An outstanding goal in quantum optics and scalable photonic quantum technology is to develop a source that each time emits one and only one entangled photon pair with simultaneously high entanglement fidelity, extraction efficiency, and photon indistinguishability. By coherent two-photon excitation of a single InGaAs quantum dot coupled to a circular Bragg grating bull's-eye cavity with a broadband high Purcell factor of up to 11.3, we generate entangled photon pairs with a state fidelity of 0.90(1), pair generation rate of 0.59(1), pair extraction efficiency of 0.62(6), and photon indistinguishability of 0.90(1) simultaneously. Our work will open up many applications in high-efficiency multiphoton experiments and solid-state quantum repeaters.
An outstanding goal in quantum optics and scalable photonic quantum technology is to develop a source that each time emits one and only one entangled photon pair with simultaneously high entanglement fidelity, extraction efficiency, and photon indistinguishability. By coherent two-photon excitation of a single InGaAs quantum dot coupled to a circular Bragg grating bull's-eye cavity with a broadband high Purcell factor of up to 11.3, we generate entangled photon pairs with a state fidelity of 0.90(1), pair generation rate of 0.59(1), pair extraction efficiency of 0.62(6), and photon indistinguishability of 0.90(1) simultaneously. Our work will open up many applications in high-efficiency multiphoton experiments and solid-state quantum repeaters.
We demonstrate the fabrication of highly efficient sources of entangled photon pairs by inserting a semiconductor
quantum dot in an optical cavity. Two electron-hole pairs trapped in a quantum dot (QD) radiatively recombine emitting
a cascade of two polarization entangled photons. To extract both photons, we use a photonic molecule consisting of two
identical micropillars, one empty, the other embedding a chosen QD. By adjusting the diameter of the pillars and their
relative distance, we ensure that both optical transitions of the QD are simultaneously resonant to cavity modes. The
emitted photon pairs are efficiently extracted thanks to Purcell effect. Doing so, we obtain the brightest sources of
entangled photon pairs to date. We further show that the implementation of Purcell effect allows increasing the fidelity
of the two photon state by reducing spin induced phase shift during the radiative cascade.
Deterministic sources of entangled photon pairs and indistinguishable photons are expected to play a key role in photonic quantum technologies. Semiconductor quantum dots are promising candidates due to their on-demand emission and compatibility with nanophotonic structures. However, current implementations face trade-offs between extraction efficiency, Purcell enhancement, as well as charge noise that causes blinking and degrades indistinguishability. Here we demonstrate a tunable nano-optoelectronic device based on a quantum dot embedded in a p-i-n diode circular-Bragg-grating-resonator and featuring extraction efficiencies up to 0.55(6) and Purcell-factor of $\sim$8. The device generates wavelength-tunable entangled photon pairs with suppressed blinking and raw (corrected) concurrence > 0.89 (0.91) over a range of 1.6 nm. The very same source also emits single, nearly Fourier-limited and highly indistinguishable photons with raw (corrected) VHOM = 0.951(4) (0.988(6)). These results demonstrate a viable platform for semiconductor quantum photonics.
Entangled photon pairs are a ubiquitous resource in quantum technologies, used in quantum key distribution and quantum networking as well as fundamental tests of non-locality. For scalable quantum networks, pairs that are indistinguishable in all unentangled degrees of freedom are essential, as they enable high-fidelity entanglement swapping across network nodes. To date the most-studied sources of "swappable" entangled photon pairs have been based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in non-linear crystals. However, the probabilistic nature and unavoidable trade-off between brightness and unwanted multi-photon emission limits their performance in lossy channels. Here, we demonstrate a high-fidelity source of "swappable" entangled photon pairs using a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) coupled to a tunable microcavity. By actively modulating the QD emission between orthogonal polarisation states, delaying one path in a low-loss Herriott cell, and recombining the two on a balanced beam splitter, we generate entangled photon pairs with a fidelity of 96.1±0.5 %. We identify and mitigate fidelity-limiting factors, achieving a maximum fidelity of 98.1±0.5 % through time-resolved post-selection. The scheme suppresses residual multi-photon events concentrated near the excitation pulse and has only a modest impact on the rate. Furthermore, the photons are mutually indistinguishable, enabling efficient entanglement swapping. Our results establish semiconductor QDs as a viable platform for quantum network-compatible swappable entangled photon pair generation, with feasible entanglement generation rates exceeding 0.5 Gpairs/s.
A bright source of on-demand entangled photons is needed for quantum networks. A single quantum dot in a site-selected nanowire waveguide is a promising candidate for realizing such sources. However, such sources are associated with poor single-photon indistinguishability, limiting their applicability in quantum networks. A common approach for enhancing the single-photon indistinguishability in quantum dot-based entangled photon sources is to implement a broadband optical cavity. Achieving a high-Purcell cavity while retaining the advantages of the nanowire, such as directional emission, a broad operational bandwidth, and high light extraction efficiency, has been a significant challenge. Here, we propose a nanowire cavity based on quasi-bound states in the continuum formed by the strong coupling of two resonant optical modes. We numerically predict this design to support a cavity mode with 4 nm bandwidth and a Purcell enhancement of $\sim$17. This cavity mode enables a directional far-field emission profile (88% overlap with a Gaussian) with a light extraction efficiency of $\sim$74%. Our solution opens up a route for generating entangled photon pairs with enhanced extraction efficiency and single-photon indistinguishability for the practical realization of quantum networks.
Long-range, terrestrial quantum networks require high-brightness single-photon sources emitting in the telecom C-band for maximum transmission rates. For solid-state quantum emitters, the underlying pumping process, i.e., coherent or incoherent excitation schemes, impacts several photon properties such as photon indistinguishability, single-photon purity, and photon number coherence. These properties play a major role in quantum communication applications, the latter in particular for quantum cryptography. Here, we present a versatile telecom C-band single-photon source that is operated coherently and incoherently using two complementary pumping schemes. The source is based on a quantum dot coupled to a circular Bragg grating cavity, whereas coherent (incoherent) operation is performed via the novel SUPER scheme (phonon-assisted excitation). In this way, high end-to-end-efficiencies (η end ) of 5.36% (6.09%) are achieved simultaneously with a small multiphoton contribution g (2) (0) of 0.076 ± 0.001 [ g (2) (0) of 0.069 ± 0.001] for coherent (incoherent) operation.
The quick development of quantum technologies and quantum communication demands a continuous search for more efficient and with higher performance quantum sources and devices. In particular, quantum dots are firmly established sources of single photon emitters and entangled photon pairs, with entanglement of photons emitted by a single quantum dot probed in polarization[1], time-bin[2] and hyperentanglement[3]. Although spontaneous parametric down conversion sources (SPDC) are widely used as entangled photon sources with the highest values of entanglement[4], are being reached by quantum dot devices[5]. With similar quality as SPDC sources, QDs however stand out as sources with sub-Poissonian statistics, essential for safe quantum communication. Still, most of the quantum dots devices exhibit low extraction efficiencies. Attempts to maximize the extraction efficiency involve sophisticated engineered photonic systems[6,7]. Furthermore, the accurate alignment of the quantum dot-cavity system is crucial for an effective quantum dotcavity coupling and hence an emission enhancement into free space[8]. All of this implies the need of intricated nanofabrication processes. Here we present a simple, scalable photonic device that grants efficient creation of entangled photon pairs from InAs quantum dots. The device, spontaneously formed during the growth process, is based on pairs of bottom/top distributed bragg reflectors (DBRs). A propagating deformation in the DBRs, leads to the formation of self-aligned dimples on top of the QDs, resulting in a self-aligned quantum-dot cavity system[9]. Therefore, costly and complex deterministic nanofabrication techniques are not required. In this work, the device performance was characterized, showing experimental collection efficiencies of 0.17, with theoretically pair extraction efficiencies above 0.45. Furthermore, a Purcell enhancement up to 1.7 was obtained. Finally, the device potential to generate time-bin entangled photons was investigated performing state tomography measurements. The subsequent reconstruction of the density matrix yields a concurrence of 0.70(10) and a fidelity of 0.84(5).