Tunnelling current and emission spectrum of a single electron transistor under optical pumping

TL;DR

This theoretical study explores how optical pumping influences tunnelling current and emission spectra in a single electron transistor, revealing new tunnelling channels and controllable single-photon emission.

Contribution

It introduces a model for the tunnelling current and emission spectrum of a SET under optical pumping, highlighting new channels via exciton, trion, and biexciton states.

Findings

Tunnelling current shows sharp peaks as a function of gate voltage.

Peak spacing reveals exciton binding and Coulomb energies.

Single-photon emission can be controlled electrically and optically.

Abstract

Theoretical studies of the tunnelling current and emission spectrum of a single electron transistor (SET) under optical pumping are presented. The calculation is performed via Keldysh Green's function method within the Anderson model with two energy levels. It is found that holes in the quantum dot (QD) created by optical pumping lead to new channels for the electron tunnelling from emitter to collector. As a consequence, an electron can tunnel through the QD via additional channels, characterized by the exciton, trion and biexciton states. It is found that the tunnelling current as a function of the gate voltage displays a series of sharp peaks and the spacing between these peaks can be used to determine the exciton binding energy as well as the electron-electron Coulomb repulsion energy. In addition, we show that the single-photon emission associated with the electron-hole recombination in the exciton complexes formed in the QD can be controlled both electrically and optically.