Nanoscale Manipulation and Control of a Solitary Dopant in a Semiconductor

by Michael E. Flatt (University of Iowa)

Thursday 3 Oct 2013, 15:00 → 17:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Careri (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

Recently it has become possible to identify the effects of a solitary dopant atom on commercial device performance, as well as locally on the fundamental properties of a semiconductor. New applications that require the discrete character of a single dopant, such as single-spin devices for quantum information processing, single-photon sources, or single-dopant transistors, demand a further focus on the properties of an individual atom in a solid that differs from the host constituents. Successes in observing, controllably inserting and manipulating single atoms in solids with nanoprobes, as well as demonstrations of their use within novel devices and proposals for further utility, suggest the emergence of a new field of research: solitary dopant optoelectronics, or "solotronics". I will describe some recent advances in this area for magnetic dopants in semiconductors, including the direct measurement of magnetic interactions between two magnetic dopants, tip-induced control of the charge state and local bonding configuration for a single dopant, and the sensitivity of the dopant spin to local strain and electric fields.