Pablo Bianucci

Resonance Fluorescence from a Coherently Driven Semiconductor Quantum Dot in a Cavity

We show that resonance fluorescence, i.e., the resonant emission of a coherently driven two-level system, can be realized with a semiconductor quantum dot. The dot is embedded in a planar optical microcavity and excited in a waveguide mode so as to discriminate its emission from residual laser scattering. The transition from the weak to the strong excitation regime is characterized by the emergence of oscillations in the first-order correlation function of the fluorescence, g(tau), as measured by interferometry. The measurements correspond to a Mollow triplet with a Rabi splitting of up to 13.3 microeV. Second-order correlation measurements further confirm nonclassical light emission.

Single rolled-up InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot microtubes integrated with silicon-on-insulator waveguides.

We report on single rolled-up microtubes integrated with silicon-on-insulator waveguides. Microtubes with diameters of ~7 μm, wall thicknesses of ~250 nm, and lengths greater than 100 μm are fabricated by selectively releasing a coherently strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot layer from the handling GaAs substrate. The microtubes are then transferred from their host substrate to silicon-on-insulator waveguides by an optical fiber abrupt taper. The Q-factor of the waveguide coupled microtube is measured to be 1.5×10(5), the highest recorded for a semiconductor microtube cavity to date. The insertion loss and extinction ratio of the microtube are 1 dB and 34 dB respectively. By pumping the microtube with a 635 nm laser, the resonance wavelength is shifted by 0.7 nm. The integration of InGaAs/GaAs microtubes with silicon-on-insulator waveguides provides a simple, low loss, high extinction passive filter solution in the C+L band communication regime.

Decoherence processes during optical manipulation of excitonic qubits in semiconductor quantum dots

Using photoluminescence spectroscopy, we have investigated the nature of Rabi oscillation damping during optical manipulation of excitonic qubits in self-assembled quantum dots. Rabi oscillations were recorded by varying the pulse amplitude for fixed pulse durations between 4 ps and 10 ps. Up to five periods are visible, making it possible to quantify the excitation dependent damping. We find that this damping is more pronounced for shorter pulse widths and show that its origin is the nonresonant excitation of carriers in the wetting layer, most likely involving bound-to-continuum and continuum-to-bound transitions.

Coherent Control of a V-Type Three-Level System in a Single Quantum Dot

In a semiconductor quantum dot, the IIx and IIy transitions to the polarization eigenstates, |x> and |y>, naturally form a three-level V-type system. Using low-temperature polarized photoluminescence spectroscopy, we have investigated the exciton dynamics arising under strong laser excitation. We also explicitly solved the density matrix equations for comparison with the experimental data. The polarization of the exciting field controls the coupling between the otherwise orthogonal states. In particular, when the system is initialized into \Y>, a polarization-tailored pulse can swap the population into |x>, and vice versa, effectively operating on the exciton spin.

Determination of anisotropic dipole moments in self-assembled quantum dots using Rabi oscillations

By investigating the polarization-dependent Rabi oscillations using photoluminescence spectroscopy, we determined the respective transition dipole moments of the two excited excitonic states |Ex〉 and |Ey〉 of a single self-assembled quantum dot that are nondegenerate due to shape anisotropy. We find that the ratio of the two dipole moments is close to the physical elongation ratio of the quantum dot.

Modification of ensemble emission rates and luminescence spectra for inhomogeneously broadened distributions of quantum dots coupled to optical microcavities

We investigate the spontaneous emission modifications when ensembles of quantum dots (QDs) with differing emission frequencies and finite Lorentzian linewidths are coupled to a microcavity. Using contour integrals we develop a general expression for the rate enhancement when neither the emitter nor the cavity resonance can be treated as a delta function. We show that the ensemble cavity-coupled luminescence lifetimes are generally suppressed in the case of spherical cavities and that the spontaneous emission dynamics of the cavity coupled component becomes increasingly stretched as the coupling factor increases. The Q-factor measured from the luminescence spectrum can be much lower than the intrinsic cavity Q-factor, and is in many practical situations limited by the QD spectral width. The mode spectrum observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum can be largely determined by the QD emission linewidth, permitting this parameter to be extracted without requiring single-particle spectroscopy. In the case of Si-QDs, the linewidth cannot be significantly greater than 10 meV in order to observe spherical cavity resonances in the PL spectrum.

Silicon nanocrystal luminescence coupled to whispering gallery modes in optical fibers

Oxide-embedded silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) are a promising material for microphotonics, particularly when coupled to high quality factor (Q-factor) optical cavity modes. By glazing smooth nanocrystalline films from a solution-based precursor onto the surface of optical fibers, the Si-NC luminescence can be strongly coupled into the optical modes of the fiber. Well-developed whispering gallery modes occur in the luminescence of the Si-NCs measured perpendicular to the fiber axis, showing detection-limited Q-factors in the emission spectrum. In addition to providing high Q-factor fluorescence without the need for lithographic procedures, the physical versatility of a nanocrystal-coated fiber suggests possible refractometric applications.

Discrete Wigner functions and the phase space representation of quantum computers

We show how to represent the state and the evolution of a quantum computer (or any system with an N-dimensional Hilbert space) in phase space. For this purpose we use a discrete version of the Wigner function which, for arbitrary N, is defined in a phase space grid of 2N×2N points. We compute such Wigner function for states which are relevant for quantum computation. Finally, we discuss properties of quantum algorithms in phase space and present the phase space representation of Grovers quantum search algorithm.

Self-organized InAs/InGaAsP quantum dot tube lasers

We report the achievement of a semiconductor tube laser that can operate in the optical communication wavelength range for applications in the emerging Si-photonics. Such nanoscale devices are fabricated from self-organized InAs/InGaAsP quantum dot nanomembranes through a strain-driven self-rolling mechanism using standard photolithography process. Under continuous wave optical pumping, the devices exhibit an ultralow lasing threshold of ∼1.26 μW at 82 K, with multiple emission wavelengths in the S band of optical communications. The spontaneous emission coupling factor and Purcell factor are estimated to be ∼0.30 and ∼4.8, respectively.

Selective polarization mode excitation in InGaAs/GaAs microtubes

We report on selective polarization mode excitation in InGaAs/GaAs rolled-up microtubes. The microtubes are fabricated by selectively releasing a coherently strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot layer from its host GaAs substrate. An optical fiber abrupt taper is used to pick up the microtube, while an adiabatically tapered optical fiber is used to couple light into the resonant optical modes of the microtube. By varying the polarization of the light in the adiabatically tapered fiber both transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes are observed in the microtube. We also show that the microtube can be used as a red (0.6 μm) to infrared light (1.5 μm) optical-optical modulator taking advantage of the thermal-optical effect.