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arXiv:1703.08197 · Communications in Theoretical Physics

Hidden Vacuum Rabi Oscillations: Dynamical Quantum Superpositions of On/Off Interaction between a Single Quantum Dot and a Microcavity

A. Ridolfo, Roberto Stassi, Omar Di Stefano

Published Jun 1, 2017• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We show that it is possible to realize quantum superpositions of switched-on and -off strong light-matter interaction in a single quantum dot- semiconductor microcavity system. Such superpositions enable the observation of counterintuitive quantum conditional dynamics effects. Situations are possible where cavity photons as well as the emitter luminescence display exponential decay but their joint detection probability exhibits vacuum Rabi oscillations. Remarkably, these quantum correlations are also present in the nonequilibrium steady state spectra of such coherently driven dissipative quantum systems.

DOI
10.1088/0253-6102/67/6/661

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Abstract We show that it is possible to realize quantum superpositions of switched-on and -off strong light-matter interaction in a single quantum dot- semiconductor microcavity system. Such superpositions enable the observation of counterintuitive quantum conditional dynamics effects. Situations are possible where cavity photons as well as the emitter luminescence display exponential decay but their joint detection probability exhibits vacuum Rabi oscillations. Remarkably, these quantum correlations are also present in the nonequilibrium steady state spectra of such coherently driven dissipative quantum systems.
We report time domain observation of vacuum Rabi oscillations in a single quantum dot strongly coupled to a nanocavity under incoherent optical carrier injection. We realize a photonic crystal nanocavity with a very high quality factor of >80000>80\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}000>80000 and employ it to clearly resolve the ultrafast vacuum Rabi oscillations by simple photoluminescence-based experiments. We found that the time domain vacuum Rabi oscillations were largely modified when changing the pump wavelength and intensity, even when marginal changes were detected in the corresponding photoluminescence spectra. We analyze the measured time domain oscillations by fitting to simulation curves obtained with a cavity quantum electrodynamics model. The observed modifications of the oscillation curves were mainly induced by the change in the carrier capture and dephasing dynamics in the quantum dot, as well as the change in bare-cavity emission. This result suggests that vacuum Rabi oscillations can be utilized as a highly sensitive probe for the quantum-dot dynamics. Our work points out a powerful alternative to conventional spectral-domain measurements for a deeper understanding of the vacuum Rabi dynamics in quantum-dot-based--cavity quantum electrodynamics systems.
Vacuum Rabi oscillations between a single photon and a single spin demonstrate the capability of harnessing light-matter interaction at the level of a single quantum of energy. Since the observation of strong spin-photon coupling in gate-defined quantum dots, probing this interaction in the time-domain has been a major objective. Here, we carefully engineer a device composed of two spatially separated double quantum dots hosting single electron spin qubits and a superconducting cavity to accommodate microwave photons. We observe multiple vacuum Rabi oscillations between each spin qubit and the cavity. By concatenating vacuum Rabi oscillations involving the two spins, an energy excitation in one qubit can be emitted as a photon and then transferred to the other qubit. When a single photon is emitted, the cavity is prepared in a Fock state, leading to an accelerated vacuum Rabi frequency. These results serve as building blocks not only in exploring light-matter interactions, but also in interfacing semiconductor spin qubits to photonic links.
The excitonic dynamics in a single quantum dot within a microcavity is investigated theoretically in terms of the perturbation treatment based on a unitary transformation. The excitonic Rabi oscillations with a damping rate are obtained explicitly. It is shown that the damping rate depends on exciton-phonon coupling constant and the vacuum Rabi frequency. Even at absolute zero temperature and in the vacuum cavity, the exciton-phonon interaction and exciton-photon interaction still cause excitonic decoherence. We also predict that under strong control fields the collapse and revival of excitonic Rabi oscillation may be observed for the quantum dots with small exciton-phonon coupling in the $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ limit.
Recently, cavity quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects in semiconductor microcavities have been of considerable interest since, in the weak-coupling regime they play an important role in selectively increasing spontaneous emission into the lasing mode of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL’s) [1,2], enabling low-threshold, high speed, and high efficiency. In a strong-coupling regime, the normal modes of the coupled system are superpositions of the exciton and cavity modes. Hence the impulsively excited system will evolve in time with the energy oscillating between the exciton and cavity modes. This is known as a vacuum-Rabi oscillation (VRO), with a frequency of Ω=d¯⋅E¯/@@h, where d¯ is the transition dipole moment of atoms and E¯ the vacuum-field strength. Of course, VRO are observable only when the cavity lifetime and exciton dephasing time are long enough compared to VRO period. Recently, Weisbuch et al. [3] have reported an observation of the normal-mode vacuum Rabi splitting in 2-D-exciton/planar-DBR microcavities. The observed splittings were as large as 6 meV in reflection and transmission spectra, implying 690-fs vacuum Rabi oscillations.
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Light-matter interaction on the level of single emitters and single photons has attracted significant scientific interest in recent years. Of particular interest is strong coupling of single emitters in solid state systems and its application to quantum information processing. Due to the enormous progress in semiconductor technology it has become feasible to demonstrate strong coupling of single quantum dots in high-Q microcavity systems. Although it has been argued in these studies that it is very unlikely that several degenerated quantum dots contributed to the observed Rabi-splitting, it was not verified that the system had one and only one emitter. In this work we present proof that the emission from a strongly-coupled QD- microcavity system is dominated by a single quantum emitter.