Optical probing of the carrier-mediated coupling of the spin of two Co atoms in a quantum dot
We report on the optical spectroscopy of the spin of two Co atoms in a quantum dot and interacting with a single exciton. Spectra of quantum dots containing two Co atoms are controlled by the carrier-Co exchange interaction and by the strain at the location of the magnetic atoms. A wide range of spectra can be obtained depending on the relative coupling of each atom to the confined exciton. We obtained a comprehensive interpretation of the experimental data with a spin Hamiltonian model. We show that the two Co atoms spins can be orientated by the injection of spin polarized carriers at zero magnetic field. This induces a correlation between the two spins that is observed in the intensity distribution of the emission spectra. The optical absorption in the phonon sideband of quantum dots doped with two Co reveals resonant absorptions which strongly depend on a transverse magnetic field. We show that these characteristic absorptions result from an interplay between the mixing of Co spin states induced by the presence of in-plane strain anisotropy at the magnetic atoms location and the transverse field.
