Electrically driven telecommunication wavelength single-photon source

Lasers and LEDs display a statistical distribution in the number of photons emitted in a given time interval. New applications exploiting the quantum properties of light require sources for which either individual photons, or pairs, are generated in a regulated stream. Here we review recent research on single-photon sources based on the emission of a single semiconductor quantum dot. In just a few years remarkable progress has been made in generating indistinguishable single-photons and entangled photon pairs using such structures. It suggests it may be possible to realise compact, robust, LED-like semiconductor devices for quantum light generation. Applications of Quantum PhotonicsApplying quantum light states to photonic applications allows functionalities that are not possible using 'ordinary' classical light. For example, carrying information with single-photons provides a means to test the secrecy of optical communications, which could soon be applied to the problem of sharing digital cryptographic keys.1 2 Although secure quantum key distribution systems based on weak laser pulses have already been realised for simple point-to-point links, true single-photon sources would improve their performance.3 Furthermore, quantum light sources are important for future quantum communication protocols such as quantum teleportation. 4Here quantum networks sharing entanglement could be used to distribute keys over longer distance or through more complex topologies. 5A natural progression would be to use photons for quantum information processing, as well as communication. In this regard it is relatively straightforward to encode and manipulate quantum information on a photon. On the other hand, single-photons do not interact strongly with one-another, a prerequisite for a simple photon logic gate. In linear optics quantum computing 67 (LOQC) this problem is solved using projective measurements to induce an effective interaction between the photons. Here triggered sources of single-photons and entangled pairs are required as both the qubit carriers, as well as auxiliary sources to test the successful operation of the gates. Although the component requirements for LOQC are challenging, they have recently been relaxed significantly by new theoretical schemes.7 Quantum light states are also likely to become increasingly important for various types of precision optical measurement. 8For these applications we would ideally like light sources which generate pure single-photon states "on demand" in response to an external trigger signal. Key performance measures for such a source are the efficiency, defined as the fraction of photons collected into the experiment or application per trigger, and the second order correlation function at zero delay, see text box. The latter is essentially a measure of the two-photon rate compared to a classical source with random emission times of the same average intensity. In order to construct applications involving more than one photon, it is also important that photons emitted from th...

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“…82 Recently, the first electrically-driven single-photon source at a telecom wavelength has been demonstrated. 83 …”

Section: Single-photon Ledsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semiconductor quantum light sources

2007

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“…Recently, investigations on single photon emission from semiconductor quantum dots ͑QDs͒ have concentrated on electrical pumping, [4][5][6][7] high repetition rates, 8 telecommunication wavelengths, [9][10][11][12][13] high temperature operation 14 and emission stability. 15 From a practical point of view, it is desirable to have a "plug and play" type, stable single photon source at telecommunication wavelengths, ideally with a high repetition rate.…”

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confidence: 99%

“Plug and Play” single photons at 1.3μm approaching gigahertz operation

Brossard

Hammura

et al. 2008

Applied Physics Letters

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We report a "plug and play" single photon source, fully integrated with an optical fiber, emitting at 1.3 m. Micropillars were patterned on a single layer InAs quantum dot wafer to guarantee a single pillar per fiber core. The single exciton peak filtered with a tunable optical filter was fed to a Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometer, and the second order correlation function at zero delay was less than 0.5, indicating single photon emission. The measured decay dynamics under double-pulse excitation show that the single photon device can be operated at speeds greater than 0.5 GHz. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. ͓DOI: 10.1063/1.2960549͔Single photon sources are in demand for quantum key distribution 1,2 and linear optical quantum computation. 3 Recently, investigations on single photon emission from semiconductor quantum dots ͑QDs͒ have concentrated on electrical pumping, 4-7 high repetition rates, 8 telecommunication wavelengths, 9-13 high temperature operation 14 and emission stability.15 From a practical point of view, it is desirable to have a "plug and play" type, stable single photon source at telecommunication wavelengths, ideally with a high repetition rate.In our previous work, 15 we have demonstrated a plug and play single photon source integrated with an optical fiber system. In this system, a bundle of single mode optical fibers ͑around 600͒ are bound together at one end and polished. The polished end of the fiber bundle is directly mounted on top of a 5 ϫ 5 mm 2 wafer with a very low quantum dot density. All fibers in the other end are free and can be connected to a wavelength division multiplexing ͑WDM͒ device with two separate output fibers. One of these two fibers ͑input fiber͒ carries the excitation light and the other ͑output fiber͒ carries the emitted light. The exciton emission collected from a single QD via one of the fibers in the fiber bundle exhibits single photon emission. Great stability of nearly ͑but not limited to͒ one month has been demonstrated. 15 However, the emission wavelength from InAs QD was around 920 nm. In this work, we realize a plug and play single photon source at telecommunication wavelengths using the same system. The repetition rate of this type of photon source can be higher than 0.5 GHz, which is confirmed with two-pulse lifetime measurements.The InAs QD wafer with a 1.3 m wavelength emission is grown by molecular-beam expitaxy with an InGaAs capping layer. The QD layer is embedded in a 1-lambda cavity between one-period ͑top͒ and 15-period ͑bottom͒ GaAs/ Al 0.9 Ga 0.1 As distributed Bragg reflectors, in order to enhance the extraction efficiency. The collection efficiency of the fiber with a numerical aperture of 0.12 was 0.69%, calculated with the method described in Ref. 16. To achieve very low QD density ͑around 2 ϫ 10 8 dots/ cm 2 ͒, an ultralow growth rate was used for the sample growth.17 With this growth technique, single photon emission at 1.3 m was demonstrated using a confocal system with either InGaAs ͑Ref. 18͒ or superconducting single-photon d...

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“…However, up to now, most reported single photon emitters have been below 1.3 μm wavelength. [3][4][5][6][7][8] Extremely low density InAs or InAs/InGaAs QDs on GaAs substrates were reported at wavelengths up to 1.4 μm, which is the limit on these substrates. [9][10][11] InAs QDs grown on InP substrates, however, allow the growth of QDs with substantially longer emission wavelengths; tunable wavelength was reported between 1.3 and 1.7 μm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silver Embedded Nanomesas as Enhanced Single Quantum Dot Emitters in the Telecommunication C Band

Huh¹,

Hermannstädter²,

Akahane³

et al. 2012

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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We use high-density InAs quantum dots, which were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InP(311)B substrates, as photon sources in the telecommunication C band at approximately 1.55 μm. To select a small numbers of dots, we fabricate sub-micrometer sized mesas by electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching. The benefit of using high-density quantum dot samples is that at least one optically active quantum dot can be expected in every single mesa. We show that the etching rate and resulting mesa shape of the In 0.53 Al 0.22 Ga 0.25 As epitaxial layer can be varied with the chamber pressure during the etching process. Furthermore, under constant pressure and with increasing etching time, the sequential etching of the epitaxial layer and the underneath substrate leads to a significant modification in the mesa shape, too. We demonstrate that the isolation of a small number of quantum dots within one mesa results in the appearance of single quantum dot emission with a narrow line width and minimal spectral overlap between different emission lines. We moreover present significant enhancement of the luminescence collected from single dots in silver-embedded nanomesas when compared with as-etched mesas. Jae-Hoon HuhJpn. J. Appl. Phys.3/6/2012 2

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Electrically driven telecommunication wavelength single-photon source

Cited by 68 publications

References 17 publications

Semiconductor quantum light sources

Semiconductor quantum light sources

“Plug and Play” single photons at 1.3μm approaching gigahertz operation

Silver Embedded Nanomesas as Enhanced Single Quantum Dot Emitters in the Telecommunication C Band

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