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A tuneable telecom wavelength entangled light emitting diode deployed in an installed fibre network

Zi-Heng Xiang, Jan Huwer, J. Skiba-Szymanska, R. M. Stevenson, David J. Ellis, Ian A. Farrer, Martin B. Ward, D. A. Ritchie, Andrew J. Shields

Published Feb 19, 2020• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract: Entangled light emitting diodes based on semiconductor quantum dots are promising devices for security sensitive quantum network applications, thanks to their natural lack of multi photon-pair generation. Apart from telecom wavelength emission, network integrability of these sources ideally requires electrical operation for deployment in compact systems in the field. For multiplexing of entangled photons with classical data traffic, emission in the telecom O-band and tuneability to the nearest wavelength channel in compliance with coarse wavelength division multiplexing standards (20 nm channel spacing) is highly desirable. Here we show a fully electrically operated telecom entangled light emitting diode with wavelength tuneability of more than 25 nm, deployed in an installed fibre network. With the source tuned to 1310.00 nm, we demonstrate multiplexing of true single entangled photons with classical data traffic and achieve entanglement fidelities above 94% on an installed fibre in a city.

DOI
10.17863/cam.54659

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Abstract: Entangled light emitting diodes based on semiconductor quantum dots are promising devices for security sensitive quantum network applications, thanks to their natural lack of multi photon-pair generation. Apart from telecom wavelength emission, network integrability of these sources ideally requires electrical operation for deployment in compact systems in the field. For multiplexing of entangled photons with classical data traffic, emission in the telecom O-band and tuneability to the nearest wavelength channel in compliance with coarse wavelength division multiplexing standards (20 nm channel spacing) is highly desirable. Here we show a fully electrically operated telecom entangled light emitting diode with wavelength tuneability of more than 25 nm, deployed in an installed fibre network. With the source tuned to 1310.00 nm, we demonstrate multiplexing of true single entangled photons with classical data traffic and achieve entanglement fidelities above 94% on an installed fibre in a city.
Abstract Entangled light emitting diodes based on semiconductor quantum dots are promising devices for security sensitive quantum network applications, thanks to their natural lack of multi photon-pair generation. Apart from telecom wavelength emission, network integrability of these sources ideally requires electrical operation for deployment in compact systems in the field. For multiplexing of entangled photons with classical data traffic, emission in the telecom O-band and tuneability to the nearest wavelength channel in compliance with coarse wavelength division multiplexing standards (20 nm channel spacing) is highly desirable. Here we show a fully electrically operated telecom entangled light emitting diode with wavelength tuneability of more than 25 nm, deployed in an installed fibre network. With the source tuned to 1310.00 nm, we demonstrate multiplexing of true single entangled photons with classical data traffic and achieve entanglement fidelities above 94% on an installed fibre in a city.
Single photons and entangled photon pairs are a key resource of many quantum secure communication and quantum computation protocols, and non-Poissonian sources emitting in the low-loss wavelength region around 1,550 nm are essential for the development of fibre-based quantum network infrastructure. However, reaching this wavelength window has been challenging for semiconductor-based quantum light sources. Here we show that quantum dot devices based on indium phosphide are capable of electrically injected single photon emission in this wavelength region. Using the biexciton cascade mechanism, they also produce entangled photons with a fidelity of 87 ± 4%, sufficient for the application of one-way error correction protocols. The material system further allows for entangled photon generation up to an operating temperature of 93 K. Our quantum photon source can be directly integrated with existing long distance quantum communication and cryptography systems, and provides a promising material platform for developing future quantum network hardware.
Quantum communication networks are formed of secure links, where information can be transmitted with security guaranteed by the quantum nature of light. An essential building block of such a network is a source of single photons and entangled photon pairs, compatible with the low-loss fibre telecom window around 1550 nm. Previous work based on semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), colour centres in diamond and single atoms has been limited by emission wavelengths unsuitable for long distance applications. Efforts have been made to use standard gallium arsenide based QDs by extending their operating wavelength range, however, electrically driven quantum light emission from quantum dots in this telecommunication window has not yet been demonstrated. In this work, indium phosphide based QD devices have been developed to address this problem. The industry favoured growth method, metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE), has been used to create droplet QDs with low fine structure splitting (FSS). This growth scheme allows us to produce the first optoelectronic devices for single and entangled photon emission in the 1550 nm telecom window. We show single-photon emission with multi-photon events suppressed to 0.11±0.02. Furthermore, we obtain entangled light from the biexciton cascade with a maximum fidelity of 0.87± 0.04 which is sufficient for error correction protocols. We also show extended device operating temperature up to 93 K, allowing operation with liquid nitrogen or simple closed-cycle coolers. Our device can be directly integrated with existing long distance quantum communication, cryptography and quantum relay systems providing a new platform for developing quantum networks.
On demand single-photon and entangled-photon sources are key building-blocks for many proposed photonic quantum technologies. For practical device applications, epitaxially grown quantum dots (QDs) are of increasing importance due to their bright photon emission with sharp line width. Particularly, they are solid-state systems and can be easily embedded within a light-emitting diode (LED) to achieve electrically driven sources. Therefore, one would expect a full-fledged optoelectronic quantum network that is running on macroscopically separated, QD-based single- and entangled-photon devices. An all-electrically operated wavelength-tunable on demand single-photon source (SPS) is demonstrated first. The device consists of a LED in the form of self-assembled InGaAs QDs containing nanomembrane integrated onto a piezoelectric crystal. Triggered single photons are generated via injection of ultra-short electrical pulses into the diode, while their energy can be precisely tuned over a broad range of about 4.8 meV by varying the voltage applied to the piezoelectric crystal. High speed operation of this single-photon emitting diode up to 0.8 GHz is demonstrated. In the second part of this thesis, a fast strain-tunable entangled-light-emitting diode (ELED) is demonstrated. It has been shown that the fine structure splitting of the exciton can be effectively overcome by employing a specific anisotropic strain field. By injecting ultra-fast electrical pulses to the diode, electrically triggered entangled-photon emission with high degree of entanglement is successfully realized. A statistical investigation reveals that more than 30% of the QDs in the strain-tunable quantum LED emit polarization-entangled photon-pairs with entanglement-fidelities up to f+ = 0.83(5). Driven at the highest operation speed ever reported so far (400 MHz), the strain-tunable quantum LED emerges as unique devices for high-data rate entangled-photon applications. In the end of this thesis, on demand and wavelength-tunable LH single-photon emission from strain engineered GaAs QDs is demonstrated. Fourier-transform spectroscopy is performed, from which the coherence time of the LH single-photon emission is studied. It is envisioned that this new type of LH exciton-based SPS can be applied to realize an all-semiconductor based quantum interface in the foreseeable distributed quantum networks.
In view of real world applications of quantum information technologies, the combination of miniature quantum resources with existing fibre networks is a crucial issue. Among such resources, on-chip entangled photon sources play a central role for applications spanning quantum communications, computing and metrology. Here, we use a semiconductor source of entangled photons operating at room temperature in conjunction with standard telecom components to demonstrate multi-user quantum key distribution, a core protocol for securing communications in quantum networks. The source consists of an AlGaAs chip emitting polarization entangled photon pairs over a large bandwidth in the main telecom band around 1550 nm without the use of any off-chip compensation or interferometric scheme; the photon pairs are directly launched into a dense wavelength division multiplexer (DWDM) and secret keys are distributed between several pairs of users communicating through different channels. We achieve a visibility measured after the DWDM of 87% and show long-distance key distribution using a 50-km standard telecom fibre link between two network users. These results illustrate a promising route to practical, resource-efficient implementations adapted to quantum network infrastructures.
Quantum light sources based on single-photon emitters are a core technology, which is expected to enable a multitude of emerging quantum-photonic applications with superior performance. As the development of sources is approaching a certain level of maturity, the important next step for quantum-network related applications is to distribute the generated photons in the most practical way. However, so far these remained within research facilities or were only transmitted over short specially installed fiber. In this regard, operation of the sources at standard telecom wavelengths such that existing classical communication infrastructure can be used, seems the most desirable solution.