Over the last few decades there has been strong interest in quantum information systems based on photonic qubits. Devices able to emit pure single-photon states on demand and detect incoming single photons in the system are fundamental building blocks for the realisation of a quantum photonic scheme. Advances in controlling single carriers have made it possible to transport single electrons using surface acoustic waves (SAWs). In a lateral n-i-p junction SAW-driven single-electron transport can be exploited to pump single electrons across the junction and generate single photons. In this work, devices have been developed in which both electrons and holes can be induced in an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs 15nm quantum well by gates to form a lateral n-i-p junction. The junction is confined into a quasi-1D channel laterally by etching and side gates. Light emission is observed when a 1 or 3 GHz SAW drives a current, by pumping electrons over the potential hill in the intrinsic region. SAW-driven electroluminescence has been characterised in the regime where less than one electron is transported per cycle on average. Time-resolved electroluminescence has been used to extract the electron recombination time and to quantify the contributions from electromagnetic crosstalk and the SAW. In a device without significant crosstalk, the degree of second-order coherence, g(2)(0) , shows the signature of antibunching. Hole SAW-pumping has been investigated as an alternative to electron pumping, showing a shorter recombination time. The dynamics has been further investigated with time-resolved and energy measurements at the junction, using a sub-micron positioner with lens assembly to scan along the pumping direction. A key requirement for practical quantum devices is the scalable integration of single-photon sources, detectors and linear optical elements on a common platform. Using the same type of heterostructure, photons are detected by collecting and measuring the photo-generated carriers. An external light source sends photons into the system, and when they are absorbed in the quantum well, they create electron-hole pairs. The photo-generated carriers are separated and transported by a SAW together with an electric field applied by gates on the surface. The carriers are then collected by ohmic contacts, in order to extract information about the number of photons absorbed. Using the same 15nm GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well as for the single- photon source, an acousto-electric photon detector has been realised and characterised. Single-photon sensitivity can be achieved by measuring the photo-generated charges at single-particle level. The possibility to include single-electron and single-hole charge readout using quantum dots and quantum point contacts has been investigated.
Over the last few decades there has been strong interest in quantum information systems based on photonic qubits. Devices able to emit pure single-photon states on demand and detect incoming single photons in the system are fundamental building blocks for the realisation of a quantum photonic scheme. Advances in controlling single carriers have made it possible to transport single electrons using surface acoustic waves (SAWs). In a lateral n-i-p junction SAW-driven single-electron transport can be exploited to pump single electrons across the junction and generate single photons. In this work, devices have been developed in which both electrons and holes can be induced in an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs 15nm quantum well by gates to form a lateral n-i-p junction. The junction is confined into a quasi-1D channel laterally by etching and side gates. Light emission is observed when a 1 or 3 GHz SAW drives a current, by pumping electrons over the potential hill in the intrinsic region. SAW-driven electroluminescence has been characterised in the regime where less than one electron is transported per cycle on average. Time-resolved electroluminescence has been used to extract the electron recombination time and to quantify the contributions from electromagnetic crosstalk and the SAW. In a device without significant crosstalk, the degree of second-order coherence, g(2)(0) , shows the signature of antibunching. Hole SAW-pumping has been investigated as an alternative to electron pumping, showing a shorter recombination time. The dynamics has been further investigated with time-resolved and energy measurements at the junction, using a sub-micron positioner with lens assembly to scan along the pumping direction. A key requirement for practical quantum devices is the scalable integration of single-photon sources, detectors and linear optical elements on a common platform. Using the same type of heterostructure, photons are detected by collecting and measuring the photo-generated carriers. An external light source sends photons into the system, and when they are absorbed in the quantum well, they create electron-hole pairs. The photo-generated carriers are separated and transported by a SAW together with an electric field applied by gates on the surface. The carriers are then collected by ohmic contacts, in order to extract information about the number of photons absorbed. Using the same 15nm GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well as for the single- photon source, an acousto-electric photon detector has been realised and characterised. Single-photon sensitivity can be achieved by measuring the photo-generated charges at single-particle level. The possibility to include single-electron and single-hole charge readout using quantum dots and quantum point contacts has been investigated.
This thesis presents work on a series of devices for the generation of photonic quantum states based on self-assembled InAs quantum dots, which are among the most technologically mature candidates for practical quantum photonic applications due to their high internal quantum efficiency, narrow linewidth, tunability and straightforward integration with photonic and electric components. The primary results presented concern sources of multi-photon entangled states and single-photon sources with high repetition rate, both of which are crucial components for emerging photonic quantum technologies. First, we propose a scheme for the sequential generation of entangled photon chains by resonant scattering of a laser field on a single charged particle in a cavity-enhanced quantum dot. The charge has an associated spin that can determine the time bin of a photon, allowing for information encoding in this degree of freedom. We demonstrate coherent operations on this spin and realize a proof-of-principle experiment of the proposed scheme by showing that the time bin of a single-photon is dependent on the measured state of the trapped spin. The second main avenue of work investigates the effects of a surface acoustic wave, a mechanical displacement wave confined to the surface of a substrate, on the optical properties of quantum dots. In particular, we exploit the dynamic acoustically-induced tuning of the emission energy to modulate the Purcell effect in a pillar microcavity. Under resonant optical excitation we demonstrate the conversion of the continuous wave laser into a pulsed single-photon stream inheriting the acoustic frequency of 1 GHz as the repetition rate. High resolution spectroscopy reveals the presence of narrow sidebands in the emission spectrum, whose relative intensity can be controlled by the acoustic power and laser detuning. Furthermore, we develop a platform for analogous in-plane experiments by transferring GaAs membranes hosting quantum dots onto LiNbO3 substrates and patterning them into whispering gallery mode optical resonators. In addition to Purcell enhancement and acoustic tuning of the emission, the devices exhibit strong localized mechanical resonances. Finally, we perform initial experiments on the effects of a surface acoustic wave on the spin of a charge trapped in a quantum dot. We integrate acoustic transducers with charge-tunable diodes, where the charge state of the dot can be precisely controlled by an applied bias voltage, and demonstrate the frustration of optical spin pumping by the acoustic wave.
We propose a single optical photon source for quantum cryptography based on the acoustoelectric effect. Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) propagating through a quasi-one-dimensional channel have been shown to produce packets of electrons that reside in the SAW minima and travel at the velocity of sound. In our scheme, the electron packets are injected into a p-type region, resulting in photon emission. Since the number of electrons in each packet can be controlled down to a single electron, a stream of single- (or N-) photon states, with a creation time strongly correlated with the driving acoustic field, should be generated.
Gallium arsenide is piezoelectric, so it is possible to generate coupled mechanical and electrical surface acoustic waves (SAWs) by applying a high-frequency voltage to a transducer on the surface of GaAs. By combining SAWs with existing low-dimensional nanostructures one can create a series of dynamic quantum dots corresponding to the minima of the travelling electric wave, and each dot carries a single electron at the SAW velocity (∼ 2800 m/s). These devices may be of use in developing future quantum information processors, and also offer an ideal environment for probing the quantum mechanical behaviour of single electrons. This thesis describes a numerical and theoretical study of the dynamics of an electron in a range of geometries. The numerical techniques for solving the time-dependent Schr ̈dinger equation with an arbitrary time-dependent potential will be described in Chapter 2, and then applied in Chapter 3 to calculate the transmission of an electron through an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring. It will be seen that an important property of the techniques used in this thesis is that they can be easily adapted to study realistic geometries, and we will see features in the AB oscillations which do not arise in simplified analytic descriptions. In Chapter 4, we will then study a device consisting of two parallel SAW channels separated by a controllable tunnelling barrier. We will use numerical simulations to investigate the effect of electric and magnetic fields upon the electron dynamics, and develop an analytic model to explain the simulation results. From the model, it will be apparent that it is possible to use this device to rotate the state of the electron to an arbitrary superposition of the first two eigenstates. We then introduce coherent and squeezed states in Chapter 5, which are ex- cited states of the quantum harmonic oscillator. Coherent and squeezed electronic states may be of use in quantum information processing, and could also arise due to unwanted perturbations in a SAW device. We will discuss how these states can be controllably generated in a SAW device, and also discuss how they could then be detected. In Chapter 6 we describe how to use the motion of a SAW to create a rapidly- changing potential in the frame of the electron, leading to a nonadiabatic excita- tion. The nonadiabatically-excited state oscillates from side to side within a 1D channel on a few-picosecond timescale, and this motion can be probed by placing a tunnelling barrier at one side of the channel. Numerical simulations will be performed to show how this motion can be controlled, and the simulation results will be seen to be in good agreement with recent experimental work performed by colleagues. Finally, we will show that this device can be used to measure the initial state of an electron which is an arbitrary superposition of the first two eigenstates.
A standard laser produces a coherent state of light with a Poissonian photon number distribution. Generation of single photons on demand is a key requirement for quantum key distribution and quantum information processing systems based on photonic qubits. One of the generation schemes for single photons is to use a single semiconductor quantum dot embedded in a monolithic microcavity. An optical pump pulse or electrical pump pulse generates more than one electron–hole pairs in a quantum dot. Those electron–hole pairs recombine to generate photons one by one via spontaneous emission. The last photon emitted from a quantum dot has a unique wavelength, differing from the other photons, because the multiparticle interaction inside a quantum dot modulates an emission wavelength. One can selectively extract this last photon by a narrow band optical filter, so that single photons are extracted from the system no matter how many electron–hole pairs are injected into the quantum dot initially.
The second quantum revolution of the 20th century contributed to a technological expansion in solid-state physics. Modern nanofabrication coupled to material processing techniques have facilitated the development of on-demand single-electron sources. With their remarkable precision, they are currently used for metrology purposes and hold key potential for the recent field of research of electron quantum optics, including a promising candidate for quantum information: the electron flying qubit. These quantum bits are created by short voltage pulses and manipulation of their quantum state occurs on-the-fly. The shortest voltage pulse reported so far attains 27 ps, on-chip, in a cryogenic environment. However, suffering from attenuation and dispersion in coaxial lines, accessibility to electronic quantum regimes at faster time scale remains out-of-reach.On the contrary, empowered by the advent of ultrafast lasers and progress in photonics and plasmonics, photo-conductive-switch technology can allow the generation of electromagnetic pulses with picosecond duration. The large bandwidth of these THz opto-electronic technologies could overcome the technical bottleneck faced by standard electronic equipment. While they have been widely developed for room temperature applications, demonstrations of their integration along-side a quantum architecture in a cryogenic environment are still limited. The realisation of such an experiment would unlock new research directions for studying the dynamics of solid-state electronic quantum devices.In this manuscript, we present the development of an experimental setup to generate picosecond voltage pulses in a cryogenic environment for flying qubit applications. A femtosecond laser generates pulses that are injected into optical fibres and integrated at low temperatures. Fabricated on the surface of Low Temperature grown GaAs (LT-GaAs), a photoconductive-switch is co-integrated to the quantum circuit formed on a high mobility two-Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG). Owing to the extremely fast opto-electronic response of the LT-GaAs, the photo-conductive device converts optical pulses into voltage pulses with a duration as short as a few picoseconds. Using a THz CoPlanar Waveguide (CPW) circuit, the pulse is conveyed toward the 2DEG, where it is used as an ultra-short single-electron source.To perform pump-probe measurement and resolve the dynamic profile of such pulses, an original experimental setup, involving piezo-electric positioners and alignment protocols at low-temperatures, was implemented. As proof of concept, we first report the characterisation at 300 K of electronic pulses with 1.9 ps duration. In a second step, we cool down the system to 4 K and measure 2.3 ps wide pulses, thus expanding the proof of concept to cryogenic environments. Then, by integrating a 2DEG structure along-side the THz circuit, we were able to excite THz plasmons in a Fabry-Pérot cavity. The characteristic frequency of their fundamental mode was compared to an analytical model that revealed information about the carrier density of the electron gas under illumination. In parallel, extensive developments were carried out on the design of CPWs in order to minimise undesirable signal reflections as well as dispersion losses. Finally, with the prospect of measuring and controlling the propagation of picosecond electron pulse in quantum channels directly with ultrafast THz electrostatic gates, the fabrication of the next generation of devices was initiated. This work will pave the way for on-chip integration of picosecond voltage pulses into quantum nanoelectronics devices and ultrafast control of electronic flying qubits.
We report the realization of the first electrically-driven single photon source. The device is based on a GaAs p-i-n diode containing self-assembled InAs quantum dots embedded within the i-region. Time resolved electroluminescence from the device yields information on the radiative lifetimes of the single quantum dots involved. Applying a continuous current a dip is measured in the second-order correlation function at zero time delay indicating that the luminescence is antibunched. Under pulsed excitation by subnanosecond voltage pulses, strong suppression of multi-photon pulses is achieved with respect to a laser of the same average intensity. The results suggest that conventional semiconductor technology can be used to mass-produce a single photon source for applications in quantum information technology.