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arXiv:1506.02429 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Coherence and degree of time-bin entanglement from quantum dots

Tobias Huber, Laurin Ostermann, Maximilian Prilmüller, Glenn S. Solomon, Helmut Ritsch, Gregor Weihs, Ana Predojević

Published May 12, 2016• 37 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report a study on coherence of excitation of single quantum dots. We address the coherent excitation of biexcitons, the process that is indispensable for deterministic photon pair generation in quantum dots. Based on theoretical modeling we optimized the duration of the excitation pulse in our experiment to minimize the laser-induced dephasing and increase the biexciton-to-background single-exciton occupation probability. An additional effect of this approach is a high degree of time-bin entanglement with a concurrence of up to 0.78(6) and a 0.88(3) overlap with a maximally entangled state.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.93.201301

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We report a study on coherence of excitation of single quantum dots. We address the coherent excitation of biexcitons, the process that is indispensable for deterministic photon pair generation in quantum dots. Based on theoretical modeling we optimized the duration of the excitation pulse in our experiment to minimize the laser-induced dephasing and increase the biexciton-to-background single-exciton occupation probability. An additional effect of this approach is a high degree of time-bin entanglement with a concurrence of up to 0.78(6) and a 0.88(3) overlap with a maximally entangled state.
The strong confinement of semiconductor excitons in a quantum dot gives rise to atomlike behavior. The full benefit of such a structure is best observed in resonant excitation where the excited state can be deterministically populated and coherently manipulated. Because of the large refractive index and device geometry it remains challenging to observe resonantly excited emission that is free from laser scattering in III/V self-assembled quantum dots. Here we exploit the biexciton binding energy to create an extremely clean single photon source via two-photon resonant excitation of an InAs/GaAs quantum dot. We observe complete suppression of the excitation laser and multiphoton emissions. Additionally, we perform full coherent control of the ground-biexciton state qubit and observe an extended coherence time using an all-optical echo technique. The deterministic coherent photon pair creation makes this system suitable for the generation of time-bin entanglement and experiments on the interaction of photons from dissimilar sources.
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.
Resonant excitation of the biexciton state in an InAsP quantum dot by a phase-coherent pair of picosecond pulses allows preparing time-bin entangled pairs of photons via the biexciton–exciton cascade. We show that this scheme can be implemented for a dot embedded in an InP nanowire. The underlying physical mechanisms can be represented and quantitatively analyzed by an effective three-level open system master equation. Simulation parameters including decay and intensity dependent dephasing rates are extracted from experimental data, which in turn let us predict the resulting entanglement and optimal operating conditions.
Temporal encodings of quantum information are prevalent in applications because of their suitability for long-distance quantum communication and their compatibility with optical fiber communication networks. Perhaps the simplest temporal encoding is time-bin encoding, i. e. in superpositions of two (or more) temporally separated optical pulses. Early attempts at generating time-bin entanglement from single quantum emitters was not able to avoid the problem of re-excitation or was converted probabilistically from polarization entangled photon pairs from a quantum dot. Direct generation requires a metastable level to carry the coherence and avoid double pair emission into the desired time bins. In order to use dark exciton states as metastable states we have worked on their efficient creation and coherent control in the presence of in-plane magnetic fields. Much of this is based on our recent work on advanced excitation schemes using chirped pulses. With chirped pulses we are now able to deterministically populate a dark exciton state and to transfer this population to the biexciton, which can then emit a photon pair.
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. A number of these techniques will be discussed and entangled-photon emission from a single quantum dot with a high fidelity in the expected Bell-state from the cascade will be demonstrated. This source of entangled photons allows optical interferometry beyond the limits imposed by the photon wavelength. Interference fringes of the entangled biphoton state reveals a periodicity half of that obtained with the single photon, and much less than that of the pump laser. High fringe visibility indicates that biphoton interference is less sensitive to decoherence than interference of two sequential single photons. The effect of the exciton fine-structure splitting on our entangled photon source will be shown. 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 single photon. We distinguish between the first-order coherence time, and a parameter defined as the cross-coherence time, this is illustrated in the figure.
A pulsed laser scenario, designed to prepare a variety of self-assembled quantum dots with nearly 100% population in a biexciton state, is proposed. We use realistic parameters for typical self-assembled quantum dots and show that two-colour sequential as well as concurrent excitation of the biexciton state can virtually eliminate unwanted exciton population and prepare a quantum dot in the biexciton state with near-deterministic accuracy. The ensuing radiative emission would be a prerequisite for a high rate, on-demand, source of entangled photons.