Dephasing Free Photon Entanglement with a Quantum Dot
Andreas Fognini, Arash Ahmadi, Mohd Zeeshan, J. T. Fokkens, S. J. Gibson, Nachiket Sherlekar, S. J. Daley, Dan Dalacu, Philip J. Poole, Klaus D. Jöns, Val Zwiller, Michael E. Reimer
Generation of photon pairs from quantum dots with near-unity entanglement fidelity has been a long-standing scientific challenge. It is generally thought that the nuclear spins limit the entanglement fidelity through spin flip dephasing processes. However, this assumption lacks experimental support. Here, we show two-photon entanglement with negligible dephasing from an indium rich single quantum dot comprising a nuclear spin of 9/2 when excited quasi-resonantly. This finding is based on a significantly close match between our entanglement measurements and our model that assumes no dephasing and takes into account the detection system’s timing jitter and dark counts. We suggest that neglecting the detection system is responsible for the degradation of the measured entanglement fidelity in the past and not the nuclear spins. Therefore, the key to unity entanglement from quantum dots comprises a resonant excitation scheme and a detection system with ultralow timing jitter and dark counts.
Generation of photon pairs from quantum dots with near-unity entanglement fidelity has been a long-standing scientific challenge. It is generally thought that the nuclear spins limit the entanglement fidelity through spin flip dephasing processes. However, this assumption lacks experimental support. Here, we show two-photon entanglement with negligible dephasing from an indium rich single quantum dot comprising a nuclear spin of 9/2 when excited quasi-resonantly. This finding is based on a significantly close match between our entanglement measurements and our model that assumes no dephasing and takes into account the detection system’s timing jitter and dark counts. We suggest that neglecting the detection system is responsible for the degradation of the measured entanglement fidelity in the past and not the nuclear spins. Therefore, the key to unity entanglement from quantum dots comprises a resonant excitation scheme and a detection system with ultralow timing jitter and dark counts.
Realizing perfect two-photon entanglement from quantum dots has been a long-standing scientific challenge. It is generally thought that the nuclear spins limit the entanglement fidelity through spin flip dephasing processes. However, this assumption lacks experimental support. Here, we show dephasing-free two-photon entanglement from an Indium rich single quantum dot comprising of nuclear spin 9/2 when excited quasi-resonantly. This remarkable finding is based on a perfect match between our entanglement measurements with our model that assumes no dephasing and takes into account the detection system's timing jitter and dark counts. We discover that neglecting the detection system is responsible for not reaching perfect entanglement in the past and not the nuclear spins. Therefore, the key to unity entanglement from quantum dots comprises of a resonant excitation scheme and a detection system with ultra-low timing jitter and dark counts.
InAs quantum dots (QDs) can be used as optically coupled quantum storage devices for quantum information applications. The QD can be charged with a single electron, where the spin state (up or down) provides a long lived quantum bit (qubit). The QD's optically excited states are used to initialize, manipulate, and read out the electron spin state with laser pulses. However, most practical quantum information applications require many interacting qubits, forming a quantum network. Since QDs are based on semiconductor technology, and are compatible with standard nano-fabrication processing, there is promise that they can provide a solid state platform where a scalable quantum information architecture is realizable. We focus on scaling the QD system to multiple qubits using intermediate spin-photon entangled states. In this work, experimental and theoretical techniques are developed to study the QD-light matter interaction at the single photon level. Resonance fluorescence from a single QD is experimentally realized, and the single photon nature of the scattered radiation is verified through intensity correlation experiments. Transient fluorescence measurements on resonantly excited QDs are performed using time correlated single photon counting techniques to measure the excited state lifetime. High speed electro-optic modulators are used to time gate narrow bandwidth lasers, so that a QD can be driven under step-wise excitation, allowing for the direct observation of time-dependent optical Rabi oscillations. From these measurements, we are able to extract a decoherence rate which is consistent with the lifetime limit, indicating that pure dephasing is negligible in this system. These techniques are applied to the QD spin system to demonstrate a spin-photon entangled state, by performing correlation measurements on the spin and photon state in two bases. A lower bound on the entanglement fidelity of 0.59(4) is achieved, which exceeds the classical limit of 0.5 by more than two standard deviations. The entanglement fidelity is limited primarily by the finite timing resolution of available single photon detectors. Taking this into account, we achieve 84% of the apparatus limited fidelity. These spin-entangled photons can be used to mediate entanglement between distant QD spins, providing the basis of an optically coupled QD spin network.
The biexciton-exciton cascade in quantum dots (QDs) yields entangled photon pairs, and recent developments in engineering photonic structures around the dot for efficient light extraction and proper control of the fine-structure splitting, has led to significant breakthroughs in achieving an ideal entangled photon source -- exhibiting properties such as high extraction efficiency, low multi-photon emission and high entanglement fidelity. This thesis presents our development in enhancing the performance of entangled photon generation of QDs towards near-unity efficiency and fidelity. We study InAsP quantum dots in photonic nanowires for efficient light extraction and to reveal the effect of a quantum dot with high nuclear spin on the entanglement fidelity. \n \nRevealing the ultimate limit of entanglement in QDs is still a challenge, and it is generally believed that a sample made of atoms possessing high nuclear spins exhibits limited entanglement due to the dephasing caused by spin-spin interactions. Moreover, it is assumed that the fine-structure splitting of QDs degrades the entanglement fidelity, as it introduces a which-path information in the biexciton-exciton cascade. We have performed two-photon state tomography on InAsP QDs in InP nanowires, comprising of nuclear spin 9/2, and have realized that such a source is capable of generating entangled photon pairs with negligible dephasing during the emission lifetime, with a peak concurrence C = 77% and a count-weighted average concurrence 62%. This result was obtained by comparing the outcome of our measurements with a theoretical model that assumes no dephasing, however, takes into account the details of the detection system, i.e., dark-count rates and timing resolution, as well as, specific features of the QD, e.g., emission lifetime, fine-structure splitting, multi-photon emission probability, etc. Proper engineering of tapered nanowires allows for extraction of the emitted photons with high efficiency, which makes it possible to perform a complete two-photon state tomography and monitoring the evolution of the exciton state, as well as, the entanglement fidelity of the photon-pair, during the emission lifetime. This enabled us to reveal the effect of an imperfect detection system, as well as, multi-photon emission in recording low values for entanglement fidelity. Moreover, our calculations show that proper analysis of the time-energy uncertainty relation provides the necessary means to measure a high entanglement fidelity even in the presence of fine-structure splitting; since, a detection system with high timing resolution can overlook the which-path information, as the uncertainty in measuring the energy of the photons will be larger than the fine-structure splitting. Therefore, realizing near-unity entanglement fidelity using QDs is merely a technical challenge, i.e., resonant excitation of the QD, in order to suppress multi-photon emission, and use of a detection system with low timing jitter and dark-count rates. \n \nAs a next step to achieve this goal, we have performed the resonant two-photon excitation scheme for the first time on a QD in a photonic nanowire, which resulted in an enhancement of the performance of our source. We managed to improve the single-photon purity of the source, g^(2)(0), by two orders of magnitude; moreover, analysis of the emission spectrum reveals that this scheme increases the pair-production efficiency to values above 93% for the biexciton-exciton cascade. Taking the efficiency of our experimental setup into consideration, the results indicate an approximately eight-fold enhancement of the pair-extraction efficiency as compared to the quasi-resonant excitation scheme (12.55% vs. 1.6%). Based on these results, two-photon state tomography on our source, under resonant two-photon excitation and performed by a detection system with high timing resolution and low dark-count rates, yields near-unity entanglement fidelity. By considering the enhancement in pair-extraction efficiency that we obtained, QDs in photonic nanowires can surpass the performance of spontaneous parametric down conversion sources in terms of entanglement fidelity and pair-extraction efficiency. \n \nEven though we have shown a finite fine-structure splitting does not degrade the entanglement fidelity in QDs, for various application in quantum information removing the fine-structure splitting is beneficial. Therefore, we have proposed a universal all-optical approach for removing the fine-structure splitting. In this scheme, the energy of the photons are shifted by using a pair of quarter-wave plates and fast-rotating half-wave plates after they have been emitted; and as a result, the energy difference between the two decay paths in the biexciton-exciton cascade is erased. This method is applicable to any QD source and can be easily implemented using the currently available technology; moreover, no further sample processing will be required in order to achieve zero fine-structure splitting.
Quantum dots (QDs) embedded inside indium-phosphide (InP) nanowires have the potential to be bright, on-demand sources of perfect polarization-entangled photon pairs fabricated with near-unity yields. However, to date very high degrees of entanglement have not yet been measured from such devices. By performing quantum state tomography with state-of-the-art superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) and two-photon resonant excitation of the QD, we show that these sources are indeed capable of producing near-unity entangled photon pairs. We measure a raw peak fidelity of 97.5% +/- 0.8% and a lifetime-weighted fidelity of 0.94% +/- 0.04%. These results conclusively demonstrate that the majority of the degradation from unity-measured entanglement fidelity in earlier studies was not due to spin-spin dephasing from the large 9/2 nuclear spin of indium. These results solidify InP nanowire QDs as a promising platform for future quantum photonics applications.
The generation of on-demand, optimally entangled photon pairs remains one of the most formidable challenges in the quantum optics and quantum information community. Despite the fact that recent developments in this area have opened new doors leading toward the realization of sources exhibiting either high brightness or near-unity entanglement fidelity, the challenges to achieve both together persist. Here, we will provide a historical review on the development of quantum dots (QDs) for entangled photon generation, with a focus on nanowire QDs, and address the latest research performed on nanowire QDs, including measuring entanglement fidelity, light-extraction efficiency, dephasing mechanisms, and the detrimental effects of detection systems on the measured values of entanglement fidelity. Additionally, we will discuss results recently observed pertaining to resonant excitation of a nanowire QD, revealing the potential of such sources to outperform spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) sources, providing a viable solution to the current challenges in quantum optics and quantum information.
We report on the observation of nearly maximally entangled photon pairs from semiconductor quantum dots, without resorting to postselection techniques. We use GaAs quantum dots integrated on a patterned piezoelectric actuator capable of suppressing the exciton fine structure splitting. By using a resonant two-photon excitation, we coherently drive the biexciton state and demonstrate experimentally that our device generates polarization-entangled photons with a fidelity of 0.978(5) and a concurrence of 0.97(1) taking into account the nonidealities stemming from the experimental setup. By combining fine-structure-dependent fidelity measurements and a theoretical model, we identify an exciton spin-scattering process as a possible residual decoherence mechanism. We suggest that this imperfection may be overcome using a modest Purcell enhancement so as to achieve fidelities >0.99, thus making quantum dots evenly matched with the best probabilistic entangled photon sources.