Stefano T. Moroni

Selective carrier injection into patterned arrays of pyramidal quantum dots for entangled photon light-emitting diodes

Scalability and foundry compatibility (as apply to conventional silicon-based integrated computer processors, for example) in developing quantum technologies are major challenges facing current research. Here we introduce a quantum photonic technology that has the potential to enable the large-scale fabrication of semiconductor-based, site-controlled, scalable arrays of electrically driven sources of polarization-entangled photons that may be able to encode quantum information. The design of the sources is based on quantum dots grown in micrometre-sized pyramidal recesses along the crystallographic direction (111)B, which theoretically ensures high symmetry of the quantum dots—a requirement for bright entangled-photon emission. A selective electric injection scheme in these non-planar structures allows a high density of light-emitting diodes to be obtained, with some producing entangled photon pairs that also violate Bells inequality. Compatibility with semiconductor fabrication technology, good reproducibility and lithographic position control make these devices attractive candidates for integrated photonic circuits for quantum information processing. Polarization-entangled photons are generated from light-emitting diodes based on site-controlled pyramidal quantum dots. Selective current injection into the vicinity of a quantum dot becomes possible owing to a self-assembled vertical quantum wire.

Conditions for entangled photon emission from (111)B site-controlled pyramidal quantum dots

A study of highly symmetric site-controlled Pyramidal In0.25Ga0.75As quantum dots (QDs) is presented. It is discussed that polarization-entangled photons can be also obtained from Pyramidal QDs of different designs from the one already reported in Juska et al. (Nat. Phot. 7, 527, 2013). Moreover, some of the limitations for a higher density of entangled photon emitters are addressed. Among these issues are (1) a remaining small fine-structure splitting and (2) an effective QD charging under non-resonant excitation conditions, which strongly reduce the number of useful biexciton-exciton recombination events. A possible solution of the charging problem is investigated exploiting a dual-wavelength excitation technique, which allows a gradual QD charge tuning from strongly negative to positive and, eventually, efficient detection of entangled photons from QDs, which would be otherwise ineffective under a single-wavelength (non-resonant) excitation.

Droplet etching of deep nanoholes for filling with self-aligned complex quantum structures

Strain-free epitaxial quantum dots (QDs) are fabricated by a combination of Al local droplet etching (LDE) of nanoholes in AlGaAs surfaces and subsequent hole filling with GaAs. The whole process is performed in a conventional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) chamber. Autocorrelation measurements establish single-photon emission from LDE QDs with a very small correlation function g (2)(0)≃ 0.01 of the exciton emission. Here, we focus on the influence of the initial hole depth on the QD optical properties with the goal to create deep holes suited for filling with more complex nanostructures like quantum dot molecules (QDM). The depth of droplet etched nanoholes is controlled by the droplet material coverage and the process temperature, where a higher coverage or temperature yields deeper holes. The requirements of high quantum dot uniformity and narrow luminescence linewidth, which are often found in applications, set limits to the process temperature. At high temperatures, the hole depths become inhomogeneous and the linewidth rapidly increases beyond 640 °C. With the present process technique, we identify an upper limit of 40-nm hole depth if the linewidth has to remain below 100 μeV. Furthermore, we study the exciton fine-structure splitting which is increased from 4.6 μeV in 15-nm-deep to 7.9 μeV in 35-nm-deep holes. As an example for the functionalization of deep nanoholes, self-aligned vertically stacked GaAs QD pairs are fabricated by filling of holes with 35 nm depth. Exciton peaks from stacked dots show linewidths below 100 μeV which is close to that from single QDs.

Indium segregation during III–V quantum wire and quantum dot formation on patterned substrates

We report a model for metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy on non-planar substrates, specifically V-grooves and pyramidal recesses, which we apply to the growth of InGaAs nanostructures. This model, based on a set of coupled reaction-diffusion equations, one for each facet in the system, accounts for the facet-dependence of all kinetic processes (e.g., precursor decomposition, adatom diffusion, and adatom lifetimes) and has been previously applied to account for the temperature, concentration, and temporal-dependence of AlGaAs nanostructures on GaAs (111)B surfaces with V-grooves and pyramidal recesses. In the present study, the growth of In

Self-ordered nanostructures on patterned substrates

_{0.12}

Statistical study of stacked/coupled site-controlled pyramidal quantum dots and their excitonic properties

Ga

Tuning InP self-assembled quantum structures to telecom wavelength: A versatile original InP(As) nanostructure “workshop”

_{0.88}

Lasing of InP/AlInAs quantum dots in AlInAs microdisk cavity

As quantum wires at the bottom of V-grooves is used to determine a set of optimized kinetic parameters. Based on these parameters, we have modeled the growth of In

Vanishing biexciton binding energy from stacked, MOVPE grown, site-controlled pyramidal quantum dots for twin photon generation

_{0.25}

Three-dimensional Self-assembled Columnar Arrays of AlInP Quantum Wires for Polarized Micron-sized Amber Light Emitting Diodes

Ga