We present a numerical method for the accurate and efficient simulation of strongly localized light sources, such as quantum dots, embedded in dielectric micro-optical structures. We apply the method in order to optimize the photon extraction efficiency of a single-photon emitter consisting of a quantum dot embedded into a multi-layer stack with further lateral structures. Furthermore, we present methods to study the robustness of the extraction efficiency with respect to fabrication errors and defects.

Integrated single-photon sources with high photon-extraction efficiency are key building blocks for applications in the field of quantum communications. We report on a bright single-photon source realized by on-chip integration of a deterministic quantum dot microlens with a 3D-printed multilens micro-objective. The device concept benefits from a sophisticated combination of in situ 3D electron-beam lithography to realize the quantum dot microlens and 3D femtosecond direct laser writing for creation of the micro-objective. In this way, we obtain a high-quality quantum device with broadband photon-extraction efficiency of (40 ± 4)% and high suppression of multiphoton emission events with g(2)(τ = 0) < 0.02. Our results highlight the opportunities that arise from tailoring the optical properties of quantum emitters using integrated optics with high potential for the further development of plug-and-play fiber-coupled single-photon sources.

A user‐friendly, fiber‐coupled, single‐photon source operating at telecom wavelengths is a key component of photonic quantum networks providing long‐haul, ultra‐secure data exchange. To take full advantage of quantum‐mechanical data protection and to maximize the transmission rate and distance, a true quantum source providing single photons on demand is highly desirable. This great challenge is tackled by developing a ready‐to‐use semiconductor quantum‐dot‐based device that launches single photons at a wavelength of 1.3 µm directly into a single‐mode optical fiber. In the proposed approach, the quantum dot is deterministically integrated into a nanophotonic structure to ensure efficient on‐chip coupling into a fiber. The whole arrangement is integrated into a 19ʺ compatible housing to enable stand‐alone operation by cooling via a compact Stirling cryocooler. The realized source delivers single photons with a multiphoton events probability as low as 0.15 and a single‐photon emission rate of up to 73 kHz into a standard telecom single‐mode fiber.

Most quantum communication schemes aim at the long-distance transmission of quantum information. In the quantum repeater concept, the transmission line is subdivided into shorter links interconnected by entanglement distribution via Bell-state measurements to overcome inherent channel losses. This concept requires on-demand single-photon sources with a high degree of multi-photon suppression and high indistinguishability within each repeater node. For a successful operation of the repeater spectral matching of remote quantum light sources is essential. We present a spectrally tunable single-photon source emitting in the telecom O-band with the potential to function as a building block of a quantum communication network based on optical fibers. A thin membrane of GaAs embedding InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) is attached onto a piezoelectric actuator via gold thermocompression bonding. Here the thin gold layer acts simultaneously as an electrical contact, strain transmission medium and broadband backside mirror for the QD-micromesa. The nanofabrication of the QD-micromesa is based on in-situ electron-beam lithography, which makes it possible to integrate pre-selected single QDs deterministically into the center of monolithic micromesa structures. The QD pre-selection is based on distinct single-QD properties, signal intensity and emission energy. In combination with strain-induced fine tuning this offers a robust method to achieve spectral resonance in the emission of remote QDs. We show that the spectral tuning has no detectable influence on the multi-photon suppression with g (2) (0) as low as 2-4% and that the emission can be stabilized to an accuracy of 4 µeV using a closed-loop optical feedback.

We report on the experimental demonstration of triggered single-photon emission at the telecom O-band from In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy. Micro-photoluminescence excitation experiments allowed us to identify the p-shell excitonic states in agreement with high excitation photoluminescence on the ensemble of QDs. Hereby we drive an O-band-emitting GaAs-based QD into the p-shell states to get a triggered single photon source of high purity. Applying pulsed p-shell resonant excitation results in strong suppression of multiphoton events evidenced by the as measured value of the second-order correlation function at zero delay of 0.03 (and ~0.005 after background correction).