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Applied Physics Letters

Coherence in single photon emission from droplet epitaxy and Stranski–Krastanov quantum dots in the telecom C-band

M. Anderson, Tina Müller, J. Skiba-Szymanska, Andrey B Krysa, Jan Huwer, R. M. Stevenson, Jon Heffernan, D. A. Ritchie, Andrew J. Shields

Published Jan 4, 2021• 51 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The ability of two photons to interfere lies at the heart of many photonic quantum networking concepts and requires that the photons are indistinguishable with sufficient coherence times to resolve the interference signals. However, for solid-state quantum light sources, this can be challenging to achieve as they are in constant interaction with noise sources in their environment. Here, we investigate the noise sources that affect InAs/InP quantum dots emitting in the telecom C-band by comparing their behavior on a wetting layer for Stranski–Krastanov grown quantum dots with a nearly wetting layer-free environment achieved with the droplet epitaxy growth mode. We show that the droplet epitaxy growth mode is beneficial for a quiet environment, leading to 96% of exciton transitions having a coherence time longer than the typical detector resolution of 100 ps, even under non-resonant excitation. We also show that the decay profile indicates the presence of slow dephasing processes, which can be compensated for experimentally. We finally conduct Hong–Ou–Mandel interference measurements between subsequently emitted photons and find a corrected two-photon interference visibility of 98.6 ± 1.6% for droplet-epitaxy grown quantum dots. The understanding of the influence of their surroundings on the quantum optical properties of these emitters is important for their optimization and use in future quantum networking applications.

DOI
10.1063/5.0032128

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The ability of two photons to interfere lies at the heart of many photonic quantum networking concepts and requires that the photons are indistinguishable with sufficient coherence times to resolve the interference signals. However, for solid-state quantum light sources, this can be challenging to achieve as they are in constant interaction with noise sources in their environment. Here, we investigate the noise sources that affect InAs/InP quantum dots emitting in the telecom C-band by comparing their behavior on a wetting layer for Stranski–Krastanov grown quantum dots with a nearly wetting layer-free environment achieved with the droplet epitaxy growth mode. We show that the droplet epitaxy growth mode is beneficial for a quiet environment, leading to 96% of exciton transitions having a coherence time longer than the typical detector resolution of 100 ps, even under non-resonant excitation. We also show that the decay profile indicates the presence of slow dephasing processes, which can be compensated for experimentally. We finally conduct Hong–Ou–Mandel interference measurements between subsequently emitted photons and find a corrected two-photon interference visibility of 98.6 ± 1.6% for droplet-epitaxy grown quantum dots. The understanding of the influence of their surroundings on the quantum optical properties of these emitters is important for their optimization and use in future quantum networking applications.
The ability of individual photonic qubits to interact via interference lies at the heart of many quantum networking applications. For their development, sources of highly coherent, indistinguishable photons are therefore crucial. Here, we investigate the noise sources that affect InAs/InP quantum dots and limit their coherence. We show that the droplet epitaxy growth mode leads to a quiet environment with 96% of exciton transitions having a coherence time above 100 ps, even under non-resonant excitation. Further, Hong–Ou–Mandel interference reveal a corrected two-photon interference visibility of 98.6±1.6% for these quantum dots, showing their potential for quantum networking applications.
A practical way to link separate nodes in quantum networks is to send photons over the standard telecom fibre network. This requires sub-Poissonian photon sources in the telecom wavelength band around 1550 nm, where the photon coherence time has to be sufficient to enable the many interference-based technologies at the heart of quantum networks. Here, we show that droplet epitaxy InAs/InP quantum dots emitting in the telecom C-band can provide photons with coherence times exceeding 1 ns even under non-resonant excitation, more than a factor two longer than values reported for shorter wavelength quantum dots under similar conditions. We demonstrate that these coherence times enable near-optimal interference with a C-band laser qubit, with visibilities only limited by the quantum dot multiphoton emission. Using entangled photons, we further show teleportation of such qubits in six different bases with average fidelity reaching 88.3$\pm$4%. Beyond direct applications in long-distance quantum communication, the high degree of coherence in these quantum dots is promising for future spin based telecom quantum network applications.
The goal of this Special Topic is to provide new insights in the physics of single quantum emitters and single-photon detectors and their possible use for quantum photonic applications. The perspective article of Vural and others discusses the challenges for multi-source quantum implementations based on self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots. Decoherence and spectral diffusion processes in quantum dots, which limit the photon indistinguishability, are considered in their article. In their article, Anderson and others have investigated the noise sources that affect InAs/InP quantum dots emitting in the telecom C-band by comparing their behavior on a wetting layer for Stranski-Krastanov grown quantum dots with a nearly wetting layer-free environment achieved with the droplet epitaxy growth mode. They show that the droplet epitaxy growth mode is beneficial for a low-noise environment, which is a pre-condition for the generation of highly coherent photons.
Abstract A practical way to link separate nodes in quantum networks is to send photons over the standard telecom fibre network. This requires sub-Poissonian photon sources in the wavelength band around 1550 nm, with photon coherence times sufficient to enable the many interference-based technologies at the heart of quantum networks. Here, we show that droplet epitaxy InAs/InP quantum dots emitting in the telecom C-band can provide photons with coherence times exceeding 1 ns under low power non-resonant excitation, and demonstrate that these coherence times enable near-optimal interference with a C-band polarisation-encoded laser qubit, with visibilities only limited by the quantum dot multiphoton emission. Using entangled photons, we further show teleportation of such qubits in six different bases with average postselected fidelity reaching 88.3 ± 4.0%. Beyond direct applications in long-distance quantum communication, the high degree of coherence in these quantum dots is promising for future spin-based telecom quantum network applications.
The development of quantum materials for single-photon emission is crucial for the advancement of quantum information technology. Although significant advancement has been witnessed in recent years for single photon sources in near infrared band (λ~700-1000 nm), several challenges have yet to be addressed for ideal single photon emission at the telecommunication band. In this study, we present a droplet-epitaxy strategy for O-band to C-band single-photon source based semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) using metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Via investigating the growth conditions of the epitaxial process, we have successfully synthesized InAs/InP QDs with narrow emission lines spanning a broad spectral range of λ~1200-1600 nm. The morphological and optical properties of the samples were characterized using atomic force microscopy and micro photoluminescence spectroscopy. The recorded single-photon purity of a plain QD structure reaches (g(2)(0) = 0.16), with a radiative recombination lifetime as short as 1.5 ns. This work provides a crucial platform for future research on integrated microcavity enhancement techniques and coupled QDs with other quantum photonics in the telecom bands, offering significant prospects for quantum network applications.
In this study, we investigate as-grown InAsP/InP quantum dots emitting in the third telecommunication window under detuned quasi-resonant excitation. A large excitation-emission detuning of 32 meV enables efficient suppression of scattered laser light while retaining several advantages of near-resonant excitation. The single-photon nature of the emission is confirmed by a Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment, yielding a raw second-order autocorrelation value of graw(2)(0)=0.076(6)g_{\mathrm{raw}}^{(2)}(0)=0.076(6)graw(2)​(0)=0.076(6). Hong-Ou-Mandel measurement is used to determine the degree of indistinguishability of single photons and reveal as measured visibilities of V=0.094(4)V=0.094(4)V=0.094(4) and V=0.106(5)V=0.106(5)V=0.106(5) for excitation pulse separations of 13.1 ns and 5.3 ns, respectively. These results demonstrate the potential of as-grown InAsP/InP quantum dots grown via molecular beam epitaxy under not experimentally demanding detuned excitation for generating indistinguishable telecom single photons. Further improvements are to be achieved through Purcell enhancement in optical cavities.