Hot Electrons Regain Coherence in Semiconducting Nanowires

Abstract

The higher the energy of a particle is above equilibrium the faster it relaxes due to the growing phase-space of available electronic states it can interact with. In the relaxation process phase coherence is lost, thus limiting high energy quantum control and manipulation. In one-dimensional systems high relaxation rates are expected to destabilize electronic quasiparticles. We show here that the decoherence induced by relaxation of hot electrons in one-dimensional semiconducting nanowires evolves non-monotonically with energy such that above a certain threshold hot-electrons regain stability with increasing energy. We directly observe this phenomenon by visualizing for the first time the interference patterns of the quasi-one-dimensional electrons using scanning tunneling microscopy. We visualize both the phase coherence length of the one-dimensional electrons, as well as their phase coherence time, captured by crystallographic Fabry-Perot resonators. A remarkable agreement with a theoretical model reveals that the non-monotonic behavior is driven by the unique manner in which one dimensional hot-electrons interact with the cold electrons occupying the Fermi-sea. This newly discovered relaxation profile suggests a high-energy regime for operating quantum applications that necessitate extended coherence or long thermalization times, and may stabilize electronic quasiparticles in one dimension.

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• Topotaxial Mutual-Exchange Growth of Magnetic Zintl Eu${}_3$In${}_2$As${}_4$ Nanowires with Axion Insulator Classification
• Quantum time mirrors for general two-band systems
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• Engineering tunnel junctions on ballistic semiconductor nanowires
• Quasiparticle energy relaxation in a gas of one-dimensional fermions with Coulomb interaction
• Spectroscopic Visualization of Hard Quasi-1D Superconductivity Induced in Nanowires Deposited on a Quasi-2D Indium film