Luca Sapienza

Cavity quantum electrodynamics with Anderson-localized modes

Scattered and Coupled Cavity electrodynamics explores the coupling of light with matter—ideally, that of a single photon with a single atom. Typically, this requires that the photon and the atom be confined to increase the likelihood of interaction, but scattering of light is an unavoidable product of an engineered device and is usually considered to be detrimental because it leads to loss of the photons from the cavity. Sapienza et al. (p. 1352; see the Perspective by Wiersma) saw extreme light scattering as an opportunity for the spontaneous generation of localized modes of light that can be exploited to induce light-matter coupling. Thus, working with a process where scattering is considered a resource rather than a nuisance, as in this case, may prove useful for realizing robust quantum information devices. Optical scattering is used to induce quantum coupling between light and an artificial atom. A major challenge in quantum optics and quantum information technology is to enhance the interaction between single photons and single quantum emitters. This requires highly engineered optical cavities that are inherently sensitive to fabrication imperfections. We have demonstrated a fundamentally different approach in which disorder is used as a resource rather than a nuisance. We generated strongly confined Anderson-localized cavity modes by deliberately adding disorder to photonic crystal waveguides. The emission rate of a semiconductor quantum dot embedded in the waveguide was enhanced by a factor of 15 on resonance with the Anderson-localized mode, and 94% of the emitted single photons coupled to the mode. Disordered photonic media thus provide an efficient platform for quantum electrodynamics, offering an approach to inherently disorder-robust quantum information devices.

Nanoscale optical positioning of single quantum dots for bright and pure single-photon emission

Self-assembled, epitaxially grown InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) are promising semiconductor quantum emitters that can be integrated on a chip for a variety of photonic quantum information science applications. However, self-assembled growth results in an essentially random in-plane spatial distribution of QDs, presenting a challenge in creating devices that exploit the strong interaction of single QDs with highly confined optical modes. Here, we present a photoluminescence imaging approach for locating single QDs with respect to alignment features with an average position uncertainty <30 nm (<10 nm when using a solid-immersion lens), which represents an enabling technology for the creation of optimized single QD devices. To that end, we create QD single-photon sources, based on a circular Bragg grating geometry, that simultaneously exhibit high collection efficiency (48%±5% into a 0.4 numerical aperture lens, close to the theoretically predicted value of 50%), low multiphoton probability (g(2)(0) <1%), and a significant Purcell enhancement factor (≈3).

Electrically injected cavity polaritons

We have realised an electroluminescent device in which electron are injected into intersubband polariton branches. We reproduce electroluminescence spectra by using a phenomenological model, in which a voltage dependent injection is taken into account.

Probing the statistical properties of Anderson localization with quantum emitters

Wave propagation in disordered media can be strongly modified by multiple scattering and wave interference. Ultimately the so-called Anderson-localized regime is reached when the waves become strongly confined in space. So far, Anderson localization of light has been probed in transmission experiments by measuring the intensity of an external light source after propagation through a disordered medium. However, discriminating between Anderson localization and losses in these experiments remains a major challenge. Here we present an alternative approach where we use quantum emitters embedded in disordered photonic crystal waveguides as light sources. Anderson-localized modes are efficiently excited and the analysis of the photoluminescence spectra allows to explore their statistical properties paving a way for controlling Anderson localization in disordered photonic crystals.

Photovoltaic probe of cavity polaritons in a quantum cascade structure

The strong coupling between an intersubband excitation in a quantum cascade structure and a photonic mode of a planar microcavity has been detected by angle-resolved photovoltaic measurements. A typical anticrossing behavior, with a vacuum-field Rabi splitting of 16meV at 78K, has been measured, for an intersubband transition at 163meV. These results show that the strong coupling regime between photons and intersubband excitations can be engineered in a quantum cascade optoelectronic device. They also demonstrate the possibility to perform angle-resolved midinfrared photodetection and to develop active devices based on intersubband cavity polaritons.

Heterogeneous integration for on-chip quantum photonic circuits with single quantum dot devices

Single-quantum emitters are an important resource for photonic quantum technologies, constituting building blocks for single-photon sources, stationary qubits, and deterministic quantum gates. Robust implementation of such functions is achieved through systems that provide both strong light–matter interactions and a low-loss interface between emitters and optical fields. Existing platforms providing such functionality at the single-node level present steep scalability challenges. Here, we develop a heterogeneous photonic integration platform that provides such capabilities in a scalable on-chip implementation, allowing direct integration of GaAs waveguides and cavities containing self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots—a mature class of solid-state quantum emitter—with low-loss Si3N4 waveguides. We demonstrate a highly efficient optical interface between Si3N4 waveguides and single-quantum dots in GaAs geometries, with performance approaching that of devices optimized for each material individually. This includes quantum dot radiative rate enhancement in microcavities, and a path for reaching the non-perturbative strong-coupling regime.Effective use of single emitters in quantum photonics requires coherent emission, strong light-matter coupling, low losses and scalable fabrication. Here, Davanco et al. stride toward this goal by hybrid on-chip integration of Si3N4 waveguides and GaAs nanophotonic geometries with InAs quantum dots.

Cryogenic photoluminescence imaging system for nanoscale positioning of single quantum emitters

We report a photoluminescence imaging system for locating single quantum emitters with respect to alignment features. Samples are interrogated in a 4 K closed-cycle cryostat by a high numerical aperture (NA = 0.9, 100× magnification) objective that sits within the cryostat, enabling high efficiency collection of emitted photons without image distortions due to the cryostat windows. The locations of single InAs/GaAs quantum dots within a >50 μm × 50 μm field of view are determined with ≈4.5 nm uncertainty (one standard deviation) in a 1 s long acquisition. The uncertainty is determined through a combination of a maximum likelihood estimate for localizing the quantum dot emission, and a cross correlation method for determining the alignment mark center. This location technique can be an important step in the high-throughput creation of nanophotonic devices that rely upon the interaction of highly confined optical modes with single quantum emitters.

Intersubband electroluminescent devices operating in the strong-coupling regime

We present a detailed study of the electroluminescence of intersubband devices operating in the light-matter strong-coupling regime. The devices have been characterized by performing angle-resolved spectroscopy that shows two distinct light intensity spots in the momentum-energy phase diagram. These two features of the electroluminescence spectra are associated with photons emitted from the lower polariton branch and from the weak coupling of the intersubband transition with an excited cavity mode. The same electroluminescent active region has been processed into devices with and without the optical microcavity to illustrate the difference between a device operating in the strong- and weak-coupling regime. The spectra are very well simulated as the product of the polariton optical density of states, and a function describing the energy window in which the polariton states are populated. The evolution of the spectra as a function of the voltage shows that the strong-coupling regime allows the observation of the electroluminescence at energies otherwise inaccessible.

Bright Single-Photon Emission From a Quantum Dot in a Circular Bragg Grating Microcavity

Bright single-photon emission from single quantum dots (QDs) in suspended circular Bragg grating microcavities is demonstrated. This geometry has been designed to achieve efficient (>; 50%) single-photon extraction into a near-Gaussian-shaped far-field pattern, modest (≈ 10 ×) Purcell enhancement of the radiative rate, and a spectral bandwidth of a few nanometers. Measurements of fabricated devices show progress toward these goals, with collection efficiencies as high as ≈ 10% demonstrated with moderate spectral bandwidth and rate enhancement. Photon correlation measurements are performed under above-bandgap excitation (pump wavelength = 780 to 820 nm) and confirm the single-photon character of the collected emission. While the measured sources are all antibunched and dominantly composed of single photons, the multiphoton probability varies significantly. Devices exhibiting tradeoffs among collection efficiency, Purcell enhancement, and multiphoton probability are explored and the results are interpreted with the help of finite-difference time-domain simulations. Below-bandgap excitation resonant with higher states of the QD and/or cavity (pump wavelength = 860 to 900 nm) shows a near-complete suppression of multiphoton events and may circumvent some of the aforementioned tradeoffs.

Spectral broadening and shaping of nanosecond pulses: toward shaping of single photons from quantum emitters

We experimentally demonstrate spectral broadening and shaping of exponentially-decaying nanosecond pulses via nonlinear mixing with a phase-modulated pump in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. 1550 nm pump light is imprinted with a temporal phase and used to upconvert a weak 980 nm pulse to 600 nm while simultaneously broadening the spectrum to that of a Lorentzian pulse up to 10 times shorter. While the current experimental demonstration is for spectral shaping, we also provide a numerical study showing the feasibility of subsequent spectral phase correction to achieve temporal compression and reshaping of a 1 ns mono-exponentially decaying pulse to a 250 ps Lorentzian, which would constitute a complete spectrotemporal waveform shaping protocol. This method, which uses quantum frequency conversion in PPLN with >100:1 signal-to-noise ratio, is compatible with single photon states of light.