We demonstrate the optical addressability of the spin of an individual Chromium atom (Cr) embedded in a semiconductor quantum dot. The emission of Cr-doped quantum dots and their evolution in magnetic field reveal a large magnetic anisotropy of the Cr spin induced by local strain. This results in the zero field splitting of the 0, +-1 and +-2 Cr spin states and in a thermalization on the magnetic ground states 0 and +-1. The observed strong spin to strain coupling of Cr is of particular interest for the development of hybrid spin-mechanical devices where coherent mechanical driving of an individual spin in an oscillator is needed. The magneto-optical properties of Cr-doped quantum dots are modelled by a spin Hamiltonian including the sensitivity of the Cr spin to the strain and the influence of the quantum dot symmetry on the carrier-Cr spin coupling.
@article{arxiv.1606.04221,
title = {Individual Cr atom in a semiconductor quantum dot: optical addressability and spin-strain coupling},
author = {A. Lafuente-Sampietro and H. Utsumi and H. Boukari and S. Kuroda and L. Besombes},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1606.04221},
year = {2016}
}