We propose an optical cavity-QED scheme for the deterministic generation of polarization entangled photon pairs that operates with high fidelity even in the bad cavity limit. The scheme is based on the interaction of an excited four-level atom with two empty optical cavity modes via an adiabatic passage process. Monte-Carlo wave function simulations are used to evaluate the fidelity of the cavity-QED source and its entanglement capability in the presence of decoherence. In the bad cavity limit, fidelities close to one are predicted for state-of-the-art experimental parameter values.
Abstract High-quality sources of single photons are of paramount importance for quantum communication, sensing, and metrology. To these ends, resonantly excited two-level systems based on self-assembled quantum dots have recently generated widespread interest. Nevertheless, we have recently shown that for resonantly excited two-level systems, emission of a photon during the presence of the excitation laser pulse and subsequent re-excitation results in a degradation of the obtainable single-photon purity. Here, we demonstrate that generating single photons from self-assembled quantum dots with a scheme based on two-photon excitation of the biexciton strongly suppresses the re-excitation. Specifically, the pulse-length dependence of the multi-photon error rate reveals a quadratic dependence in contrast to the linear dependence of resonantly excited two-level systems, improving the obtainable multi-photon error rate by several orders of magnitude for short pulses. We support our experiments with a new theoretical framework and simulation methodology to understand few-photon sources.
High-quality sources of single photons are of paramount importance for quantum communication, sensing and metrology. To these ends, resonantly excited two-level systems based on self-assembled quantum dots have recently generated widespread interest. Nevertheless, we have recently shown that for resonantly excited two-level systems, emission of a photon during the presence of the excitation laser pulse and subsequent re-excitation results in a degradation of the obtainable single-photon purity. Here, we demonstrate that generating single photons from self-assembled quantum dots with a scheme based on two-photon excitation of the biexciton strongly suppresses the re-excitation. Specifically, the pulse-length dependence of the multi-photon error rate reveals a quadratic dependence in contrast to the linear dependence of resonantly excited two-level systems, improving the obtainable multi-photon error rate by several orders of magnitude for short pulses. We support our experiments with a new theoretical framework and simulation methodology to understand few-photon sources.
Deterministic single-photon sources are indispensable core devices for quantum information technology, yet high-performance implementation remains a long-standing bottleneck for linear optical quantum computing. We propose a feasible scheme for deterministic single-photon emission based on a
△-type three-level atom coupled to a single-mode cavity, driven by two classical external fields, which is adaptable to both strong and ultrastrong cavity-atom coupling regimes. Under continuous-wave driving, the system achieves excellent single-photon characteristics: the normalized equal-time second-order correlation function reaches
g(2)(0)∼10−6, with a photon indistinguishability of
98.73% and a state purity of
99.95% in the strong coupling regime, while the ultrastrong coupling regime further suppresses
G(2)(0)∼10−8, yielding an indistinguishability of
99.10% and a purity of
99.99%. For pulsed driving in the ultrastrong coupling regime, the source realizes superior performance, with an emission efficiency, indistinguishability, and purity of
99.96%,
98.98%, and
99.99% under resonant conditions, and
100%,
95.91%, and
99.93% under detuned conditions, respectively. The near-ideal optical performance of the proposed scheme provides a viable route for constructing high-quality deterministic single-photon sources, which offers a promising solution to the limitations of conventional single-photon devices and facilitates the further development of quantum information science and fundamental quantum optical research.
We propose a scheme for the controlled generation of Einstein-Podosky-Rosen entangled photon pairs from an atom coupled to a high
Q optical cavity, extending the prototype system as a source for deterministic single photons. A thorough theoretical analysis confirms the promising operating conditions of our scheme as afforded by currently available experimental setups. Our result demonstrates the cavity QED system as an efficient and effective source for entangled photon pairs, and shines new light on its important role in quantum information science.
We describe a cavity-QED scheme to deterministically generate polarization entangled photon pairs by using a single atom successively coupled to two single longitudinal mode cavities presenting polarization degeneracy. The cavities are initially prepared either in the vacuum state or in a single photon Fock state for each orthogonal polarization. Sharing the same basic elements, the source can operate on different physical processes. For a V -type three-level atom initially prepared in the ground state two implementations of the source are possible using either: i) two truncated Rabi Oscillations, or ii) a counterintuitive Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage process. Although slower than the former implementation, this second one is very efficient and robust under fluctuations of the experimental parameters and, particularly interesting, almost insensitive to atomic decay. For a four-level atom in a diamond configuration initially prepared in the upper state, the source can produce entangled photon pairs even in the bad cavity limit via an adiabatic passage process. We have performed Monte Carlo wave function simulations to characterize these sources by means of: i) the success probability P of producing the desired entangled state, ii) the fidelity F in the reduced space of two emitted cavity photons, and iii) the S parameter of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality to quantify the entanglement capability.