Physics of holes
We need to dive deeper into the physics behind holes to understand the construction, operation, and readout of Germanium spin-qubits. In this video, we look at the basic physics of holes in semiconductors. You will study the difference between heavy-holes and light-holes in detail and the effect of confinement on the pseudospin direction and mass.
Prerequisite knowledge
- Semiconductor physics/Solid State Physics
Main takeaways
- Holes spins are not just missing electron spins.
- Heavy and light-holes, while degenerate in the bulk, are split in energy once confinement is introduced.
- The heavy-hole pseudospin for a two-dimensional hole gas points in the out-of-plane direction and the mass is light.
Further thinking
True or False: The electron spin for a system with no spin orbit interaction correlates with the direction of motion of the charge.
Further reading
G. Scappucci et al., The Germanium Quantum Information route, Nature Reviews Materials 6, 926 (2021)
Y. Fang et al., Recent advances in hole-spin qubits, Materials for Quantum Technology 3, 012003 (2023)