Electrically Injected Twin Photon Emitting Lasers at Room Temperature

Abstract

On-chip generation, manipulation and detection of nonclassical states of light are some of the major issues for quantum information technologies. In this context, the maturity and versatility of semiconductor platforms are important assets towards the realization of ultra-compact devices. In this paper we present our work on the design and study of an electrically injected AlGaAs photon pair source working at room temperature. The device is characterized through its performances as a function of temperature and injected current. Finally we discuss the impact of the device's properties on the generated quantum state. These results are very promising for the demonstration of electrically injected entangled photon sources at room temperature and let us envision the use of III-V semiconductors for a widespread diffusion of quantum communication technologies.

Difference-frequency generation in an AlGaAs Bragg-reflection waveguide using an on-chip electrically-pumped quantum dot laser

“…The insets depict the spectrum of the laser below and above the threshold current, respectively. This result is comparable to similar integrated lasers in BRWs [26], however, structures optimized only for lasing can offer significantly lower lasing thresholds down to a few tens of milliamperes [25,27]. Temperature can be used to tune the laser spectrum as it modifies the material band-gap and refractive index.…”

“…Simple waveguide circuits [21], entangled photon pair sources [22,23], single photon emitters [24] and on-chip lasers [25] have been demonstrated with BRWs. However, there has been limited development of devices that exploit active components, such as lasers, and the strong second order nonlinearity at the same time [26,27].…”

Tuning parametric processes in semiconductor diode lasers

“…The modal propagation loss was measured to be 14.3/cm using the cut back method [14]. This loss value is larger than typical values measured for similar devices [15,16]. This is in part due to the extensive reach of the optical field of the Bragg mode within the cladding, which yields to larger overlap with the doped layers.…”

Is Heralded Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence with Single Absorbers Possible with Current Technology?

“…The peculiar behavior of these biphotons have been utilized to demonstrate stunning experiments impossible with classical light, e.g., quantum teleportation [81]. Entangled photon pairs can also be obtained from semiconductors such as a quantum dot embedded in an LED [82], by four-wave-mixing [83], SPDC in semiconductors with Bragg waveguides [84] or from on chip SPDC in a laser diode with a super-lattice structure [85,86]. However, most of these systems are still under development and not mature, yet.…”