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arXiv:1705.04056 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Giant nonlinear interaction between two optical beams via a quantum dot embedded in a photonic wire

Hoai Anh Nguyen, Thomas Grange, B. Reznychenko, Inah Yeo, Pierre-Louis de Assis, D. Tumanov, F. Fratini, Nitin S. Malik, Emmanuel Dupuy, Niels Gregersen, Alexia Auffèves, Jean‐Michel Gérard, Julien Claudon, J.-Ph. Poizat

Published May 11, 2018• 15 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Optical nonlinearities usually occur at large intensities, but discrete transitions allow for giant nonlinearities operating at the single-photon level. Here, the authors demonstrate a two-mode giant nonlinearity with a single semiconductor quantum dot, embedded in a broadband photonic wire antenna. They exploit two detuned optical transitions associated with the exciton-biexciton quantum-dot level scheme. The reflection of one laser beam is controlled by the other beam with a threshold power as low as ten photons per exciton lifetime (1.6 nW). Such a two-color nonlinearity opens up appealing perspectives for the realization of integrated ultralow-power logical gates and optical quantum gates.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.97.201106

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Optical nonlinearities usually occur at large intensities, but discrete transitions allow for giant nonlinearities operating at the single-photon level. Here, the authors demonstrate a two-mode giant nonlinearity with a single semiconductor quantum dot, embedded in a broadband photonic wire antenna. They exploit two detuned optical transitions associated with the exciton-biexciton quantum-dot level scheme. The reflection of one laser beam is controlled by the other beam with a threshold power as low as ten photons per exciton lifetime (1.6 nW). Such a two-color nonlinearity opens up appealing perspectives for the realization of integrated ultralow-power logical gates and optical quantum gates.
Summary form only given. Optical logic down to the single photon level holds the promise of data processing with a better energy efficiency than electronic devices [1]. In addition, preservation of quantum coherence in such logical components would enable optical quantum logical gates [2-8]. Optical logic requires optical non-linearities to allow for photon-photon interactions. Non-linearities usually appear for large intensities, but discrete transitions in a well coupled single two-level system allow for giant non-linearities operating at the single photon level.This is achieved by engineering what has been coined a "one-dimensional atom" [2], wherein a light emitter is predominantly coupled to a single propagating spatial mode. This favored coupling with a traveling mode is obtained either in a resonant optical cavity [3,4] or with non-resonant field confinement such as in single mode waveguides [5,6] or through the interaction with a focused optical beam [7,8] . Here we take advantage of the large coupling efficiency and the broadband operation of a photonic wire containing a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) [9] to implement a transistor using two different optical QD transitions. Our system is made of a single InAs QD embedded in a GaAs tapered photonic wire (fig. 1a). This system, in which the QD is efficiently coupled to a single guided mode, has been exploited to realize ultrabright single-photon sources [9]. We exploit here its broad operation bandwidth (>100 nm around 950 nm) to efficiently address two different transitions of the QD with two different laser beams to implement a two-color giant non-linearity: a weak probe laser has its reflectivity controlled by a few photons of the control laser.
We present experimental results on two-mode optical giant non-linearity of a single InAs quantum dot (QD) embedded in a GaAs tapered photonic wire (fig. 1a). This system, in which the QD is efficiently coupled to a single guided mode, has been exploited to realize ultrabright single-photon sources [1,2]. We exploit here its broad operation bandwidth (>100 nm around 950 nm) to efficiently address two different transitions of the QD with two cw laser beams (fig. 1b). The laser coupled to the upper transition leads to a Rabi splitting of the intermediate state (Autler-Townes effect), affecting the resonant reflectivity of the laser coupled to the lower transition (see fig. 1c). By performing reflectivity experiment, we show that a coupling laser of 10 nW (50 photons per emitter lifetime) can modify the transmission of the probe laser, realizing an ultra-low power all-optical switch.
Optical logic down to the single photon level holds the promise of data processing with a better energy efficiency than electronic devices [1]. In addition, preservation of quantum coherence in such logical components could lead to optical quantum logical gates [2--4]. Optical logic requires optical non-linearities to enable photon-photon interactions. Non-linearities usually appear for large intensities, but discrete transitions allow for giant non-linearities operating at the single photon level [5], as demonstrated for a single optical mode with cold atomic gases [6, 7], or single two-level systems coupled to light via a tailored photonic environment [8--13]. However optical logic requires two-mode non-linearities [14, 15]. Here we take advantage of the large coupling efficiency and the broadband operation of a photonic wire containing a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) [16] to implement an all-optical logical component, wherein as few as 10 photons per QD lifetime in one mode control the reflectivity of another, spectrally distinct, mode. Whether classical or quantum, optical communication has proven to be the best choice for long distance information distribution. All-optical data processing has therefore raised much interest in recent years, as it would avoid energy and coherence consuming optics-to-electronics conversion steps. Two-ports operation is a necessary requirement for the implementation of any non-trivial optical data processing. This involves a non-linear interaction between two distinct optical modes. Such a functionality operating at the single photon level can be achieved with a giant cross non-linearity obtained via resonant interactions in an atomic-like system featuring discrete energy levels [5].
We coherently probe a quantum dot that is strongly coupled to a photonic crystal nano-cavity by scattering of a resonant laser beam. The coupled system's response is highly nonlinear as the quantum dot saturates with nearly one photon per cavity lifetime. This system enables large amplitude and phase shifts of a signal beam via a control beam, both at single photon levels. We demonstrate photon-photon interactions with short pulses in a system that is promising for ultra-low power switches and two-qubit quantum gates.
A two-level system that is coupled to a high-finesse cavity in the Purcell regime exhibits a giant optical nonlinearity due to the saturation of the two-level system at very low intensities, of the order of one photon per lifetime. We perform a detailed analysis of this effect, taking into account the most important practical imperfections. Our conclusion is that an experimental demonstration of the giant nonlinearity is feasible using semiconductor micropillar cavities containing a single quantum dot in resonance with the cavity mode.