Semiconductor Membranes for Electrostatic Exciton Trapping in Optically Addressable Quantum Transport Devices

Combining the capabilities of gate-defined quantum transport devices in $\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}$-based heterostructures and of optically addressed self-assembled quantum dots could open up broad perspectives in quantum technologies. For example, interfacing stationary solid-state qubits with photonic quantum states would open up a pathway towards the realization of a quantum network with extended quantum processing capacity in each node. While gated devices allow very flexible confinement of electrons or holes, the confinement of excitons without some element of self-assembly is much harder. To address this limitation, we introduce a technique to realize exciton traps in quantum wells via local electric fields by thinning a heterostructure down to a 220-nm-thick membrane. We show that mobilities over $1\times {10}^6{\mathrm{cm}}^2{\mathrm{V}}^{-1}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ can be retained and that quantum point contacts and Coulomb oscillations can be observed on this structure, which implies that the thinning does not compromise the heterostructure quality. Furthermore, the local lowering of the exciton energy via the quantum-confined Stark effect is confirmed, thus forming exciton traps. These results lay the technological foundations for devices like single-photon sources, spin-photon interfaces and eventually quantum network nodes in $\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}$ quantum wells, realized entirely with a top-down fabrication process.