The development of linear quantum computing within integrated circuits demands high quality semiconductor single photon sources. In particular, for a reliable single photon source it is not sufficient to have a low multi-photon component, but also to possess high efficiency. We investigate the photon statistics of the emission from a single quantum dot with a method that is able to sensitively detect the trade-off between the efficiency and the multi-photon contribution. Our measurements show, that the light emitted from the quantum dot when it is resonantly excited possess a very low multi-photon content. Additionally, we demonstrated, for the first time, the non-Gaussian nature of the quantum state emitted from a single quantum dot.
The development of linear quantum computing within integrated circuits demands high quality semiconductor single photon sources. In particular, for a reliable single photon source it is not sufficient to have a low multi-photon component, but also to possess high efficiency. We investigate the photon statistics of the emission from a single quantum dot with a method that is able to sensitively detect the trade-off between the efficiency and the multi-photon contribution. Our measurements show, that the light emitted from the quantum dot when it is resonantly excited possess a very low multi-photon content. Additionally, we demonstrated, for the first time, the non-Gaussian nature of the quantum state emitted from a single quantum dot.
Resonance fluorescence of natural or artificial atoms constitutes a prime method for generating non-classical light. While most efforts have focused on producing single photons, multi-photon emission is unavoidably present in the resonant driving of an atom. Here, we study the extent to which these processes occur: we quantify the multi-photon emission statistics in a resonantly driven two-level artificial atom—a semiconductor quantum dot in a micropillar cavity—when pumped by short optical pulses. By measuring auto-correlation functions up to the fourth order, we observe up to four photons emitted after a single pumping pulse and investigate the emission dynamics with finely resolved temporal measurements. Furthermore, we propose a method based on acquisition time gating to enhance the purity of a single-photon source while maintaining high efficiencies. Our results deepen the understanding of the photon emission processes in coherently driven atomic systems and suggest a simple but effective technique to reduce the multi-photon components of a single-photon source.
Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are commonly considered as artificial atoms due to the 3D confinement of the electrons. These nanostructures are very promising for the realization of integrated devices such as single photon sources for quantum cryptography applications [1,2]. However, contrarily to genuine atoms, QDs are condensed matter systems and they consequently suffer from the coupling to their environment [3] which degrades the quality of the emitted photons in view of quantum cryptography applications. One way to circumvent this coupling is to excite strictly resonantly the QD at low temperature [4-10]. This difficult task has been achieved by designing an original excitation scheme to spatially decouple the excitation and detection paths. We first report that experimental studies of the resonant emission (RE) of single QDs can be strongly limited, even impossible, since most of the QDs show a very strong quenching of the RE of the fundamental transition. This issue is a broadly met experimental situation which is highly problematic for cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments in single QDs. We propose an efficient way to overcome this issue based on the use of an ultra-weak non-resonant laser that optically gates the QD RE [8] which controls the residual doping inherent to the QDs fabrication. It induces a complete recovery of the properties of an artificial atom, and the single QDs behave as quasi-ideal two-level systems. Up to now [7,9], the measurements on the QDs RE reported in the literature mainly focus on the incoherent fluorescence signal for achieving efficient single photon emission. In this regime, the spectrum linewidth is always limited to the radiative limit. We present experimental studies on the coherent laser light scattering by a single QD [7]. Besides the antibunching effect showing the non-classical nature of the emitted light, we observe that the QD emission spectrum is determined by the spectrum of the resonant excitation laser. By reducing the resonant excitation power, the so-called Mollow triplet shrinks to a single narrow Lorentzian line, while the relative intensity of this narrow peak increases and tends to overwhelm the RE spectrum. This implies that single QDs can produce single photons with a coherence time that is not limited anymore by the QD electronic properties, resulting in what we name an " ultra-coherent " character [7]. In conclusion, the resulting ultra-coherent single photon source promises high degrees of indistinguishability of the emitted photons which is a crucial requirement for quantum information applications. References [1] P. Michler et al., Science 290 (2000). [6] S. Ates et al., PRL 103 (2009). [2] C. Santori et al., Nature 419 (2002). [7] H. S. Nguyen et al., APL 99 (2011). [3] A. Berthelot et al., Nat. Phys. 2 (2006). [8] H. S. Nguyen et al., PRL 108 (2012). [4] A. Muller et al., PRL 99 (2007). [9] C. Matthiesen et al., PRL 1082 (2012). [5] R. Melet et al., PRB 78 (2008). [10] A. Reinhard et al., Nat. Phot. 6 (2012).
The advent of quantum computation promises exciting advances, not only in fields like medicine and metrology, but many industries that rely on parameter-heavy calculations or simulation of molecular interaction. At the same time Shor's algorithm for quantum computers presents a threat to current asymmetric encryption protocols used in everyday communication. Flying qubits, i.e. single-photons, can help mitigate this problem via quantum key distribution, which is insusceptible to an increase in computational power. In addition, they can link quantum computers, forming a quantum network, so that quantum states can be transmitted between them. Sources of flying qubits need good performance in key metrics like single--photon purity, repetition rate, indistinguishability and brightness to become useful in these applications. They should ideally emit strongly entangled pairs of photons and be matched to other quantum technologies in bandwidth and emission energy. In this thesis the emission characteristics of single epitaxial quantum dots, the single-photon source of our choice, are investigated. Strongly entangled photon-pair emission is demonstrated for three different quantum-dot systems: InAsP quantum dots embedded in nanowire waveguides, suitable for integration into photonic circuits, show emission of single photons and entangled photon pairs under non-resonant and quasi-resonant excitation. Violation of Bell's inequality is demonstrated using the traditional set of polarization angles. GaAs quantum dots grown in droplet--etched nanoholes are tested with two resonant excitation methods: Using resonance fluorescence, near-unity indistinguishability and re-excitation limited single-photon purity, albeit not simultaneously with laser-inherited bandwidth, are measured. Using two-photon resonant excitation we set a new standard for single-photon purity, can generate pairs of entangled photons but suffer from reduced indistinguishability. In addition, nanofabrication of paraboloid shaped reflectors for enhanced extraction efficiency of photons and strain-tuning of the emission energy into resonance with the 87Rb D1-line are demonstrated. Strain-tunable InAs quantum dots emitting in the telecom C-band are investigated under above-band excitation and two different resonant two-photon excitation techniques, all of which cause pure single-photon emission. Using the robust phonon-assisted two-photon excitation technique, close-to ideal entangled photon-pair emission is demonstrated. For many of these findings photon arrival times were recorded over many hours with temporal precision on the order of 10 ps. We have developed a user-friendly, yet versatile piece of software in order to extract as much information as possible from this vast amount of data. These results will facilitate integration of quantum dot based single- and entangled-photon sources into future quantum networks and quantum key distribution systems.
Summary form only given. A realization of time-bin entanglement obtained from quantum dots would join the strength of long distance transmission that characterizes this type of entanglement with the single photon state purity of the quantum dot emission. Compared with polarization entanglement from quantum dots this scheme does not require elimination of the fine structure splitting responsible for partial distinguishability of the quantum dot cascades [1].Here, we present our results on coherent and resonant excitation of quantum dots, creation of photon pairs, scattering free emission and measurement of the high purity of the emitted photons [2, 3]. In addition, we will show our measurements of the generated time-bin entanglement. To excite a single quantum dot we performed two-photon resonant excitation of the biexciton state. Here, we exploited the biexciton binding energy in order to use the laser light which was not resonant to any photon emitted from the quantum dot (Fig. 1a). Our measurements were performed on a single self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dot. We confirmed the resonant nature of the excitation by observing Rabi oscillations (Fig. 1b). Additionally, we performed Ramsey interference measurement and determined the coherence time of the ground-biexciton state superposition. These measurements show that we can coherently transfer the phase of the excitation laser onto the quantum dot system, a necessary requirement to obtain time-bin entanglement.To test the statistics of the emitted state we measured the auto-correlation of the emitted photons (Fig. 3c). Here, the auto-correlation parameter at zero delay was measured to be 0.012(1) without and 0.0073(8) with background subtraction. In addition, we performed a measurement to characterize the state emitted from a quantum dot using a witness-based criterion described in [4]. With this measurement we experimentally confirmed that the resonantly excited quantum dot emits a non-Gaussian state of light (Fig. 1d). This measurement is the first of this nature ever performed on a semiconductor single photon emitter.
Abstract High-quality sources of single photons are of paramount importance for quantum communication, sensing, and metrology. To these ends, resonantly excited two-level systems based on self-assembled quantum dots have recently generated widespread interest. Nevertheless, we have recently shown that for resonantly excited two-level systems, emission of a photon during the presence of the excitation laser pulse and subsequent re-excitation results in a degradation of the obtainable single-photon purity. Here, we demonstrate that generating single photons from self-assembled quantum dots with a scheme based on two-photon excitation of the biexciton strongly suppresses the re-excitation. Specifically, the pulse-length dependence of the multi-photon error rate reveals a quadratic dependence in contrast to the linear dependence of resonantly excited two-level systems, improving the obtainable multi-photon error rate by several orders of magnitude for short pulses. We support our experiments with a new theoretical framework and simulation methodology to understand few-photon sources.
High-quality sources of single photons are of paramount importance for quantum communication, sensing and metrology. To these ends, resonantly excited two-level systems based on self-assembled quantum dots have recently generated widespread interest. Nevertheless, we have recently shown that for resonantly excited two-level systems, emission of a photon during the presence of the excitation laser pulse and subsequent re-excitation results in a degradation of the obtainable single-photon purity. Here, we demonstrate that generating single photons from self-assembled quantum dots with a scheme based on two-photon excitation of the biexciton strongly suppresses the re-excitation. Specifically, the pulse-length dependence of the multi-photon error rate reveals a quadratic dependence in contrast to the linear dependence of resonantly excited two-level systems, improving the obtainable multi-photon error rate by several orders of magnitude for short pulses. We support our experiments with a new theoretical framework and simulation methodology to understand few-photon sources.