No Arabic abstract
Entangled photon generation from semiconductor quantum dots via the biexciton-exciton cascade underlies various decoherence mechanisms related to the solid-state nature of the quantum emitters. So far, this has prevented the demonstration of nearly-maximally entangled photons without the aid of inefficient and complex post-selection techniques that are hardly suitable for quantum communication technologies. Here, we tackle this challenge using strain-tunable GaAs quantum dots driven under two-photon resonant excitation and with strictly-degenerate exciton states. We demonstrate experimentally that our on-demand source generates polarization-entangled photons with fidelity of 0.978(5) and concurrence of 0.97(1) without resorting to post-selection techniques. Moreover, we show that the remaining decoherence mechanisms can be overcome using a modest Purcell enhancement so as to achieve a degree of entanglement >0.99. Our results highlight that GaAs quantum dots can be readily used in advanced communication protocols relying on the non-local properties of quantum entanglement.
More than 80 years passed since the first publication on entangled quantum states. In this period of time the concept of spookily interacting quantum states became an emerging field of science. After various experiments proving the existence of such non-classical states, visionary ideas were put forward to exploit entanglement in quantum information science and technology. These novel concepts have not yet come out of the experimental stage, mostly because of the lack of suitable, deterministic sources of entangled quantum states. Among many systems under investigation, semiconductor quantum dots are particularly appealing emitters of on-demand, single polarization-entangled photon-pairs. Although, it was originally believed that quantum dots must exhibit a limited degree of entanglement related to numerous decoherence effects present in the solid-state. Recent studies invalidated the premise of unavoidable entanglement degrading effects. We review the relevant experiments which have led to these important discoveries and discuss the remaining challenges for the anticipated quantum technologies.
We perform full time resolved tomographic measurements of the polarization state of pairs of photons emitted during the radiative cascade of the confined biexciton in a semiconductor quantum dot. The biexciton was deterministically initiated using a $pi$-area pulse into the biexciton two-photon absorption resonance. Our measurements demonstrate that the polarization states of the emitted photon pair are maximally entangled. We show that the measured degree of entanglement depends solely on the temporal resolution by which the time difference between the emissions of the photon pair is determined. A route for fabricating an on demand source of maximally polarization entangled photon pairs is thereby provided.
Scalable quantum photonic architectures demand highly efficient, high-purity single-photon sources, which can be frequency matched via external tuning. We demonstrate a single-photon source based on an InAs quantum dot embedded in a micropillar resonator, which is frequency tunable via externally-applied stress. Our platform combines the advantages of a Bragg micropillar cavity and the piezo-strain-tuning technique enabling single photon spontaneous emission enhancement via the Purcell effect and quantum dot (QD) with tunable wavelength. Our optomechanical platform has been implemented by integration of semiconductor-based QD-micropillars on a piezoelectric substrate. The fabricated device exhibits spontaneous emission enhancement with a Purcell factor of 4.4$pm$0.7 and allows for a pure triggered single-photon generation with $g^{(2)}(0)$ < 0.07 under resonant excitation. A quantum dot emission energy tuning range of 0.75 meV for 27 kV/cm applied to the piezo substrate has been achieved. Our results pave the way towards the scalable implementation of single-photon quantum photonic technologies using optoelectronic devices.
The realisation of a triggered entangled photon source will be of great importance in quantum information, including for quantum key distribution and quantum computation. We show here that: 1) the source reported in ``A semiconductor source of triggered entangled photon pairs[1. Stevenson et al., Nature 439, 179 (2006)]} is not entangled; 2) the entanglement indicators used in Ref. 1 are inappropriate, relying on assumptions invalidated by their own data; and 3) even after simulating subtraction of the significant quantity of background noise, their source has insignificant entanglement.
We present a 1 GHz-clocked, maximally entangled and on-demand photon pair source based on droplet etched GaAs quantum dots using two-photon excitation. By employing these GaP microlensenhanced devices in conjunction with their substantial brightness, raw entanglement fidelities of up to $0.95 pm 0.01$ and post-selected photon indistinguishabilities of up to $0.93 pm 0.01$, the suitability for quantum repeater based long range quantum entanglement distribution schemes is shown. Comprehensive investigations of a complete set of polarization selective two-photon correlations as well as time resolved Hong-Ou-Mandel interferences facilitate innovative methods that determine quantities such as photon extraction and excitation efficiencies as well as pure dephasing directly - opposed to commonly employed indirect techniques.