A quantum emitter in a dynamic environment may have its energy levels drift uncontrollably in time with the fluctuating bath. This can result in an emission and/or absorption spectrum that is spread over a broad range of frequencies and presents a challenging hurdle for various applications. We consider a quantum emitter in an environment that alters the energy levels so that the emission frequency is represented by a Gaussian random distribution around a given mean value with given standard deviation and correlation time. We study the emission spectrum of this system when it is placed under the influence of a periodic sequence of finite-width $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses. We show that this external field protocol can effectively overcome spectral diffusion in this system by refocusing the bulk of the emission spectrum onto the pulse carrier frequency. We further consider two such emitters in different noisy environments and find that the two-photon interference operation can be made efficient by the sequence of finite-width pulses applied on both systems. Finally, we show that an ensemble of nominally similar emitters, each with its different environment, and thus randomly shifted emission frequency, can have its overall emission spectrum that would otherwise be inhomogeneously broadened according to the random distribution, refocused onto a lineshape with a well-defined central peak that has the linewidth of an individual isolated non-noisy emitter. These results demonstrate for this specific model of noisy environments, the protection of spectral properties by an external control protocol here represented by a periodic sequence of finite-width pulses.
We study the emission spectrum and absorption spectrum of a quantum emitter when it is driven by various pulse sequences. We consider the Uhrig sequence of
πx pulses, the periodic sequence of
πxπy pulses and the periodic sequence of
πz pulses (phase kicks). We find that, similar to the periodic sequence of
πx pulses, the Uhrig sequence of
πx pulses has emission and absorption that are, with small variations, analogous to those of the resonance fluorescence spectrum. In addition, while the periodic sequence of
πz pulses produces a spectrum that is dependent on the detuning between the emitter and the pulse carrier frequency, the Uhrig sequence of nonequidistant
πx pulses and the periodic sequence of
πxπy pulses have spectra with little dependence on the detuning as long as it stays moderate along with the number of pulses. This implies that they can also, similar to previously studied periodic sequence of
πx pulses, be used to tune the emission or absorption of quantum emitters to specific frequencies, to mitigate inhomogeneous broadening and to enhance the production of indistinguishable photons from emitters the solid state.
Abstract We study the emission spectrum and absorption spectrum of a quantum emitter when it is driven by various pulse sequences. We consider the Uhrig sequence of nonequidistant π x pulses, the periodic sequence of π x π y pulses and the periodic sequence of π z pulses (phase kicks). We find that, similar to the periodic sequence of π x pulses, the Uhrig sequence of π x pulses has emission and absorption that are, with small variations, analogous to those of the resonance fluorescence spectrum. In addition, while the periodic sequence of π z pulses produces a spectrum that is dependent on the detuning between the emitter and the pulse carrier frequency, the Uhrig sequence of nonequidistant π x pulses and the periodic sequence of π x π y pulses have spectra with little dependence on the detuning as long as it stays moderate along with the number of pulses. This implies that they can also, similar to the previously studied periodic sequence of π x pulses, be used to tune the emission or absorption of quantum emitters to specific frequencies, to mitigate inhomogeneous broadening and to enhance the production of indistinguishable photons from emitters in the solid state.
The ability to entangle distant quantum nodes is essential for the construction of quantum networks and for quantum information processing. For solid-state quantum emitters used as qubits, it can be achieved by photon interference. When the emitter is subject to spectral diffusion, this process can become highly inefficient, impeding the achievement of scalable quantum technologies. We study two-photon interference in the context of a Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM)-type experiment for two separate quantum emitters, with different detunings with respect to a specific target frequency. We evaluate the second order coherences that characterize photon indistinguishability between the two emitters. We find that the two-photon interference operation that is inefficient in the absence of a control protocol, when the two detunings are different and spectral overlap is lessened, can be highly improved by a periodic sequence of $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses at a set target frequency. Photon indistinguishability in solid state and other quantum emitters subject to spectral diffusion can thus be enhanced by the proposed pulse sequence and similar external control protocols despite the fluctuations in the environment.
We investigate how the quantum control of a two-level system (TLS) coupled to photons can modify and tune the TLS's photon absorption spectrum. Tuning and controlling the emission and the absorption are of great interest, e.g., for the development of efficient interfaces between stationary and flying qubits in modern architectures for quantum computation and quantum communication. We consider periodic pulse control, where the TLS is subjected to a periodic sequence of the near-resonant Rabi driving pulses, each pulse implementing a ${180}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ rotation. For small interpulse delays, the absorption spectrum features a pronounced peak of stimulated emission at the pulse frequency, similar satellite peaks with smaller spectral weights, and the net absorption peaks on the sides. As long as the detuning between the carrier frequency of the driving and the TLS transition frequency remains moderate, this spectral shape shows little change. Therefore, the pulse control allows shifting the absorption peak to a desired position and locks the overall absorption spectrum to the carrier frequency of the driving pulses. A detailed description of the spectrum and its evolution as a function time, the interpulse spacing, and the detuning is presented.
Single-photon purity is one of the most important key metrics of many quantum states of light. For applications in photonic quantum technologies, e.g. quantum communication and linear optical quantum computing, a minimization of the multi-photon error rate is required because of its error-introducing nature. Ultimately, the purity of state-of-the-art single-photon sources was found to be limited by spontaneous emission and subsequent reexcitation during the interaction with the driving field. Here, we demonstrate that even this fundamental limit to the single-photon purity can be overcome due to the distinct spectro-temporal properties of the individual photons forming multi-photon errors. For driving pulses shorter than the emitter lifetime, we find that photons emitted during the pulse exhibit a significantly broader spectral shape than the emitter's natural linewidth. Thus, we can selectively filter out the majority of this instantaneously emitted photon by employing narrowband spectral filters, which reduces the measured degree of second-order coherence at zero time delay by almost one order of magnitude. This enables a significant suppression of the multi-photon error rate without detrimental effects on the desired single-photon emission.