Clemens Matthiesen

Subnatural linewidth single photons from a quantum dot.

The observation of quantum-dot resonance fluorescence enabled a new solid-state approach to generating single photons with a bandwidth approaching the natural linewidth of a quantum-dot transition. Here, we operate in the small Rabi frequency limit of resonance fluorescence--the Heitler regime--to generate subnatural linewidth and high-coherence quantum light from a single quantum dot. The measured single-photon coherence is 30 times longer than the lifetime of the quantum-dot transition, and the single photons exhibit a linewidth which is inherited from the excitation laser. In contrast, intensity-correlation measurements reveal that this photon source maintains a high degree of antibunching behavior on the order of the transition lifetime with vanishing two-photon scattering probability. Generating decoherence-free phase-locked single photons from multiple quantum systems will be feasible with our approach.

Phase-locked indistinguishable photons with synthesized waveforms from a solid-state source

Resonance fluorescence in the Heitler regime provides access to single photons with coherence well beyond the Fourier transform limit of the transition, and holds the promise to circumvent environment-induced dephasing common to all solid-state systems. Here we demonstrate that the coherently generated single photons from a single self-assembled InAs quantum dot display mutual coherence with the excitation laser on a timescale exceeding 3 s. Exploiting this degree of mutual coherence, we synthesize near-arbitrary coherent photon waveforms by shaping the excitation laser field. In contrast to post-emission filtering, our technique avoids both photon loss and degradation of the single-photon nature for all synthesized waveforms. By engineering pulsed waveforms of single photons, we further demonstrate that separate photons generated coherently by the same laser field are fundamentally indistinguishable, lending themselves to the creation of distant entanglement through quantum interference.

Environment-assisted quantum control of a solid-state spin via coherent dark states

The interaction of a quantum system with its surroundings is usually detrimental, introducing decoherence. Experiments now show how such interactions can be harnessed to provide all-optical control of the spin state of a quantum dot.

Real-time thermal imaging of catastrophic optical damage in red-emitting high-power diode lasers

The dynamics of the catastrophic optical damage process under continuous wave operation is analyzed in red-emitting high-power diode lasers by means of combined thermal and optical near-field (NF) imaging with cameras. The catastrophic process is revealed as extremely fast (Δt⩽2.3ms) and spatially confined. It is connected with a pronounced impulsive temperature change. Its coincidence with the most intense NF filament is indicative of the critical nature of thermal runaway in the catastrophic process.

Quadrature squeezed photons from a two-level system

Resonance fluorescence arises from the interaction of an optical field with a two-level system, and has played a fundamental role in the development of quantum optics and its applications. Despite its conceptual simplicity, it entails a wide range of intriguing phenomena, such as the Mollow-triplet emission spectrum, photon antibunching and coherent photon emission. One fundamental aspect of resonance fluorescence—squeezing in the form of reduced quantum fluctuations in the single photon stream from an atom in free space—was predicted more than 30 years ago. However, the requirement to operate in the weak excitation regime, together with the combination of modest oscillator strength of atoms and low collection efficiencies, has continued to necessitate stringent experimental conditions for the observation of squeezing with atoms. Attempts to circumvent these issues had to sacrifice antibunching, owing to either stimulated forward scattering from atomic ensembles or multi-photon transitions inside optical cavities. Here, we use an artificial atom with a large optical dipole enabling 100-fold improvement of the photon detection rate over the natural atom counterpart and reach the necessary conditions for the observation of quadrature squeezing in single resonance-fluorescence photons. By implementing phase-dependent homodyne intensity-correlation detection, we demonstrate that the electric field quadrature variance of resonance fluorescence is three per cent below the fundamental limit set by vacuum fluctuations, while the photon statistics remain antibunched. The presence of squeezing and antibunching simultaneously is a fully non-classical outcome of the wave–particle duality of photons.

Direct Photonic Coupling of a Semiconductor Quantum Dot and a Trapped Ion

Coupling individual quantum systems lies at the heart of building scalable quantum networks. Here, we report the first direct photonic coupling between a semiconductor quantum dot and a trapped ion and we demonstrate that single photons generated by a quantum dot controllably change the internal state of a Yb^{+} ion. We ameliorate the effect of the 60-fold mismatch of the radiative linewidths with coherent photon generation and a high-finesse fiber-based optical cavity enhancing the coupling between the single photon and the ion. The transfer of information presented here via the classical correlations between the σ_{z} projection of the quantum-dot spin and the internal state of the ion provides a promising step towards quantum-state transfer in a hybrid photonic network.

Phase-Tuned Entangled State Generation between Distant Spin Qubits

Entanglement between distant nodes is essential for the successful realisation of a distributed quantum network. Photon-mediated entanglement has recently been demonstrated in atomic [1] and diamond defect systems [2] and, very recently, using heavy hole spins in quantum dots [3]. However, until now controlled creation of entangled states with arbitrary phase had yet to be demonstrated in these systems. Here we demonstrate the high frequency creation of Bell states with arbitrary phase using electron-spin qubits confined to distant self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots (QD).

Direct measurement of spin dynamics in InAs/GaAs quantum dots using time-resolved resonance fluorescence

We temporally resolve the resonance fluorescence from an electron spin confined to a single self-assembled quantum dot to measure directly the spins optical initialization and natural relaxation timescales. Our measurements demonstrate that spin initialization occurs on the order of microseconds in the Faraday configuration when a laser resonantly drives the quantum dot transition. We show that the mechanism mediating the optically induced spin-flip changes from electron-nuclei interaction to hole-mixing interaction at 0.6 Tesla external magnetic field. Spin relaxation measurements result in times on the order of milliseconds and suggest that a

Quantum dot spin coherence governed by a strained nuclear environment

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Dynamics of a mesoscopic nuclear spin ensemble interacting with an optically driven electron spin

magnetic field dependence, due to spin-orbit coupling, is sustained all the way down to 2.2 Tesla.