Resonant optical pumping of a Mn spin in a strain-free quantum dot

We report on the spin properties of individual Mn atoms in strain-free quantum dots. The quantum dots are formed by width fluctuations in a thin CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum-well lattice matched on a CdTe substrate. This approach is complementary to the incorporation of Mn atoms in self-assembled CdTe/ZnTe quantum dots where the magnetic atom spin is split by the large biaxial strain in the quantum dot plane. We first demonstrate that the exciton-Mn exchange interaction is strong enough in these strain-free quantum dots to allow for the optical probing and addressing of any spin state of a Mn atom. We show that, at zero magnetic field, the absence of strain prevents the preparation of the Mn spin by optical pumping. As a result of this weak optical pumping efficiency, a large photoluminescence intensity is obtained under resonant optical excitation of the exciton-Mn complex. An efficient optical pumping of the Mn spin is restored under a weak magnetic field. The observed reduction of the resonant photoluminescence intensity under magnetic field is described by a model including the fine and hyperfine structure of the Mn atom. Finally, we show that the second-order correlation function of the resonant photoluminescence presents a large photon bunching at short delays which is a probe of the dynamics of the Mn spin.