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arXiv:2301.04444 · Physical Review A

Entanglement properties of a quantum-dot biexciton cascade in a chiral nanophotonic waveguide

Eva M. González-Ruiz, Freja T. Østfeldt, Ravitej Uppu, Peter Lodahl, Anders Søndberg Sørensen

Published Jul 17, 2023• 2 citations
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Abstract

We analyze the entanglement properties of deterministic path-entangled photonic states generated by coupling the emission of a quantum-dot biexciton cascade to a chiral nanophotonic waveguide, as implemented by \O{}stfeldt et al. [PRX Quantum 3, 020363 (2022)]. We model the degree of entanglement through the concurrence of the two-photon entangled state in the presence of realistic experimental imperfections. The model accounts for imperfect chiral emitter-photon interactions in the waveguide and the asymmetric coupling of the exciton levels introduced by fine-structure splitting along with time jitter in the detection of photons. The analysis shows that the approach offers a promising platform for deterministically generating entanglement in integrated nanophotonic systems in the presence of realistic experimental imperfections.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.108.013507

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We analyze the entanglement properties of deterministic path-entangled photonic states generated by coupling the emission of a quantum-dot biexciton cascade to a chiral nanophotonic waveguide, as implemented by \O{}stfeldt et al. [PRX Quantum 3, 020363 (2022)]. We model the degree of entanglement through the concurrence of the two-photon entangled state in the presence of realistic experimental imperfections. The model accounts for imperfect chiral emitter-photon interactions in the waveguide and the asymmetric coupling of the exciton levels introduced by fine-structure splitting along with time jitter in the detection of photons. The analysis shows that the approach offers a promising platform for deterministically generating entanglement in integrated nanophotonic systems in the presence of realistic experimental imperfections.
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The biexciton-exciton cascade in quantum dots (QDs) yields entangled photon pairs, and recent developments in engineering photonic structures around the dot for efficient light extraction and proper control of the fine-structure splitting, has led to significant breakthroughs in achieving an ideal entangled photon source -- exhibiting properties such as high extraction efficiency, low multi-photon emission and high entanglement fidelity. This thesis presents our development in enhancing the performance of entangled photon generation of QDs towards near-unity efficiency and fidelity. 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Moreover, our calculations show that proper analysis of the time-energy uncertainty relation provides the necessary means to measure a high entanglement fidelity even in the presence of fine-structure splitting; since, a detection system with high timing resolution can overlook the which-path information, as the uncertainty in measuring the energy of the photons will be larger than the fine-structure splitting. Therefore, realizing near-unity entanglement fidelity using QDs is merely a technical challenge, i.e., resonant excitation of the QD, in order to suppress multi-photon emission, and use of a detection system with low timing jitter and dark-count rates. \n \nAs a next step to achieve this goal, we have performed the resonant two-photon excitation scheme for the first time on a QD in a photonic nanowire, which resulted in an enhancement of the performance of our source. 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This method is applicable to any QD source and can be easily implemented using the currently available technology; moreover, no further sample processing will be required in order to achieve zero fine-structure splitting.
Abstract. We develop a theoretical model to study the Intensity-Intensity correlation of polarization entangled photons emitted in a biexciton-exciton cascade. We calculate the degree of correlation and show how polarization correlation are affected by the presence of dephasing and energy level splitting of the excitonic states. Our theoretical calculations are in agreement with the recent observation of polarization dependent Intensity-Intensity correlations from a single semiconductor quantum dot [R. M. Stevenson et. al. Nature 439, 179 (2006)]. Our model can be extended to study polarization entangled photon emission in coupled quantum dot systems. PACS numbers: 03.67.bg,42.50.Ar,42.50.CtNonclassical Correlation of Polarization Entangled Photons in a Biexciton-Exciton Cascade2 1.
The entanglement between photon pairs generated from the biexciton cascade transition in a semiconductor quantum dot located in the vicinity of a metal nanoparticle is theoretically investigated. In the model scheme, the biexciton-exciton and exciton--ground-state transitions are assumed to be coupled to two principal plasmon modes of orthogonal polarizations. For a broad spectral window, because the horizontal and vertical spectra overlap, the biexciton and exciton photons are degenerate in energy. This allows us to overcome the natural splitting between the intermediate exciton states. Moreover, the degree of entanglement depends on the geometrical parameters of the system, i.e., the radius of the metal nanoparticle and the distance between the quantum dot and the nanoparticle. The results reveal that such a hybrid system profoundly modifies the photon entanglement even in the absence of strong coupling between the emitter and the metal nanosphere.
Semiconductor quantum light sources are favorable for a wide range of quantum photonic tasks, particularly quantum computing and quantum information processing. Here, we theoretically investigate the properties of quantum emitters as a source of entangled photons with practical quantum properties including heralding of on-demand single photons. Through the theoretical analysis, we characterize the properties of a cascade (biexciton) emitter, including (1) studies of single-photon purity, (2) investigating the first- and second-order correlation functions, and (3) determining the Schmidt number of the entangled photons. The analytical expression derived for the Schmidt number of the cascade emitters reveals a strong dependence on the ratio of decay rates of the first and second photons. Looking into the joint spectral density of the generated biphotons, we show how the purity and degree of entanglement are connected to the production of heralded single photons. Our model is further developed to include polarization effects, fine structure splitting, and the emission delay between the exciton and biexciton emission. The extended model offers more details about the underlying mechanism of entangled photon production, and it provides additional degrees of freedom for manipulating the system and characterizing purity of the output photon. The theoretical investigations and the analysis provide a cornerstone for the experimental design and engineering of on-demand single photons.
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.