Simone Luca Portalupi

Simultaneous Faraday filtering of the Mollow triplet sidebands with the Cs-D1 clock transition.

Hybrid quantum systems integrating semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and atomic vapours become important building blocks for scalable quantum networks due to the complementary strengths of individual parts. QDs provide on-demand single-photon emission with near-unity indistinguishability comprising unprecedented brightness—while atomic vapour systems provide ultra-precise frequency standards and promise long coherence times for the storage of qubits. Spectral filtering is one of the key components for the successful link between QD photons and atoms. Here we present a tailored Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter based on the caesium-D1 transition for interfacing it with a resonantly pumped QD. The presented Faraday filter enables a narrow-bandwidth (Δω=2π × 1 GHz) simultaneous filtering of both Mollow triplet sidebands. This result opens the way to use QDs as sources of single as well as cascaded photons in photonic quantum networks aligned to the primary frequency standard of the caesium clock transition.

On-chip beamsplitter operation on single photons from quasi-resonantly excited quantum dots embedded in GaAs rib waveguides

We present an on-chip beamsplitter operating on a single-photon level by means of a quasi-resonantly driven InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot. The single photons are guided by rib waveguides and split into two arms by an evanescent field coupler. Although the waveguides themselves support the fundamental TE and TM modes, the measured degree of polarization (∼90%) reveals the main excitation and propagation of the TE mode. We observe the preserved single-photon nature of a quasi-resonantly excited quantum dot by performing a cross-correlation measurement on the two output arms of the beamsplitter. Additionally, the same quantum dot is investigated under resonant excitation, where the same splitting ratio is observed. An autocorrelation measurement with an off-chip beamsplitter on a single output arm reveal the single-photon nature after evanescent coupling inside the on-chip splitter. Due to their robustness, adjustable splitting ratio, and their easy implementation, rib waveguide beamsplitters with embedded quantum dots provide a promising step towards fully integrated quantum circuits.

Single-photon emission at 1.55 μm from MOVPE-grown InAs quantum dots on InGaAs/GaAs metamorphic buffers

By metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy, we have fabricated InAs quantum dots (QDs) on InGaAs/GaAs metamorphic buffer layers on a GaAs substrate with area densities that allow addressing single quantum dots. The photoluminescence emission from the quantum dots is shifted to the telecom C-band at 1.55 μm with a high yield due to the reduced stress in the quantum dots. The lowered residual strain at the surface of the metamorphic buffer layer results in a reduced lattice mismatch between the quantum dot material and growth surface. The quantum dots exhibit resolution-limited linewidths (mean value: 59 μeV) and low fine-structure splittings. Furthermore, we demonstrate single-photon emission ( g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) = 0.003 ) at 1.55 μm and decay times on the order of 1.4 ns comparable to InAs QDs directly deposited on GaAs substrates. Our results suggest that these quantum dots can not only compete with their counterparts deposited on InP substrates but also constitute an InAs/GaAs-only approach for the development of ...

Combining in-situ lithography with 3D printed solid immersion lenses for single quantum dot spectroscopy

In the current study, we report on the deterministic fabrication of solid immersion lenses (SILs) on lithographically pre-selected semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). We demonstrate the combination of state-of-the-art low-temperature in-situ photolithography and femtosecond 3D direct laser writing. Several QDs are pre-selected with a localization accuracy of less than 2 nm with low-temperature lithography and three-dimensional laser writing is then used to deterministically fabricate hemispherical lenses on top of the quantum emitter with a submicrometric precision. Due to the printed lenses, the QD light extraction efficiency is enhanced by a factor of 2, the pumping laser is focused more, and the signal-to-noise ratio is increased, leading to an improved localization accuracy of the QD to well below 1 nm. Furthermore, modifications of the QD properties, i.e. strain and variation of internal quantum efficiency induced by the printed lenses, are also reported.

Low-noise quantum frequency down-conversion of indistinguishable photons

We present experimental results on quantum frequency down-conversion of indistinguishable single photons emitted by an InAs/GaAs quantum dot at 904 nm to the telecom C-band at 1557 nm. Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference measurements are shown prior to and after the down-conversion step. We perform Monte-Carlo simulations of the HOM experiments taking into account the time delays of the different interferometers used and the signal-to-background ratio and further estimate the impact of spectral diffusion on the degree of indistinguishability. By that we conclude that the down-conversion step does not introduce any loss of HOM interference visibility. A noise-free conversion-process along with a high conversion-efficiency (> 30 %) emphasize that our scheme is a promising candidate for an efficient source of indistinguishable single photons at telecom wavelengths.

Cavity-enhanced simultaneous dressing of quantum dot exciton and biexciton states

We demonstrate the simultaneous dressing of both vacuum-to-exciton and exciton-to-biexciton transitions of a single semiconductor quantum dot in a high-Q micropillar cavity, using photoluminescence spectroscopy. Resonant two-photon excitation of the biexciton is achieved by spectrally tuning the quantum dot emission with respect to the cavity mode. The cavity couples to both transitions and amplifies the Rabi frequency of the likewise resonant continuous wave laser, driving the transitions. We observe strong-field splitting of the emission lines, which depend on the driving Rabi field amplitude and the cavity-laser detuning. A dressed state theory of a driven 4-level atom correctly predicts the distinct spectral transitions observed in the emission spectrum, and a detailed description of the emission spectra is further provided through a polaron master equation approach which accounts for cavity coupling and acoustic phonon interactions of the semiconductor medium.

Generation, guiding and splitting of triggered single photons from a resonantly excited quantum dot in a photonic circuit

We demonstrate resonance fluorescence from single In-GaAs/GaAs quantum dots embedded in a rib waveguide beamsplitter structure operated under pulsed laser excitation. A systematic study on the excitation laser pulse duration depicts that a sufficiently small laser linewidth enables a substantial improved single-photon-to-laser-background ratio inside a waveguide chip. This manifests in the observation of clear Rabi oscillations over two periods of the quantum dot emission as a function of laser excitation power. A photon cross-correlation measurement between the two output arms of an on-chip beamsplitter results in a g(2)(0)=0.18, demonstrating the generation, guiding and splitting of triggered single photons under resonant excitation in an on-chip device. The present results open new perspectives for the implementation of photonic quantum circuits with integrated quantum dots as resonantly-pumped deterministic single-photon sources.

Temperature-dependent properties of single long-wavelength InGaAs quantum dots embedded in a strain reducing layer

We report on temperature-dependent investigations of single metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy-grown In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots at wavelengths above 1 μm. Here, two types of samples are compared, whereas the quantum dots differ in the material composition and are embedded in a strain reducing layer to achieve an emission redshift. The analysis is performed by standard micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy, time-correlated photon counting, and intensity second-order autocorrelation measurements. It is found that the long-wavelength quantum dots experience a high charge carrier confinement (∼200 meV), but the thermal emission of carriers into the barrier or the wetting layer is mainly dominated by the shell spacing of individual dots. Additionally, we demonstrate that the single-dot carrier dynamics is reservoir-dominated. The influence of the strain reducing layers seems to cause this effect, leading to changes in the effective dot filling rate and charge configuration. Single-photon emission is preserved up...

Polarization-entangled photons from an InGaAs-based quantum dot emitting in the telecom C-band

We demonstrate the emission of polarization-entangled photons from a single semiconductor quantum dot in the telecom C-band (1530 nm–1565 nm). To reach this telecommunication window, the well-established material system of InAs quantum dots embedded in InGaAs barriers is utilized with an additional insertion of an InGaAs metamorphic buffer to spectrally shift the system to the desired wavelengths. For the observation of polarization-entangled photon pairs, the biexciton-exciton cascade of a quantum dot displaying an intrinsically low fine-structure splitting is investigated by means of polarization-dependent cross-correlation measurements. A complete set of tomography measurements enables us to reconstruct the two-photon density matrix and therefore to calculate a corresponding fidelity f+ to the maximally entangled Bell state Ψ+ of 0.61 ± 0.07, a concurrence of 0.74 ± 0.11, a tangle of 0.55 ± 0.14, and a negativity of 0.63 ± 0.12, clearly proving the entanglement of the states. Finally, the development o...

Fully On-Chip Single-Photon Hanbury-Brown and Twiss Experiment on a Monolithic Semiconductor–Superconductor Platform

Fully integrated quantum photonic circuits show a clear advantage in terms of stability and scalability compared to tabletop implementations. They will constitute a fundamental breakthrough in integrated quantum technologies, as a matter of example, in quantum simulation and quantum computation. Despite the fact that only a few building blocks are strictly necessary, their simultaneous realization is highly challenging. This is especially true for the simultaneous implementation of all three key components on the same chip: single-photon sources, photonic logic, and single-photon detectors. Here, we present a fully integrated Hanbury-Brown and Twiss setup on a micrometer-sized footprint consisting of a GaAs waveguide embedding quantum dots as single-photon sources, a waveguide beamsplitter, and two superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. This enables a second-order correlation measurement on the single-photon level under both continuous-wave and pulsed resonant excitation. The presented proof-of-principle experiment proves the simultaneous realization and operation of all three key building blocks and therefore a major step towards fully integrated quantum optical chips.