Reliable technologies for the monolithic integration of lasers onto silicon represent the holy grail for chip-level optical interconnects. In this context, nanowires (NWs) fabricated using III-V semiconductors are of strong interest since they can be grown site-selectively on silicon using conventional epitaxial approaches. Their unique one-dimensional structure and high refractive index naturally facilitate low loss optical waveguiding and optical recirculation in the active NW-core region. However, lasing from NWs on silicon has not been achieved to date, due to the poor modal reflectivity at the NW-silicon interface. We demonstrate how, by inserting a tailored dielectric interlayer at the NW-Si interface, low-threshold single mode lasing can be achieved in vertical-cavity GaAs-AlGaAs core-shell NW lasers on silicon as measured at low temperature. By exploring the output characteristics along a detection direction parallel to the NW-axis, we measure very high spontaneous emission factors comparable to nanocavity lasers (β = 0.2) and achieve ultralow threshold pump energies ≤11 pJ/pulse. Analysis of the input-output characteristics of the NW lasers and the power dependence of the lasing emission line width demonstrate the potential for high pulsation rates ≥250 GHz. Such highly efficient nanolasers grown monolithically on silicon are highly promising for the realization of chip-level optical interconnects.

We report the routing of quantum light emitted by self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) into the optical modes of a GaAs ridge waveguide and its efficient detection on-chip via evanescent coupling to NbN superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SSPDs). The waveguide coupled SSPDs primarily detect QD luminescence, with scattered photons from the excitation laser onto the proximal detector being negligible by comparison. The SSPD detection efficiency from the evanescently coupled waveguide modes is shown to be two orders of magnitude larger when compared with operation under normal incidence illumination, due to the much longer optical interaction length. Furthermore, in-situ time resolved measurements performed using the integrated detector show an average QD spontaneous emission lifetime of 0.95 ns, measured with a timing jitter of only 72 ps. The performance metrics of the SSPD integrated directly onto GaAs nano-photonic hardware confirms the strong potential for on-chip few-photon quantum optics using such semiconductor-superconductor hybrid systems.

Strongly confined photonic modes can couple to quantum emitters and mechanical excitations. To harness the full potential in quantum photonic circuits, interactions between different constituents have to be precisely and dynamically controlled. Here, a prototypical coupled element, a photonic molecule defined in a photonic crystal membrane, is controlled by a radio frequency surface acoustic wave. The sound wave is tailored to deliberately switch on and off the bond of the photonic molecule on sub-nanosecond timescales. In time-resolved experiments, the acousto-optically controllable coupling is directly observed as clear anticrossings between the two nanophotonic modes. The coupling strength is determined directly from the experimental data. Both the time dependence of the tuning and the inter-cavity coupling strength are found to be in excellent agreement with numerical calculations. The demonstrated mechanical technique can be directly applied for dynamic quantum gate operations in state-of-the-art-coupled nanophotonic, quantum cavity electrodynamic and optomechanical systems.

A coupled quantum dot-nanocavity system in the weak coupling regime of cavityquantumelectrodynamics is dynamically tuned in and out of resonance by the coherent elastic field of a fSAW 800 MHz surface acoustic wave. When the system is brought to resonance by the sound wave, light-matter interaction is strongly increased by the Purcell effect. This leads to a precisely timed single photon emission as confirmed by the second order photon correlation function, g (2) . All relevant frequencies of our experiment are faithfully identified in the Fourier transform of g (2) , demonstrating high fidelity regulation of the stream of single photons emitted by the system. Solid state cavity-quantumelectrodynamics (cQED) systems formed by an exciton confined in a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) and strongly localized optical modes in a photonic nanocavity (PhNCs) have been intensely studied over the past years [1,2]. Membranes patterned with two-dimensional photonic crystals represent a particularly attractive platform for the integration of large scale photonic networks on a chip [3]. In this architecture, both the weak[4] and strong coupling regime [5,6] of cQED have been demonstrated. These key achievements paved the way towards efficient sources of single photons [7,8] or optical switching operations controlled by single photons [9]. So far, the dynamic control of the spontaneous emission [10] or the coherent evolution of the coupled QD-PhNC cQED system [11,12] has relied mainly on all-optical approaches, although all-electrical approaches would be highly desirable for real-world applications due to their reduced level of complexity. However, to switch an electric field and induce a Stark effect [13] with sufficent bandwidth, nanoscale electric contacts are required [14]. In addition to light, these membrane structures guide [15] or confine vibronic excitations with strong optomechanical coupling strength [16,17]. These phononic modes can be directly employed to interface photonic crystal membranes by radio frequency surface acoustic waves (SAWs) [18,19]. As SAWs can be excited at GHz frequencies on piezoelectric materials [20,21], electrically induced and acoustically driven quantum gates are well within reach on this platform [22]. Moreover, SAWs have a long-standing tradition to control optically active semiconductors [23]. On one hand, acoustic charge transport [24] in piezoelectric semiconductors by these phononic modes have been proposed [25] and demonstrated [26][27][28] to regulate the carrier injection into QDs for precisely triggered single photon sources. On the other hand, the dynamic strain accompanying the SAW dynamically tunes optical modes in optical cavities [18,29] or excitons in QDs [30,31]. Here we demonstrate the dynamic, acousto-optic control of a prototypical QD-PhNC system by a f SAW 800 MHz SAW. We show that the acoustic field precisely modulates the energy detuning between the QD and PhNC on sub-nanosecond timescales switching the emission rate of the QD by a factor of 4. The photon statis...

We prepare NbN thin films by DC magnetron sputtering on [100] GaAs substrates, optimise their quality and demonstrate their use for efficient single photon detection in the near-infrared. The interrelation between the Nb:N content, growth temperature and crystal quality is established for 4−22nm thick films. Optimised films exhibit a superconducting critical temperature of 12.6±0.2K for a film thickness of 22 ± 0.5nm and 10.2 ± 0.2K for 4 ± 0.5nm thick films that are suitable for single photon detection. The optimum growth temperature is shown to be ∼ 475 • C reflecting a trade-off between enhanced surface diffusion, which improves the crystal quality, and arsenic evaporation from the GaAs substrate. Analysis of the elemental composition of the films provides strong evidence that the δ-phase of NbN is formed in optimised samples, controlled primarily via the nitrogen partial pressure during growth. By patterning optimum 4nm and 22nm thick films into a 100nm wide, 369µm long nanowire meander using electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching, we fabricated single photon detectors on GaAs substrates. Time-resolved studies of the photo-response, absolute detection efficiency and dark count rates of these detectors as a function of the bias current reveal maximum single photon detection efficiencies as high as 21 ± 2% at 4.3 ± 0.1K with ∼ 50k dark counts per second for bias currents of 98%I C at a wavelength of 950nm. As expected, similar detectors fabricated from 22nm thick films exhibit much lower efficiencies (0.004%) with very low dark count rates ≤ 3cps. The maximum lateral extension of a photo-generated hotspot is estimated to be 30±8nm, clearly identifying the low detection efficiency and dark count rate of the thick film detectors as arising from hotspot cooling via the heat reservoir provided by the NbN film. PACS numbers: 74.78.-w 74.25.Gz 78.67.Uh 85.25.Oj 85.25.-j 42.50.-p

We report the realization of a silicon three-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavity containing self-assembled germanium-island emitters. The three-dimensional woodpile photonic crystal was assembled layer by layer by micromanipulation using silicon plates grown by molecular beam epitaxy. An optical nanocavity was formed in the center of the photonic crystal by introducing a point defect into one of the plates. Measurements of the filtered spontaneous emission from the Ge islands in the active plate through the localized modes of the structure directly reveal information on the evolution 5 These authors contributed equally to this work. 6

In this note we classify invariant star products with quantum momentum maps on symplectic manifolds by means of an equivariant characteristic class taking values in the equivariant cohomology. We establish a bijection between the equivalence classes and the formal series in the second equivariant cohomology, thereby giving a refined classification which takes into account the quantum momentum map as well.Comment: 15 pages, no figure

We report on non-conventional lasing in a photonic-crystal nanocavity that operates with only four solid-state quantum-dot emitters. In a comparison between microscopic theory and experiment, we demonstrate that irrespective of emitter detuning, lasing with is facilitated by means of emission from dense-lying multi-exciton states. In the spontaneous-emission regime we find signatures for radiative coupling between the quantum dots. The realization of different multi-exciton states at different excitation powers and the presence of electronic inter-emitter correlations are reflected in a pump-rate dependence of the β-factor.