large number of universally-indistinguishable solid-state systems at arbitrary remote locations, where frequency-locked artificial atoms might become fundamental ingredients.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Universal recovery of the bright-exciton level-degeneracy in quantum dots without structural symmetry

The lack of structural symmetry which usually characterizes semiconductor quantum dots lifts the energetic degeneracy of the bright excitonic states and hampers severely their use as high fidelity sources of entangled photons. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that it is always possible to restore the excitonic degeneracy by the simultaneous application of large strain and electric fields, despite the fact that this possibility has fundamentally been doubted. This is achieved by using one external perturbation to align the polarization of the exciton emission along the axis of the second perturbation, which then erases completely the energy splitting of the states. This result, which holds for any QD structure, highlights the potential of combining complementary external fields to create artificial atoms meeting the stringent requirements posed by scalable semiconductor-based quantum-technology.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Origin of the hysteresis in bilayer 2D systems in the quantum Hall regime

The hysteresis observed in the magnetoresistance of bilayer 2D systems in the quantum Hall regime is generally attributed to the long time constant for charge transfer between the 2D systems due to the very low conductivity of the quantum Hall bulk states. We report electrometry measurements of a bilayer 2D system that demonstrate that the hysteresis is instead due to non-equilibrium induced current. This finding is consistent with magnetometry and electrometry measurements of single 2D systems, and has important ramifications for understanding hysteresis in bilayer 2D systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Charge and spin state readout of a double quantum dot coupled to a resonator

State readout is a key requirement for a quantum computer. For semiconductor-based qubit devices it is usually accomplished using a separate mesoscopic electrometer. Here we demonstrate a simple detection scheme in which a radio-frequency resonant circuit coupled to a semiconductor double quantum dot is used to probe its charge and spin states. These results demonstrate a new non-invasive technique for measuring charge and spin states in quantum dot systems without requiring a separate mesoscopic detector.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Electrometry using the quantum Hall effect in a bilayer 2D electron system

We discuss the development of a sensitive electrometer that utilizes a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the quantum Hall regime. As a demonstration, we measure the evolution of the Landau levels in a second, nearby 2DEG as the applied perpendicular magnetic field is changed, and extract an effective mass for electrons in GaAs that agrees within experimental error with previous measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Microwave-Driven Transitions in Two Coupled Semiconductor Charge Qubits

We have studied interactions between two capacitively coupled GaAs/AlGaAs few-electron double quantum dots. Each double quantum dot defines a tunable two-level system, or qubit, in which a single excess electron occupies either the ground state of one dot or the other. Applying microwave radiation we resonantly drive transitions between states and non-invasively measure occupancy changes using proximal quantum point contact charge detectors. The level structure of the interacting two-qubit system is probed by driving it at a fixed microwave frequency whilst varying the energy detuning of both double dots. We observe additional resonant transitions consistent with a simple coupled two-qubit Hamiltonian model.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Post-selective two-photon interference from a continuous non-classical stream of photons emitted by a quantum dot

We report an electrically driven semiconductor single photon source capable of emitting photons with a coherence time of up to 400 ps under fixed bias. It is shown that increasing the injection current causes the coherence time to reduce and this effect is well explained by the fast modulation of a fluctuating environment. Hong-Ou-Mandel type two-photon interference using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is demonstrated using this source to test the indistinguishability of individual photons by post-selecting events where two photons collide at a beamsplitter. Finally, we consider how improvements in our detection system can be used to achieve a higher interference visibility.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Biphoton interference with a quantum dot entangled light source

We demonstrate optical interferometry beyond the limits imposed by the photon wavelength using 'triggered' entangled photon pairs from a semiconductor quantum dot. Interference fringes of the entangled biphoton state reveals a periodicity half of that obtained with the single photon, and much less than that of the pump laser. High fringe visibility indicates that biphoton interference is less sensitive to decoherence than interference of two sequential single photons. The results suggest that quantum interferometry may be possible using a semiconductor LED-like device.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Indistinguishable photons from a diode

We generate indistinguishable photons from a semiconductor diode containing a InAs/GaAs quantum dot. Using an all-electrical technique to populate and control a single-photon emitting state we filter-out dephasing by Stark-shifting the emission energy on timescales below the dephasing time of the state. Mixing consecutive photons on a beam-splitter we observe two-photon interference with a visibility of 64%.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Experimental position-time entanglement with degenerate single photons

We report an experiment in which two-photon interference occurs between degenerate single photons that never meet. The two photons travel in opposite directions through our fibre-optic interferometer and interference occurs when the photons reach two different, spatially separated, 2-by-2 couplers at the same time. We show that this experiment is analogous to the conventional Franson-type entanglement experiment where the photons are entangled in position and time. We measure wavefunction overlaps for the two photons as high as 94 $\pm$ 3%.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Quantum key distribution using a triggered quantum dot source emitting near 1.3 microns

We report the distribution of a cryptographic key, secure from photon number splitting attacks, over 35 km of optical fiber using single photons from an InAs quantum dot emitting ~1.3 microns in a pillar microcavity. Using below GaAs-bandgap optical excitation, we demonstrate suppression of multiphoton emission to 10% of the Poissonian level without detector dark count subtraction. The source is incorporated into a phase encoded interferometric scheme implementing the BB84 protocol for key distribution over standard telecommunication optical fiber. We show a transmission distance advantage over that possible with (length-optimized) uniform intensity weak coherent pulses at 1310 nm in the same system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Observation of the Purcell effect in high-index-contrast micropillar

We have fabricated pillar microcavity samples with Bragg mirrors consisting of alternate layers of GaAs and Aluminium Oxide. Compared to the more widely studied GaAs/AlAs micropillars these mirrors can achieve higher reflectivities with fewer layer repeats and reduce the mode volume. We have studied a number of samples containing a low density of InGaAs/GaAs self assembled quantum dots in a cavity and here report observation of a three fold enhancement in the radiative lifetime of a quantum dot exciton state due to the Purcell effect.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2007

Oxide-apertured microcavity single-photon emitting diode

We have developed a microcavity single-photon source based on a single quantum dot within a planar cavity in which wet-oxidation of a high-aluminium content layer provides lateral confinement of both the photonic mode and the injection current. Lateral confinement of the optical mode in optically pumped structures produces a strong enhancement of the radiative decay rate. Using microcavity structures with doped contact layers, we demonstrate a single-photon emitting diode where current may be injected into a single dot.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2007

Coherence of an Entangled Exciton-Photon State

We study the effect of the exciton fine-structure splitting on the polarisation-entanglement of photon pairs produced by the biexciton cascade in a single quantum dot. The entanglement is found to persist despite separations between the intermediate energy levels of up to 4 micro-eV. Measurements demonstrate that entanglement of the photon pair is robust to the dephasing of the intermediate exciton state responsible for the first order coherence time of either single photon. We present a theoretical framework taking into account the effects of spin-scattering, background light and dephasing. We distinguish between the first-order coherence time, and a parameter which we measure for the first time and define as the cross-coherence time.

quant-ph↗