Principal Investigators: Professor Andrea Fiore / Professor Paul Koenraad
The Project
Photon Sources for Quantum Networks
The goal of this project is to develop sources of single and entangled photons compatible with large-scale integration in a fibre-optical quantum network.
Distribution of specific quantum states of light to particular locations is a key enabling technology for quantum information processing. Semiconductor quantum dots will be investigated as single- photon emitters “on demand.”
Quantum dots are tiny disks of semiconductor material tens of nanometers in diameter and a few nanometers in height inserted in a semiconductor matrix with a larger bandgap. This project will develop quantum dots emitting single photons at infra-red wavelengths, suitable for long-distance quantum networking over optical fibers. Quantum dots will be coupled to monolithic semiconductor microcavities (micropillars and photonic crystals, in order to increase the spontaneous emission rate and thus the efficiency and the phase coherence. Cavity design will be specifically optimised to maximise coupling into single-mode fibres. In collaboration with other groups, entangled photon sources will be designed and realized based upon sequentially emitted photons from the quantum dot. Time-bin qubit encoding will be used to allow long-distance distribution of the entangled photons and other possible encoding schemes will be investigated.
List of Publications
QAP
C. Monat, B. Alloing, C. Zinoni et al, Nanostructured Current-Confined Single Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode at 1300 nm, Nano Letters 6 1464 (2006)
C. Zinoni, B. Alloing, C. Monat et al, Single photonics at telecom wavelengths using nanowire superconducting detectors, http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0610091
L. Balet, M. Francardi, A. Gerardino et al., Enhanced spontaneous emission rate from single InAs quantum dots in a photonic crystal nanocavity at telecom wavelengths, submitted to Appl. Phys. Lett.
B. Alloing, C. Zinoni, L. H. Li, et al., Structural and optical properties of low-density and In-rich InAs/GaAs quantum dots, J. Appl. Phys. 101 24918 (2007)
N. Chauvin, L. Balet, B. Alloing et al., Enhanced spontaneous emission from InAs/GaAs quantum dots in pillar microcavities emitting at telecom wavelength, Optics Letters 32 2747 (2007)
A. Fiore, C. Zinoni, B. Alloing et al., Telecom-wavelength single-photon sources for quantum communications, J. Phys. Cond. Matt. 19 225005 (2007)
A. Gerardino, M. Francardi, L. Balet et al., Fabrication and characterization of point defect photonic crystal nanocavities at telecom wavelength, Microelectronic Engineering 94 1480 (2007)
A. Divochiy, F. Marsili, D. Bitauld et al, Superconducting nanowire photon-number-resolving detector at telecommunication wavelengths, Nature Photonics 2 302 (2008)
F. Marsili, D. Bitauld, A. Fiore, A. Gaggero, F. Mattioli, R. Leoni, M. Benkahoul, F. Lévy, High efficiency NbN nanowire superconducting single photon detectors fabricated on MgO substrates from a low temperature process, Optics Express 16 3191 (2008)
C. Zinoni, B. Alloing, L. H. Li et al, Single-photon experiments at telecommunication wavelengths using nanowire superconducting detectors, Appl. Phys. Lett. 91 031106 (2007)
Related work
C. Zinoni, B. Alloing, C. Monat et al, Time-resolved and antibunching experiments on single quantum dots at 1300nm, Applied Physics Letters 88 131102 (2006)
A. Korneev, Y. Vachtomin, O. Minaeva et al., Single-Photon Detection System for Quantum Optics Applications, IEEE. J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 944 (2007)