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Applied Physics Letters

Single quantum dots emit single photons at a time: Antibunching experiments

Val Zwiller, Hans Blom, Per Jonsson, Nikolay Panev, Sören Jeppesen, Tedros Tsegaye, E. Goobar, Mats‐Erik Pistol, Lars Samuelson, Gunnar G. Bjork

Published Apr 23, 2001• 243 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have studied the photoluminescence correlation from a single InAs/GaAs self-assembled Stranski–Krastanow quantum dot under continuous, as well as under pulsed excitation. Under weak continuous excitation, where the single dot luminescence is due primarily to single exciton recombinations, antibunching is observed in the single dot emission correlation. Under weak pulsed excitation, the number of photons emitted by the quantum dot per pulse is close to one. We present data obtained under both conditions and are able to show that devices based on single quantum dots can be used to generate single photons.

DOI
10.1063/1.1366367

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We report the observation of antibunched emission from single self-assembled InAs quantum dots under various conditions. We have measured the correlation function of the photon emission pertaining to single emission lines from single quantum dots under continuous and pulsed laser excitation, as well as under continuous white light excitation. The measurements were performed under different excitation intensities at liquid helium temperatures on two samples with distinct structures. At higher temperatures (30 K), an antibunching dip was still observed. We have also observed antibunching on a second emission line in the quantum dot spectrum, attributed to the biexciton, demonstrating the possibility of generating photon pairs with a single quantum dot. Polarization correlations on the biexciton and exciton line were also measured in an attempt to generate entangled photon pairs.
We report on the single photon emission from single InAs/GaAs self-assembled Stranski–Krastanow quantum dots up to 80 K under pulsed and continuous wave excitations. At temperature 80 K, the second-order correlation function at zero time delay, g (2) (0), is measured to be 0.422 for pulsed excitation. At the same temperature under continuous wave excitation, the photon antibunching effect is observed. Thus, our experimental results demonstrate a promising potential application of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots in single photon emission at liquid nitrogen temperature.
We report the realization of the first electrically-driven single photon source. The device is based on a GaAs p-i-n diode containing self-assembled InAs quantum dots embedded within the i-region. Time resolved electroluminescence from the device yields information on the radiative lifetimes of the single quantum dots involved. Applying a continuous current a dip is measured in the second-order correlation function at zero time delay indicating that the luminescence is antibunched. Under pulsed excitation by subnanosecond voltage pulses, strong suppression of multi-photon pulses is achieved with respect to a laser of the same average intensity. The results suggest that conventional semiconductor technology can be used to mass-produce a single photon source for applications in quantum information technology.
We report photon correlation measurements that reveal unique signatures of biexciton and charged exciton emissions in a single self-assembled InAs quantum dot. Biexciton emission exhibits both bunching and antibunching under continuous-wave excitation and only antibunching under pulsed excitation. Cross correlation between biexciton and single-exciton emissions reveals highly asymmetric features due to cascaded emission. Under our excitation conditions, no polarization correlations between the exciton and biexciton emissions were observed.
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