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Applied Physics Letters

On-demand single-photon source for 1.3μm telecom fiber

M. B. Ward, O. Z. Karimov, D. C. Unitt, Zhiliang L. Yuan, Patrick See, David Gevaux, Andrew J. Shields, P. Atkinson, D. A. Ritchie

Published May 10, 2005• 132 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate an on-demand single-photon source that is compatible with standard telecom optical fiber. Through careful control of the critical strains of InAs∕GaAs self-assembled quantum dots, we produce a microcavity sample with a low density of large dots emitting into the fiber-optic transmission band at 1.3μm. The second-order correlation function of the source reveals a strong suppression in the rate of multiphoton pulses at both 5K and above 30K. The source may be useful for fiber-optic-based single-photon applications, such as quantum metrology, quantum communications, and distributed quantum computing.

DOI
10.1063/1.1922573

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We demonstrate an on-demand single-photon source that is compatible with standard telecom optical fiber. Through careful control of the critical strains of InAs∕GaAs self-assembled quantum dots, we produce a microcavity sample with a low density of large dots emitting into the fiber-optic transmission band at 1.3μm. The second-order correlation function of the source reveals a strong suppression in the rate of multiphoton pulses at both 5K and above 30K. The source may be useful for fiber-optic-based single-photon applications, such as quantum metrology, quantum communications, and distributed quantum computing.
A source of bright and pure single photons is an essential tool for photonic quantum technologies, predicted to enable secure communication and networking. Self-assembled quantum dots are among the leading candidates to realise such a source. The currently highest-performing quantum dots emit at wavelengths unsuitable for fibre transmission, with telecom quantum dots lagging in performance. An intermediate step is to use quantum frequency conversion. Here we report to our knowledge the brightest quantum dot based source of telecom photons by frequency converting a near-infrared quantum dot embedded in a micropillar cavity to the telecom C-band. In a single-photon BB84 protocol, this source is capable of producing asymptotic keys rates of 1 kbps at over 150 km of optical fibre.
A single photon source is an enabling technology in device-independent quantum communication, quantum simulation, linear optics-based and measurement-based quantum computing. These applications employ many photons and place stringent requirements on the efficiency of single photon creation. The scaling on efficiency is typically an exponential function of the number of photons. Schemes taking full advantage of quantum superposition also depend sensitively on the coherence of the photons, i.e. their indistinguishability. \nThis thesis reports a single-photon source with a high end-to-end efficiency. We employ gated quantum dots in an open, tunable microcavity. The gating provides control of the charge and electrical tuning of the emission frequency, the high-quality material and careful design of the system ensures low noise, and the tunability of the microcavity compensates for the lack of control in quantum dot position and emission frequency. Transmission through the top mirror is the dominant escape route for photons from the microcavity, and this output is well-matched to a single-mode fiber. With this design, we can create a single photon at the output of the final optical fiber on-demand with a probability of 57% and with an average two-photon interference visibility of 97.5%. Coherence persists in trains of thousands of photons with single photon creation at a repetition rate of 1 GHz.
The implementation of fiber-based long-range quantum communication requires tunable sources of single photons at the telecom C-band. Stable and easy-to-implement wavelength-tunability of individual sources is crucial to (i) bring remote sources into resonance, (ii) define a wavelength standard, and (iii) ensure scalability to operate a quantum repeater. So far, the most promising sources for true, telecom single photons are semiconductor quantum dots, due to their ability to deterministically and reliably emit single and entangled photons. However, the required wavelength-tunability is hard to attain. Here, we show a stable wavelength-tunable quantum light source by integrating strain-released InAs quantum dots on piezoelectric substrates. We present triggered single-photon emission at 1.55 μm with a multi-photon emission probability as low as 0.097, as well as photon pair emission from the radiative biexciton–exciton cascade. We achieve a tuning range of 0.25 nm which will allow us to spectrally overlap remote quantum dots or tuning distant quantum dots into resonance with quantum memories. This opens up realistic avenues for the implementation of photonic quantum information processing applications at telecom wavelengths.
Abstract Single photon sources are key components for quantum technologies such as quantum communication, computing and metrology. A key challenge towards the realization of global quantum networks are transmission losses in optical fibers. Therefore, single photon sources are required to emit at the low-loss telecom wavelength bands. However, an ideal telecom wavelength single photon source has yet to be discovered. Here, we review the recent progress in realizing such sources. We start with single photon emission based on atomic ensembles and spontaneous parametric down conversion, and then focus on solid-state emitters including semiconductor quantum dots, defects in silicon carbide and carbon nanotubes. In conclusion, some state-of-the-art applications are highlighted.
Fiber-coupled single photon sources are considered important components of photonics-based quantum information processors. Most fiber-coupled single photon sources require careful alignment between fibers and quantum emitters. In this work, we present an alignment-free fiber-integrated single photon source based on an InAs/InP quantum dot emitting at telecom wavelengths. We designed a nanobeam containing the quantum dots attached to a fiber taper. The adiabatic tapered coupler of the nanobeam enables efficient light coupling to the fiber taper. Using a tungsten probe in a focused ion beam system, we transferred the nanobeam to the fiber taper. The observed fiber-coupled single photon emission occurs with a brightness of 1.4% and a purity of 83%. This device provides a building block for fiber-optic quantum circuits that have various applications, such as quantum communication and distributed quantum computing.