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Physical Review A

Improving single-photon sources with Stark tuning

Mark J. Fernée, Halina H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Gerard J Milburn

Published Apr 25, 2007• 27 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate the use of the Stark shift in atomlike systems in order to control the interaction with a high-$Q∕V$ microcavity. By applying a Stark shift pulse to a single atomlike system, in order to affect and control its detuning from a cavity resonance, the cavity QED interaction can be carefully controlled so as to allow stochastic pumping of the emitting state without causing random timing jitter in the output photon. Using a quantum trajectory approach, we conduct simulations that show this technique is capable of producing indistinguishable single photons that exhibit complete Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. Furthermore, Stark tuning control allows for the generation of arbitrary pulse envelopes. We demonstrate this by showing that a simple asymmetric Stark shifting pulse can lead to the emission of symmetric Gaussian single-photon pulse envelopes, rather than the usual exponential decay. These Gaussian pulses also exhibit complete Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. The use of Stark shifting in solid-state systems could ultimately provide the cheap miniature high quality single-photon sources that are currently required for applications such as all-optical quantum computing.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.043815

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We investigate the use of the Stark shift in atomlike systems in order to control the interaction with a high-Q∕VQ∕VQ∕V microcavity. By applying a Stark shift pulse to a single atomlike system, in order to affect and control its detuning from a cavity resonance, the cavity QED interaction can be carefully controlled so as to allow stochastic pumping of the emitting state without causing random timing jitter in the output photon. Using a quantum trajectory approach, we conduct simulations that show this technique is capable of producing indistinguishable single photons that exhibit complete Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. Furthermore, Stark tuning control allows for the generation of arbitrary pulse envelopes. We demonstrate this by showing that a simple asymmetric Stark shifting pulse can lead to the emission of symmetric Gaussian single-photon pulse envelopes, rather than the usual exponential decay. These Gaussian pulses also exhibit complete Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. The use of Stark shifting in solid-state systems could ultimately provide the cheap miniature high quality single-photon sources that are currently required for applications such as all-optical quantum computing.
A deterministic "on demand" source of single photons is a basic building block for linear quantum computation \cite{linear}, quantum cryptography \cite{crypto}, quantum teleportation \cite{teleport}, and quantum networks \cite{network}. In all these applications, quantum interference between two single-photon pulses on a symmetric beam splitter has been exploited \cite{review}, which imposes stringent requirement for the implemented single photons to be indistinguishable in all degrees of freedom, including their frequencies, spectral widths, pulse shapes, and polarizations. To generate single photons one requires a pumping mechanism to excite a "two-level emitter" and an efficient channeling of the subsequently emitted photons. The efficiency of the source can be enhanced by coupling the emitter to the waveguide \cite{manga} or a microcavity mode \cite{cklaw}. However, hitherto the solid-state single photon sources realized by using a quantum dot coupled with a microcavity rely on incoherent pumping of excitons, which leads to problems with timing jitter \cite{kiraz}, leading to a trade off between efficiency and indistinguishability. Here we introduce a means to realize a highly efficient solid state source of indistinguishable single photons using cavity-assisted adiabatic Raman passage in a single quantum dot - cavity system. We demonstrate pulse-triggered single photons with 100% efficiency and >90>90>90% indistinguishability using currently available experimental parameters.
Dynamic coupling of cavities to a quantum network is of major interest to distributed quantum information processing schemes based on cavity quantum electrodynamics. This can be achieved by actively tuning a mediating atom-cavity system. In particular, we consider the dynamic coupling between two coupled cavities, each interacting with a two-level atom, realized by tuning one of the atoms. One atom-field system can be controlled to become maximally and minimally coupled with its counterpart, allowing high fidelity excitation confinement, QQQ switching, and reversible state transport. As an application, we first show that simple tuning can lead to emission of near-Gaussian single-photon pulses that is significantly different from the usual exponential decay in a passive cavity-based system. The influences of cavity loss and atomic spontaneous emission are studied in detailed numerical simulations, showing the practicality of these schemes within the reach of current experimental solid-state technology. We then show that when the technique is employed to an extended coupled-cavity scheme involving a multilevel atom, arbitrary temporal superposition of single photons can be engineered in a deterministic way.
We describe how a coherent optical drive that is near resonant with the upper rungs of a three-level ladder system, in conjunction with a short-pulse excitation, can be used to provide a frequency-tunable source of on-demand single photons. Using an intuitive master equation model, we identify two distinct regimes of device operation: (i) for a resonant drive, the source operates using the Autler-Townes effect, and (ii) for an off-resonant drive, the source exploits the ac Stark effect. The former regime allows for a large frequency-tuning range but coherence suffers from timing jitter effects, while the latter allows for high indistinguishability and efficiency, but with a restricted tuning bandwidth due to high required drive strengths and detunings. We show how both these negative effects can be mitigated by using an optical cavity to increase the collection rate of the desired photons. We apply our general theory to semiconductor quantum dots, which have proven to be excellent single-photon sources, and find that scattering of acoustic phonons leads to excitation-induced dephasing and increased population of the higher-energy level which limits the bandwidth of frequency tuning achievable while retaining high indistinguishability. Despite this, for realistic cavity and quantum dot parameters, indistinguishabilities of over 9090%90 are achievable for energy shifts of up to hundreds of $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{eV}$, and near-unity indistinguishabilities for energy shifts up to tens of $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{eV}$. Additionally, we clarify the often-overlooked differences between an idealized Hong-Ou-Mandel two-photon interference experiment and its usual implementation with an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer, pointing out the subtle differences in the single-photon visibility associated with these different setups.
The possibility of creating a scaleable quantum network by interconverting photonic and atomic qubits shows great promise. The fundamental requirement for such a network is deterministic control over the emission and absorption of photons from single atoms. This thesis reports on the experi-mental construction of a photon source that can emit single-photons with arbitrary spatio-temporal shape, phase, and frequency. The photon source itself is a strongly-coupled atom cavity system based on a single 87 Rb atom within a macroscopic high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity. It operates intermittently for periods of up to 100µs, with single-photon repetition rates of 1.0 MHz and an efficiency of almost 80%. Atoms are loaded into the cavity using an atomic fountain, with the upper turning point near the centre of the cavity mode. This ensures long interaction times without any disturbances introduced by trapping potentials. The photons’ indistinguishability was tested, with a two-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel visibility of 87%. This ability to both generate, and control, the photons’ properties, for example producing photons with symmetric or multi-peaked spatio-temporal shapes, allows for the production of photons in an n-time-bin superposition state where each time-bin has an arbitrarily defined amplitude and phase. These photons can be used as photonic qubits, qutrits and qquads, and their properties have been tested using a small linear-optics network.
Solid-state sources capable of emitting single photons on demand are of great interest in quantum information applications. Ideally, such a source should emit exactly one photon into the collection optics per trigger, the emitted photons should be indistinguishable and the source should be electrically driven. Several design strategies addressing these requirements have been proposed. In the cavity-based source, light emission is controlled using resonant cavity quantum electrodynamics effects, whereas in the waveguide-based source, broadband electric field screening effects are employed to direct the light emission into the optical mode of interest. For all the strategies, accurate modeling and careful optical engineering is required to achieve high performance.
Solid-state sources capable of emitting single photons on demand are of great interest in quantum information applications. Ideally, such a source should emit exactly one photon into the collection optics per trigger, the emitted photons should be indistinguishable, and the source should be electrically driven. Several design strategies addressing these requirements have been proposed. In the cavity-based source, light emission is controlled using resonant cavity quantum electrodynamics effects, whereas in the waveguide-based source, broadband electric field screening effects are employed to direct the light emission into the optical mode of interest. For all the strategies, accurate modeling and careful optical engineering is required to achieve high performance. In this study, we discuss the models and numerical techniques used to analyze such structures. The physical effects governing the light emission profile and the possibilities of tailoring it as well as the mechanisms governing the coherence are elucidated. The major design strategies pursued to optimize the single-photon source performance and the remaining challenges are reviewed.