In this work, we show that this drawback can be overcome by coupling an optical cavity in the form of a 'photonic molecule' to a single QD. Two coupled identical pillars are etched in a semiconductor planar microcavity, using an optical lithography method that ensures a deterministic coupling to the optical transitions of a pre-selected quantum dot. Acceleration of spontaneous emission ensures that most entangled photon pairs are emitted into two cavity modes, while improving the indistinguishability of the two optical recombination paths.
In this work, we show that this drawback can be overcome by coupling an optical cavity in the form of a 'photonic molecule' to a single QD. Two coupled identical pillars are etched in a semiconductor planar microcavity, using an optical lithography method that ensures a deterministic coupling to the optical transitions of a pre-selected quantum dot. Acceleration of spontaneous emission ensures that most entangled photon pairs are emitted into two cavity modes, while improving the indistinguishability of the two optical recombination paths.
We demonstrate the fabrication of highly efficient sources of entangled photon pairs by inserting a semiconductor
quantum dot in an optical cavity. Two electron-hole pairs trapped in a quantum dot (QD) radiatively recombine emitting
a cascade of two polarization entangled photons. To extract both photons, we use a photonic molecule consisting of two
identical micropillars, one empty, the other embedding a chosen QD. By adjusting the diameter of the pillars and their
relative distance, we ensure that both optical transitions of the QD are simultaneously resonant to cavity modes. The
emitted photon pairs are efficiently extracted thanks to Purcell effect. Doing so, we obtain the brightest sources of
entangled photon pairs to date. We further show that the implementation of Purcell effect allows increasing the fidelity
of the two photon state by reducing spin induced phase shift during the radiative cascade.
In 1946, E. M. Purcell predicted that the radiative lifetime of an emitter is not an intrinsic property but can be modified by structuring the surrounding electromagnetic field [36]. By inserting a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) in an optical cavity, one can accelerate or inhibit its spontaneous emission. In the present article, we show that the QD spontaneous emission can be deterministically controlled to fabricate bright sources of quantum light. QDs in cavities: basics, motivation, first demonstrations Light-matter coupling We note f the ground state of the QD and e its excited state. For a cavity mode close to resonance with the QD optical transition, we consider only the states with 0 or 1 photon in the cavity mode. The states ∣ e, 0〉 and ∣ f, 1〉 are coupled through light–matter interaction, with a constant g , where h g = ∣〈 e, 0∣ Ed ∣ f, 1∣, with d the dipole of the optical transition e → f and E the electric field at the QD position. Each of the states ∣ e, 0 > and ∣ f, 1 > are also coupled to continua of states: continuum of the free-space optical mode, phonons of the semiconductor matrix, etc. [4]. Here, we consider only the coupling to the continuum of the free-space optical mode, related to the cavity losses, with a constant γ c . When g << γ c , the photon emitted by the recombination of an exciton efficiently escapes outside the cavity. The QD optical transition radiative recombination rate can be accelerated (Purcell effect) or inhibited.
Entangled photon pairs are a ubiquitous resource in quantum technologies, used in quantum key distribution and quantum networking as well as fundamental tests of non-locality. For scalable quantum networks, pairs that are indistinguishable in all unentangled degrees of freedom are essential, as they enable high-fidelity entanglement swapping across network nodes. To date the most-studied sources of "swappable" entangled photon pairs have been based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in non-linear crystals. However, the probabilistic nature and unavoidable trade-off between brightness and unwanted multi-photon emission limits their performance in lossy channels. Here, we demonstrate a high-fidelity source of "swappable" entangled photon pairs using a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) coupled to a tunable microcavity. By actively modulating the QD emission between orthogonal polarisation states, delaying one path in a low-loss Herriott cell, and recombining the two on a balanced beam splitter, we generate entangled photon pairs with a fidelity of 96.1±0.5 %. We identify and mitigate fidelity-limiting factors, achieving a maximum fidelity of 98.1±0.5 % through time-resolved post-selection. The scheme suppresses residual multi-photon events concentrated near the excitation pulse and has only a modest impact on the rate. Furthermore, the photons are mutually indistinguishable, enabling efficient entanglement swapping. Our results establish semiconductor QDs as a viable platform for quantum network-compatible swappable entangled photon pair generation, with feasible entanglement generation rates exceeding 0.5 Gpairs/s.
Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) coupled with optical microcavities provide an excellent platform for generating high-performance single-photon sources. However, the current microcavity structures are difficult to solve the tradeoff between single-photon purity and indistinguishability without additional filtering, due to challenges in suppressing broad phonon sideband spectrum and two-photon emission in the practical experiments. To address these issues, we have developed a novel asymmetric microcavity that supports two nondegenerate polarized modes, both resonant with a single quantum dot. One cavity mode is broadband and is used for excitation to reduce two-photon emission intensity, while the other is narrowband and is used for collection to enhance the indistinguishability of single-photon sources. This asymmetric microcavity also has the ability to overcome at least half of the photon efficiency loss under polarization filtering. Moreover, our model has employed an excitation pulse that resonates with cavity modes eliminating spectral distortion of intracavity fields, and efficiently achieving deterministic population inversion of QDs compared to an elliptical cavity. Our scheme paves the way to develop the excellent performance single-photon sources with higher brightness, near-unity purity, and indistinguishability without any additional filtering in practical experiments.
Abstract Spontaneous two-photon emission is a process in which the transition between two quantum states happens via simultaneous emissions of two identical photons. Such second-order quantum radiation is of paramount importance in astrophysics, atomic physics, and quantum technology. In particular, on-demand spontaneous two-photon emission from single quantum emitters has long been envisioned to revolutionize photonic quantum science and technology. To date, experimental realizations of two-photon emission at the single quanta level are still highly challenging yet elusive due to their low probabilities. In this work, we explore spontaneous two-photon emission from a single semiconductor quantum dot deterministically coupled to a high-quality microcavity in which the cavity resonances greatly enhance both excitation and emission processes. When the cavity is resonant to the half energy of the biexciton, the strong vacuum field in the cavity mode drives the biexciton to the ground state and simultaneously emits two photons into the cavity mode, resulting in two-photon emissions with a record brightness comparable to the competing single-photon process and sub-nanowatt power consumption. For the first time, the quantum nature associated with spontaneous two-photon emissions in the cavity quantum electrodynamics regime has been investigated via photon statistics measurements. Furthermore, spontaneous two-photon emission is exploited to build unconventional entangled quantum light sources with the unique advantage of combining the best of two worlds: near-unity entanglement fidelity for spontaneous parametric down-conversion source and on-demand photon emissions for atomic quantum emitters. Our work provides unprecedented insights into the two-photon process in the quantum regime and opens an unexplored avenue for pursuing optically reconfigurable quantum light sources with nonlinear quantum radiations.