TRR 160: Coherent manipulation of interacting spin excitations in tailored semiconductors

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Spin excitations are considered as attractive hardware because of their superior coherence properties compared to other excitations in condensed matter and the possibility of novel collective phases emerging from interactions among spins. The main goal of the present initiative is to exploit such great potential with a particular focus on using semiconductors as material basis. Prospectively, if successful, spins may take over some of the functionalities so far fulfilled by charges. If semiconductors, whose electrical and optical properties can be tailored almost arbitrarily, could possess even highly-controllable magnetic order and properties, all-in-one-chip solutions for information processing could be envisaged. These goals require elaboration of advanced material concepts inspired by recent progress in obtaining highest purity systems and in combining different materials to hybrids. In addition, a significant role will be played by sophisticated manipulation tools, more specifically by advancements of spectroscopic approaches. This needs to be guided by quantum optical techniques to reach ultimate sensitivity and, at the same time, by the development of elaborate modeling of spins in their many-body environment. The research program is subdivided in three research areas: (i) zero-dimensional spin systems, (ii) extended spin systems and (iii) novel concepts of spin systems. Organized as a TRR, this program combines the core expertise of the Ioffe-Institute, the St. Petersburg State University and the TU Dortmund. The systems to be studied range from quantum dots, hosting localized electron and hole spins, to microcavities with strong light-matter coupling, containing superfluid spinor polariton condensates. Depending on the targeted magnetic functionality, these material systems are either combined with ferromagnetic or plasmonic metals to form hybrids or replaced with novel materials such as ferromagnetic oxides or antiferromagnetic 2D systems. This hardware will help us to answer yet unresolved problems and to explore completely novel approaches. To that end, measurement and manipulation tools involving laser light and microwave radiation as well as novel tools exploiting, e.g., phonons in ultrafast acoustics shall be used to reach coherent control of interacting spins with functionalities that cannot be achieved in the incoherent regime. Following this approach, the ICRC could provide an essential contribution to the future development of spin-optoelectronics for information technologies in the classical and the quantum regime. The ultimate goal is to drive coherent spin effects from the stage of fundamental investigations towards technological applications outperforming the present-day state-of-the-art ones.