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ACS Photonics

Quantum-Memory-Enabled Ultrafast Optical Switching in Carbon Nanotubes

Kankan Cong, Weiwei Jiang, Bryan E. Anthonio, G. Timothy Noe, Huaping Liu, Hiromichi Kataura, M. Kira, Junichiro Kono

Published May 6, 2020• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical nonlinearities can be engineered into high-speed optical gates when a probe signal is switched coherently and fast by an optical control pulse through various nonlinear effects for switching. In semiconductors, a strong light–matter interaction can also excite many electrons to interact with each other, which can deteriorate switching through Coulomb-induced dephasing. Here, we demonstrate that optical transmission of carbon nanotubes can be switched reversibly hundreds of times via detuned Rabi splitting, faster than 200 fs via nonresonant but strong control pulses. Our detailed experiment–theory analysis identifies that quantum memory in Coulombic scattering restores reversibility while simultaneously reducing undesirable pure dephasing of coherences. This capability creates new possibilities for ultrafast quantum optoelectronic processing in quantum materials.

DOI
10.1021/acsphotonics.0c00315

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Optical nonlinearities can be engineered into high-speed optical gates when a probe signal is switched coherently and fast by an optical control pulse through various nonlinear effects for switching. In semiconductors, a strong light–matter interaction can also excite many electrons to interact with each other, which can deteriorate switching through Coulomb-induced dephasing. Here, we demonstrate that optical transmission of carbon nanotubes can be switched reversibly hundreds of times via detuned Rabi splitting, faster than 200 fs via nonresonant but strong control pulses. Our detailed experiment–theory analysis identifies that quantum memory in Coulombic scattering restores reversibility while simultaneously reducing undesirable pure dephasing of coherences. This capability creates new possibilities for ultrafast quantum optoelectronic processing in quantum materials.
It is well-known that strong Coulomb effects in carbon nanotubes lead to formation of the so-called bright and (forbidden one-photon optical transition) exciton states, and dramatically decrease the efficiency of one-photon light emission via trapping of the carriers by states. We suggest and demonstrate that the proper use of these bright and exciton states with distinctively different recombination times may turn the situation around: the use of quantum coherence and multiphoton schemes of excitation potentially not only allow one to efficiently manipulate the dark states, but can also create conditions for efficient light generation in different frequency regions, produce slow or fast light, implement quantum light storage, and media with a negative refractive index. We discuss possible applications of the quantum coherent effects to quantum-optical carbon nanotube devices that have a potential for suitable performance at elevated temperatures, because the binding energies of excitons in single-walled nanotubes are hundreds-of-meV high.
It is strong Coulomb effects in carbon nanotubes that lead to formation of the so-called "bright" and "dark" (forbidden one-photon optical transition) exciton states, and dramatically decrease the efficiency of one-photon light emission via trapping of the carriers by "dark" states. We demonstrate that the proper use of these "bright" and "dark" exciton states with distinctively different recombination times may turn the situation around: the use of quantum coherence and multiphoton schemes of excitation potentially not only allow one to efficiently manipulate the dark states, but can also create conditions for efficient light generation in different frequency regions, produce "slow" or "fast" light, implement quantum light storage, media with a negative refractive index, and other quantum-optical regimes. Possible quantum-optical carbon nanotube devices have a potential for suitable performance at elevated temperatures, because the binding energies of excitons in single-walled nanotubes are hundreds-of-meV high.
Abstract Performance improvements are expected from integration of photonic devices into information processing systems, and in particular, all-optical memories provide a key functionality. Scaling down the size of memory elements is desirable for high-density integration, and the use of nanomaterials would allow for devices that are significantly smaller than the operation wavelengths. Here we report on all-optical memory based on individual carbon nanotubes, where adsorbed molecules give rise to optical bistability. By exciting at the high-energy tail of the excitonic absorption resonance, nanotubes can be switched between the desorbed state and the adsorbed state. We demonstrate reversible and reproducible operation of the nanotube optical memory, and determine the rewriting speed by measuring the molecular adsorption and desorption times. Our results underscore the impact of molecular-scale effects on optical properties of nanomaterials, offering new design strategies for photonic devices that are a few orders of magnitude smaller than the optical diffraction limit.
We investigate the nonlinear interaction between two weak optical fields in carbon nanotube quantum dots based on electromagnetically induced transparency and spin-orbit coupling. Our results show, owing to the energy differences produced by strong spin-orbit coupling, that a giant cross-Kerr nonlinearity can be achieved with group-velocity matching, while the probe- and signal-fields absorptions are suppressed simultaneously. We demonstrate that such enhanced nonlinear optical effects can be employed to implement controlled-phase gate between pairs of single-photon pulses with high fidelity and to generate entanglement of coherent Schr\"odinger-cat states.
We study quantum optical properties of the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) by introducing the effective interaction between the quantized electromagnetic field and the confined electrons in the SWCNT. Our purpose is to explore the quantum natures of electron transport in the SWCNT by probing its various quantum optical properties relevant to quantum coherence, such as the interference of the scattered and emitted photons, and the bunching and anti-bunching of photons which are characterized by the higher order coherence functions. In the strong field limit, we study the interband Rabi oscillation of electrons driven by a classical light. We also investigate the possible lasing mechanism in superradiation of coherent electrons in a SWCNT driven by a light pump or electron injection, which generate electron population inversion in the higher energy-band of SWCNT.