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An optical microscope is described that reveals contrast in the Mueller matrix images of a thin, transparent or semi-transparent specimen located within an anisotropic object plane (anisotropic filter). The specimen changes the anisotropy of the filter and thereby produces contrast within the Mueller matrix images. Here we use an anisotropic filter composed of a semi-transparent, nanostructured thin film with sub-wavelength thickness placed within the object plane. The sample is illuminated as in common optical microscopy but the light is modulated in its polarization using combinations of linear polarizers and phase plate (compensator) to control and analyze the state of polarization. Direct generalized ellipsometry data analysis approaches permit extraction of fundamental Mueller matrix object plane images dispensing with the need of Fourier expansion methods. Generalized ellipsometry model approaches are used for quantitative image analyses. We demonstrate the anisotropic contrast optical microscope by measuring lithographically defined micro-patterned anisotropic filters, and we quantify the adsorption of an organic self-assembled monolayer film onto the anisotropic filter. In our current instrument we estimate the limit of detection for organic volumetric mass within the object plane of $\approx$ 49 fg within $\approx$ 7$\times$7~$\mu$m$^2$ object surface area. Compared to a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation instrumentation, where contemporary limits require a total load of $\approx$ 500~pg for detection, the instrumentation demonstrated here improves sensitivity to a total mass required for detection by 4 orders of magnitude. We present further applications to detection of nanoparticles, to novel approaches for imaging chromatography, and to new contrast modalities for observations on living cells., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, accepted as regular article in Review of Scientific Instruments (October 2016)

We show how resonant laser spectroscopy of the trion optical transitions in a self-assembled quantum dot can be used to determine the temperature of a nearby electron reservoir. At finite magnetic field the spin-state occupation of the Zeeman-split quantum dot electron ground states is governed by thermalization with the electron reservoir via co-tunneling. With resonant spectroscopy of the corresponding excited trion states we map out the spin occupation as a function of magnetic field to establish optical thermometry for the electron reservoir. We demonstrate the implementation of the technique in the sub-Kelvin temperature range where it is most sensitive, and where the electron temperature is not necessarily given by the cryostat base temperature., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

A Quantum Point Contact (QPC) causes a one-dimensional constriction on the spatial potential landscape of a two-dimensional electron system. By tuning the voltage applied on a QPC at low temperatures the resulting regular step-like electron conductance quantization can show an additional kink near pinch-off around 0.7(2$e^2$/h), called 0.7-anomaly. In a recent publication, we presented a combination of theoretical calculations and transport measurements that lead to a detailed understanding of the microscopic origin of the 0.7-anomaly. Functional Renormalization Group-based calculations were performed exhibiting the 0.7-anomaly even when no symmetry-breaking external magnetic fields are involved. According to the calculations the electron spin susceptibility is enhanced within a QPC that is tuned in the region of the 0.7-anomaly. Moderate externally applied magnetic fields impose a corresponding enhancement in the spin magnetization. In principle, it should be possible to map out this spin distribution optically by means of the Faraday rotation technique. Here we report the initial steps of an experimental project aimed at realizing such measurements. Simulations were performed on a particularly pre-designed semiconductor heterostructure. Based on the simulation results a sample was built and its basic transport and optical properties were investigated. Finally, we introduce a sample gate design, suitable for combined transport and optical studies.

A slanted cobalt sculptured columnar thin film was fabricated using glancing angle deposition, and coated subsequently with graphene using a low temperature chemical vapor deposition process. The graphene deposition process preserves shape and geometry of the sculptured thin film, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. According to the Raman spectroscopy results, the graphene coating is two to three monolayers thick and has a high defect concentration. The graphene coverage within the sculptured thin film is determined from generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry using a generalized anisotropic Bruggeman effective medium approximation. The graphene coverage as well as structural parameters of the thin film agree excellently with electron microscopy and Raman observations, and suggest that the graphene coating is conformal.

With gate-defined electrostatic traps fabricated on a double quantum well we are able to realize an optically active and voltage-tunable quantum dot confining individual, long-living, spatially indirect excitons. We study the transition from multi excitons down to a single indirect exciton. In the few exciton regime, we observe discrete emission lines reflecting the interplay of dipolar interexcitonic repulsion and spatial quantization. The quantum dot states are tunable by gate voltage and employing a magnetic field results in a diamagnetic shift. The scheme introduces a new gate-defined platform for creating and controlling optically active quantum dots and opens the route to lithographically defined coupled quantum dot arrays with tunable in-plane coupling and voltage-controlled optical properties of single charge and spin states.

We study the photoluminescence (PL) of a two-dimensional liquid of oriented dipolar excitons in In_{x}Ga_{1-x}As coupled double quantum wells confined to a microtrap. Generating excitons outside the trap and transferring them at lattice temperatures down to T = 240 mK into the trap we create cold quasi-equilibrium bosonic ensembles of some 1000 excitons with thermal de Broglie wavelengths exceeding the excitonic separation. With decreasing temperature and increasing density n <= 5*10^10 cm^{-2} we find an increasingly asymmetric PL lineshape with a sharpening blue edge and a broad red tail which we interpret to reflect correlated behavior mediated by dipolar interactions. From the PL intensity I(E) below the PL maximum at E_{0} we extract at T < 5 K a distinct power law I(E) \sim (E_{0}-E)^-|\alpha| with -|\alpha|\sim -0.8 in the range E_{0}-E of 1.5-4 meV, comparable to the dipolar interaction energy.