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Journal of Applied Physics

Entangled photons from the biexciton cascade of quantum dots

Robert James Young, R. M. Stevenson, Andrew J. Shields, P. Atkinson, K. Cooper, D. A. Ritchie

Published Apr 15, 2007• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Single InAs quantum dots embedded in a planar cavity, formed by mismatched sets of GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflectors, can be a useful source of triggered polarization-entangled photon pairs. We demonstrate this with a fidelity exceeding 70% for the expected entangled state. Quantum dot based devices may therefore be of great use in quantum communications and quantum information processing.

DOI
10.1063/1.2722765

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Single InAs quantum dots embedded in a planar cavity, formed by mismatched sets of GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflectors, can be a useful source of triggered polarization-entangled photon pairs. We demonstrate this with a fidelity exceeding 70% for the expected entangled state. Quantum dot based devices may therefore be of great use in quantum communications and quantum information processing.
We demonstrate the triggered emission of polarization-entangled photon pairs from the biexciton cascade of a single InAs quantum dot embedded in a GaAs/AlAs planar microcavity. Improvements in the sample design blue shifts the wetting layer to reduce the contribution of background light in the measurements. Results presented show that >70% of the detected photon pairs are entangled. The high fidelity of the state that we determine is sufficient to satisfy numerous tests for entanglement. The improved quality of entanglement represents a significant step towards the realization of a practical quantum dot source compatible with applications in quantum information.
We demonstrate the on-demand emission of polarisation-entangled photon pairs from the biexciton cascade of a single InAs quantum dot embedded in a GaAs/AlAs planar microcavity. Improvements in the sample design blue shifts the wetting layer to reduce the contribution of background light in the measurements. Results presented show that >70% of the detected photon pairs are entangled. The high fidelity of the (|HxxHx>+|VxxVx>)/2^0.5 state that we determine is sufficient to satisfy numerous tests for entanglement. The improved quality of entanglement represents a significant step towards the realisation of a practical quantum dot source compatible with applications in quantum information.
For scalable applications of optical quantum information it is desirable to have a well controlled source of photons, producing single photons or entangled-pairs on-demand. The finite delay following decay of an exciton confined in a quantum dot makes them a good source of single photons, we demonstrate this, triggering the emission with a pulsed laser. Currently the most widely used techniques for generating entangled photon pairs are nonlinear optical processes, such as parametric down conversion, which produces a probabilistic number of pairs per excitation cycle. Such a source is of limited use in quantum information/processing applications where a regular stream of single entangled photon pairs is preferable. We produced such a triggered source from a semiconductor device for the first time, using the two-photon cascade from a biexciton confined in a single quantum dot. We demonstrate a fidelity of 70% for the emission from the biexciton cascade to the expected bell state. Single quantum dots could prove to be the first robust and compact triggered source of entangled photons.
The quick development of quantum technologies and quantum communication demands a continuous search for more efficient and with higher performance quantum sources and devices. In particular, quantum dots are firmly established sources of single photon emitters and entangled photon pairs, with entanglement of photons emitted by a single quantum dot probed in polarization[1], time-bin[2] and hyperentanglement[3]. Although spontaneous parametric down conversion sources (SPDC) are widely used as entangled photon sources with the highest values of entanglement[4], are being reached by quantum dot devices[5]. With similar quality as SPDC sources, QDs however stand out as sources with sub-Poissonian statistics, essential for safe quantum communication. Still, most of the quantum dots devices exhibit low extraction efficiencies. Attempts to maximize the extraction efficiency involve sophisticated engineered photonic systems[6,7]. Furthermore, the accurate alignment of the quantum dot-cavity system is crucial for an effective quantum dotcavity coupling and hence an emission enhancement into free space[8]. All of this implies the need of intricated nanofabrication processes. Here we present a simple, scalable photonic device that grants efficient creation of entangled photon pairs from InAs quantum dots. The device, spontaneously formed during the growth process, is based on pairs of bottom/top distributed bragg reflectors (DBRs). A propagating deformation in the DBRs, leads to the formation of self-aligned dimples on top of the QDs, resulting in a self-aligned quantum-dot cavity system[9]. Therefore, costly and complex deterministic nanofabrication techniques are not required. In this work, the device performance was characterized, showing experimental collection efficiencies of 0.17, with theoretically pair extraction efficiencies above 0.45. Furthermore, a Purcell enhancement up to 1.7 was obtained. Finally, the device potential to generate time-bin entangled photons was investigated performing state tomography measurements. The subsequent reconstruction of the density matrix yields a concurrence of 0.70(10) and a fidelity of 0.84(5).
The generation of entangled photon pairs is a fundamental cornerstone of quantum optics, and an essential technology in the high profile field of quantum communication and computing. Currently the most widely used techniques for generating entangled photon pairs are nonlinear optical processes, such as parametric down conversion, which produce a probabilistic number of pairs per excitation cycle. Such a source is of limited use in quantum information/processing applications where a regular stream of single entangled photon pairs is usually required. We have produced such a triggered source from a semiconductor device for the first time, using a two-photon cascade in a single quantum dots, demonstrating efficiencies up to 70%, close to the level required for useful applications. Single quantum dots could prove to be the first robust and compact triggered source of entangled photons.
Polarization correlation in a linear basis, but not entanglement, is observed between the biexciton and single-exciton photons emitted by a single InAs quantum dot in a two-photon cascade. The results are well described quantitatively by a probabilistic model that includes two decay paths for a biexciton through a nondegenerate pair of one-exciton states, with the polarization of the emitted photons depending on the decay path. The results show that spin nondegeneracy due to quantum-dot asymmetry is a significant obstacle to the realization of an entangled-photon generation device.