5,319 research outputs found
Highly indistinguishable and strongly entangled photons from symmetric GaAs quantum dots
The development of scalable sources of non-classical light is fundamental to unlocking thetechnological potential of quantum photonics. Semiconductor quantum dots are emerging asnear-optimal sources of indistinguishable single photons. However, their performance assources of entangled-photon pairs are still modest compared to parametric down converters.Photons emitted from conventional Stranski–Krastanov InGaAs quantum dots have shownnon-optimal levels of entanglement and indistinguishability. For quantum networks, bothcriteria must be met simultaneously. Here, we show that this is possible with a system thathas received limited attention so far: GaAs quantum dots. They can emit triggered polar-ization-entangled photons with high purity (g(2)(0) = 0.002±0.002), high indistinguish-ability (0.93±0.07 for 2 ns pulse separation) and high entanglement fidelity(0.94±0.01). Our results show that GaAs might be the material of choice for quantum-dotentanglement sources in future quantum technologie
Highly entangled photons from hybrid piezoelectric-semiconductor quantum dot devices
Entanglement resources are key ingredients of future quantum technologies. If
they could be efficiently integrated into a semiconductor platform a new
generation of devices could be envisioned, whose quantum-mechanical
functionalities are controlled via the mature semiconductor technology.
Epitaxial quantum dots (QDs) embedded in diodes would embody such ideal quantum
devices, but QD structural asymmetries lower dramatically the degree of
entanglement of the sources and hamper severely their real exploitation in the
foreseen applications. In this work, we overcome this hurdle using
strain-tunable optoelectronic devices, where any QD can be tuned for the
emission of highly polarization-entangled photons. The electrically-controlled
sources violate Bell inequalities without the need of spectral or temporal
filtering and they feature the highest degree of entanglement ever reported for
QDs, with concurrence as high as 0.75(2). These quantum-devices are at present
the most promising candidates for the direct implementation of QD-based
entanglement-resources in quantum information science and technology
Voltage-Controlled Optics of a Quantum Dot
We show how the optical properties of a single semiconductor quantum dot can
be controlled with a small dc voltage applied to a gate electrode. We find that
the transmission spectrum of the neutral exciton exhibits two narrow lines with
eV linewidth. The splitting into two linearly polarized
components arises through an exchange interaction within the exciton. The
exchange interaction can be turned off by choosing a gate voltage where the dot
is occupied with an additional electron. Saturation spectroscopy demonstrates
that the neutral exciton behaves as a two-level system. Our experiments show
that the remaining problem for manipulating excitonic quantum states in this
system is spectral fluctuation on a eV energy scale.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; content as publishe
Nuclear spin physics in quantum dots: an optical investigation
The mesoscopic spin system formed by the 10E4-10E6 nuclear spins in a
semiconductor quantum dot offers a unique setting for the study of many-body
spin physics in the condensed matter. The dynamics of this system and its
coupling to electron spins is fundamentally different from its bulk
counter-part as well as that of atoms due to increased fluctuations that result
from reduced dimensions. In recent years, the interest in studying quantum dot
nuclear spin systems and their coupling to confined electron spins has been
fueled by its direct implication for possible applications of such systems in
quantum information processing as well as by the fascinating nonlinear
(quantum-)dynamics of the coupled electron-nuclear spin system. In this
article, we review experimental work performed over the last decades in
studying this mesoscopic,coupled electron-nuclear spin system and discuss how
optical addressing of electron spins can be exploited to manipulate and
read-out quantum dot nuclei. We discuss how such techniques have been applied
in quantum dots to efficiently establish a non-zero mean nuclear spin
polarization and, most recently, were used to reduce fluctuations of the
average quantum dot nuclear spin orientation. Both results in turn have
important implications for the preservation of electron spin coherence in
quantum dots, which we discuss. We conclude by speculating how this recently
gained understanding of the quantum dot nuclear spin system could in the future
enable experimental observation of quantum-mechanical signatures or possible
collective behavior of mesoscopic nuclear spin ensembles.Comment: 61 pages, 45 figures, updated reference list, corrected typographical
error
Resonant photoluminescence and dynamics of a hybrid Mn-hole spin in a positively charged magnetic quantum dot
We analyze, through resonant photoluminescence, the spin dynamics of an
individual magnetic atom (Mn) coupled to a hole in a semiconductor quantum dot.
The hybrid Mn-hole spin and the positively charged exciton in a CdTe/ZnTe
quantum dot forms an ensemble of systems which can be addressed
optically. Auto-correlation of the resonant photoluminescence and resonant
optical pumping experiments are used to study the spin relaxation channels in
this multilevel spin system. We identified for the hybrid Mn-hole spin an
efficient relaxation channel driven by the interplay of the Mn-hole exchange
interaction and the coupling to acoustic phonons. We also show that the optical
systems are connected through inefficient spin-flips than can be
enhanced under weak transverse magnetic field. The dynamics of the resonant
photoluminescence in a p-doped magnetic quantum dot is well described by a
complete rate equation model. Our results suggest that long lived hybrid
Mn-hole spin could be obtained in quantum dot systems with large
heavy-hole/light-hole splitting
Bright single photon emission from a quantum dot in a circular Bragg grating microcavity
Bright single photon emission from single quantum dots in suspended circular
Bragg grating microcavities is demonstrated. This geometry has been designed to
achieve efficient (> 50 %) single photon extraction into a near-Gaussian shaped
far-field pattern, modest (~10x) Purcell enhancement of the radiative rate, and
a spectral bandwidth of a few nanometers. Measurements of fabricated devices
show progress towards these goals, with collection efficiencies as high as ~10%
demonstrated with moderate spectral bandwidth and rate enhancement. Photon
correlation measurements are performed under above-bandgap excitation (pump
wavelength = 780 nm to 820 nm) and confirm the single photon character of the
collected emission. While the measured sources are all antibunched and
dominantly composed of single photons, the multi-photon probability varies
significantly. Devices exhibiting tradeoffs between collection efficiency,
Purcell enhancement, and multi-photon probability are explored and the results
are interpreted with the help of finite-difference time-domain simulations.
Below-bandgap excitation resonant with higher states of the quantum dot and/or
cavity (pump wavelength = 860 nm to 900 nm) shows a near-complete suppression
of multi-photon events and may circumvent some of the aforementioned tradeoffs.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure
Fast spin rotations by optically controlled geometric phases in a quantum dot
We demonstrate optical control of the geometric phase acquired by one of the
spin states of an electron confined in a charge-tunable InAs quantum dot via
cyclic 2pi excitations of an optical transition in the dot. In the presence of
a constant in-plane magnetic field, these optically induced geometric phases
result in the effective rotation of the spin about the magnetic field axis and
manifest as phase shifts in the spin quantum beat signal generated by two
time-delayed circularly polarized optical pulses. The geometric phases
generated in this manner more generally perform the role of a spin phase gate,
proving potentially useful for quantum information applications.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, resubmitted to Physical Review Letter
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