© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

Terms Privacy Legal Notice

arXiv:1007.0124 · Physical Review B

Radiative cascade from quantum dot metastable spin-blockaded biexciton

Yaron Kodriano, Eilon Poem, Netanel H. Lindner, Chene Tradonsky, Brian D. Gerardot, Pierre M. Petroff, J. E. Avron, D. Gershoni

Published Oct 29, 2010• 28 citations

Abstract

We detect a radiative cascade which initiates from a metastable biexciton state in a neutral semiconductor quantum dot. In this biexciton, the heavy holes form a spin-triplet configuration, Pauli blockaded from relaxation to the spin-singlet ground state. The triplet biexciton has two photon-phonon-photon decay paths. Unlike in the singlet-ground-state biexciton radiative cascade, in which the two photons are colinearly polarized, in the triplet-biexciton cascade they are cross-linearly polarized. We measured the two-photon polarization density matrix and show that the phonon emitted when the intermediate exciton relaxes from excited to ground state, preserves the exciton's spin. The phonon, thus, does not carry with it any which-path information other than its energy. Nevertheless, entanglement distillation by spectral filtering was found to be rather ineffective for this cascade. This deficiency results from the opposite sign of the anisotropic electron-hole exchange interaction in the excited exciton relative to that in the ground exciton.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.82.155329

Related papers

Entangled States of Photon Pairs from Radiative Cascades in Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Netanel H. Lindner, Eli A. Meirom, Nika Akopian +5 more

The polarization state of pairs of photons resulting from the biexciton decay cascade becomes entangled when spectral filtering is applied. The phase in the density matrix is shown to result from the spectral filtering process.

International Conference on Quantum Information•Jan 1, 2007•0 citations

Coherence of a quantum dot source of entangled photons

Robert James Young

A well controlled, triggered source of entangled photons is desirable for many applications in quantum information processing. The two-photon cascade from a biexciton state, two electrons and holes, confined in a quantum dot can be such a source of polarisation-entangled photons provided the two decay paths from the biexciton carry no “which-path” information. In recent years many techniques have been employed to make the two optical decay paths from the biexciton state indistinguishable. We will demonstrate the effect of the exciton fine-structure splitting on a single-dot based entangled photon source. Surprisingly the entanglement is found to persist despite relatively large separations between the intermediate energy levels of up to 4µeV. Measurements demonstrate that entanglement of the photon pair is robust to the dephasing of the intermediate exciton state responsible for the first order coherence time of either of the single photons. We distinguish between the first-order coherence time (2*), and a parameter defined as the cross-coherence time (HV) which is illustrated in the figure. The cross-coherence time is found to be at least an order of magnitude greater than the first-order coherence time. We will also report on recent progress towards an ideal source of triggered polarisation-entangled photons with a single quantum dot.

•Jan 1, 2008•0 citations

Ultimate photon entanglement in biexciton cascade

V. N. Mantsevich, D. S. Smirnov, E. L. Ivchenko

The polarization entanglement of photons emitted by semiconductor quantum dots is unavoidably limited by the spin fluctuations of the host lattice nuclei. To overcome this limitation, we develop a theory of entangled photon pair generation by a symmetric colloidal quantum dot mediated by a triplet exciton. We derive general analytical expressions for the concurrence as a function of the hyperfine interaction strength and show that it is intrinsically higher than that in conventional doublet-exciton systems such as self-assembled quantum dots. The concurrence sensitively depends on the shape anisotropy and the strain applied to a nanocrystal. In particular, we uncover a possibility of completely suppressing the detrimental effect of the hyperfine interaction due to the interplay between nanocrystal anisotropy and electron-hole exchange interaction. We argue that this represents the ultimate limit for the generation of entangled photon pairs by semiconductor quantum dots.

cond-mat.mes-hallCross-listedarXiv:2511.05065•Nov 10, 2025•0 citations

Polarization-entangled twin photons from two-photon quantum-dot emission

Dirk Heinze, A. Zrenner, Stefan Schumacher

Semiconductor quantum dots are promising sources for polarization-entangled photons. As an alternative to the usual cascaded biexciton-exciton emission, direct two-photon emission from the biexciton can be used. With a high-quality optical resonator tuned to half the biexciton energy, a large proportion of the photons can be steered into the two-photon emission channel. In this case the degree of polarization entanglement is inherently insensitive to the exciton fine-structure splitting. In the present work we analyze the biexciton emission with particular emphasis on the influence of coupling of the quantum-dot cavity system to its environment. Especially for a high-quality cavity, the coupling to the surrounding semiconductor material can open up additional phonon-assisted decay channels. Our analysis demonstrates that with the cavity tuned to half the biexciton energy, the potentially detrimental influence of the phonons on the polarization entanglement is strongly suppressed---high degrees of entanglement can still be achieved. We further discuss spectral properties and statistics of the emitted twin photons.

arXiv:1611.04328•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jun 9, 2017•34 citations

Exciton spin relaxation in semiconductor quantum dots

Thomas G. Muller, G. Strasser, K. Unterrainer

The spin relaxation within the radiative doublet of the exciton ground state in InAs/GaAs quantum dots is studied via ultrafast spectral hole burning spectroscopy. A biexcitonic resonance emerges due to relaxation of the exciton spin.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 2006•0 citations

Phonon-Assisted Decoherence in the Production of Polarization-Entangled Photons in a Single Semiconductor Quantum Dot

Ulrich Hohenester, G. Pfanner, Marek Seliger

We theoretically investigate the production of polarization-entangled photons through the biexciton cascade decay in a single semiconductor quantum dot. In the intermediate state the entanglement is encoded in the polarizations of the first emitted photon and the exciton, where the exciton state can be effectively "measured" by the solid-state environment through the formation of a lattice distortion. We show that the resulting loss of entanglement becomes drastically enhanced if the phonons contributing to the lattice distortion are subject to elastic scatterings at the device boundaries, which might constitute a serious limitation for quantum-dot based entangled-photon devices.

arXiv:0706.4155•Physical Review Letters•Jul 24, 2007•50 citations

We detect a radiative cascade which initiates from a metastable biexciton state in a neutral semiconductor quantum dot. In this biexciton, the heavy holes form a spin-triplet configuration, Pauli blockaded from relaxation to the spin-singlet ground state. The triplet biexciton has two photon-phonon-photon decay paths. Unlike in the singlet-ground-state biexciton radiative cascade, in which the two photons are colinearly polarized, in the triplet-biexciton cascade they are cross-linearly polarized. We measured the two-photon polarization density matrix and show that the phonon emitted when the intermediate exciton relaxes from excited to ground state, preserves the exciton's spin. The phonon, thus, does not carry with it any which-path information other than its energy. Nevertheless, entanglement distillation by spectral filtering was found to be rather ineffective for this cascade. This deficiency results from the opposite sign of the anisotropic electron-hole exchange interaction in the excited exciton relative to that in the ground exciton.

A well controlled, triggered source of entangled photons is desirable for many applications in quantum information processing. The two-photon cascade from a biexciton state, two electrons and holes, confined in a quantum dot can be such a source of polarisation-entangled photons provided the two decay paths from the biexciton carry no “which-path” information. In recent years many techniques have been employed to make the two optical decay paths from the biexciton state indistinguishable. We will demonstrate the effect of the exciton fine-structure splitting on a single-dot based entangled photon source. Surprisingly the entanglement is found to persist despite relatively large separations between the intermediate energy levels of up to 4µeV. Measurements demonstrate that entanglement of the photon pair is robust to the dephasing of the intermediate exciton state responsible for the first order coherence time of either of the single photons. We distinguish between the first-order coherence time (2*), and a parameter defined as the cross-coherence time (HV) which is illustrated in the figure. The cross-coherence time is found to be at least an order of magnitude greater than the first-order coherence time. We will also report on recent progress towards an ideal source of triggered polarisation-entangled photons with a single quantum dot.

The polarization entanglement of photons emitted by semiconductor quantum dots is unavoidably limited by the spin fluctuations of the host lattice nuclei. To overcome this limitation, we develop a theory of entangled photon pair generation by a symmetric colloidal quantum dot mediated by a triplet exciton. We derive general analytical expressions for the concurrence as a function of the hyperfine interaction strength and show that it is intrinsically higher than that in conventional doublet-exciton systems such as self-assembled quantum dots. The concurrence sensitively depends on the shape anisotropy and the strain applied to a nanocrystal. In particular, we uncover a possibility of completely suppressing the detrimental effect of the hyperfine interaction due to the interplay between nanocrystal anisotropy and electron-hole exchange interaction. We argue that this represents the ultimate limit for the generation of entangled photon pairs by semiconductor quantum dots.

Semiconductor quantum dots are promising sources for polarization-entangled photons. As an alternative to the usual cascaded biexciton-exciton emission, direct two-photon emission from the biexciton can be used. With a high-quality optical resonator tuned to half the biexciton energy, a large proportion of the photons can be steered into the two-photon emission channel. In this case the degree of polarization entanglement is inherently insensitive to the exciton fine-structure splitting. In the present work we analyze the biexciton emission with particular emphasis on the influence of coupling of the quantum-dot cavity system to its environment. Especially for a high-quality cavity, the coupling to the surrounding semiconductor material can open up additional phonon-assisted decay channels. Our analysis demonstrates that with the cavity tuned to half the biexciton energy, the potentially detrimental influence of the phonons on the polarization entanglement is strongly suppressed---high degrees of entanglement can still be achieved. We further discuss spectral properties and statistics of the emitted twin photons.

We theoretically investigate the production of polarization-entangled photons through the biexciton cascade decay in a single semiconductor quantum dot. In the intermediate state the entanglement is encoded in the polarizations of the first emitted photon and the exciton, where the exciton state can be effectively "measured" by the solid-state environment through the formation of a lattice distortion. We show that the resulting loss of entanglement becomes drastically enhanced if the phonons contributing to the lattice distortion are subject to elastic scatterings at the device boundaries, which might constitute a serious limitation for quantum-dot based entangled-photon devices.