Sven Höfling

Waveguide superconducting single-photon detectors for integrated quantum photonic circuits

The monolithic integration of single-photon sources, passive optical circuits, and single-photon detectors enables complex and scalable quantum photonic integrated circuits, for application in linear-optics quantum computing and quantum communications. Here, we demonstrate a key component of such a circuit, a waveguide single-photon detector. Our detectors, based on superconducting nanowires on GaAs ridge waveguides, provide high efficiency (∼20%) at telecom wavelengths, high timing accuracy (∼60 ps), and response time in the ns range and are fully compatible with the integration of single-photon sources, passive networks, and modulators.

Quantum-dot spin–photon entanglement via frequency downconversion to telecom wavelength

Long-distance quantum teleportation and quantum repeater technologies require entanglement between a single matter quantum bit (qubit) and a telecommunications (telecom)-wavelength photonic qubit. Electron spins in III–V semiconductor quantum dots are among the matter qubits that allow for the fastest spin manipulation and photon emission, but entanglement between a single quantum-dot spin qubit and a flying (propagating) photonic qubit has yet to be demonstrated. Moreover, many quantum dots emit single photons at visible to near-infrared wavelengths, where silica fibre losses are so high that long-distance quantum communication protocols become difficult to implement. Here we demonstrate entanglement between an InAs quantum-dot electron spin qubit and a photonic qubit, by frequency downconversion of a spontaneously emitted photon from a singly charged quantum dot to a wavelength of 1,560 nanometres. The use of sub-10-picosecond pulses at a wavelength of 2.2 micrometres in the frequency downconversion process provides the necessary quantum erasure to eliminate which-path information in the photon energy. Together with previously demonstrated indistinguishable single-photon emission at high repetition rates, the present technique advances the III–V semiconductor quantum-dot spin system as a promising platform for long-distance quantum communication.

On-demand single photons with high extraction efficiency and near-unity indistinguishability from a resonantly driven quantum dot in a micropillar

Scalable photonic quantum technologies require on-demand single-photon sources with simultaneously high levels of purity, indistinguishability, and efficiency. These key features, however, have only been demonstrated separately in previous experiments. Here, by s-shell pulsed resonant excitation of a Purcell-enhanced quantum dot-micropillar system, we deterministically generate resonance fluorescence single photons which, at π pulse excitation, have an extraction efficiency of 66%, single-photon purity of 99.1%, and photon indistinguishability of 98.5%. Such a single-photon source for the first time combines the features of high efficiency and near-perfect levels of purity and indistinguishabilty, and thus opens the way to multiphoton experiments with semiconductor quantum dots.

AlAs/GaAs micropillar cavities with quality factors exceeding 150.000

The authors report on AlAs∕GaAs micropillar cavities with unprecedented quality factors based on high reflectivity distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). Due to an increased number of mirror pairs in the DBRs and an optimized etching process record quality (Q) factors up to 165.000 are observed for micropillars with diameters of 4μm. Optical studies reveal a very small ellipticity of 5×10−4 of the pillar cross section. Because of the high Q factors, strong coupling with a vacuum Rabi splitting of 23μeV is observed for micropillars with a diameter of 3μm.

Electrically driven quantum dot-micropillar single photon source with 34% overall efficiency

We report on triggered single photon emission from low mode volume electrically driven quantum dot-micropillar cavities at repetition rates of up to 220 MHz. Due to an optimized layout of the doped planar microcavity and an advanced lateral current injection scheme, highly efficient single photon sources are realized. While g(2)(0)-values as low as 0.13±0.05 and a Purcell factor of 4 are observed for a 2.0 μm diameter micropillar, single photon emission at a rate of (35±7) MHz and an overall efficiency of (34±7)% are demonstrated for a 3.0 μm device.

Direct observation of correlations between individual photon emission events of a microcavity laser

Lasers are recognized for coherent light emission, the onset of which is reflected in a change in the photon statistics. For many years, attempts have been made to directly measure correlations in the individual photon emission events of semiconductor lasers. Previously, the temporal decay of these correlations below or at the lasing threshold was considerably faster than could be measured with the time resolution provided by the Hanbury Brown/Twiss measurement set-up used. Here we demonstrate a measurement technique using a streak camera that overcomes this limitation and provides a record of the arrival times of individual photons. This allows us to investigate the dynamical evolution of correlations between the individual photon emission events. We apply our studies to micropillar lasers with semiconductor quantum dots as the active material, operating in the regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics. For laser resonators with a low cavity quality factor, Q, a smooth transition from photon bunching to uncorrelated emission with increasing pumping is observed; for high-Q resonators, we see a non-monotonic dependence around the threshold where quantum light emission can occur. We identify regimes of dynamical anti-bunching of photons in agreement with the predictions of a microscopic theory that includes semiconductor-specific effects.

Polarization-independent active metamaterial for high-frequency terahertz modulation

We present a polarization-independent metamaterial design for the construction of electrically tunable terahertz (THz) devices. The implemented structure consists of an array of gold crosses fabricated on top of an n-doped gallium arsenide (GaAs) layer. Utilizing THz time-domain spectroscopy, we show that the electric resonance and thus the transmission properties of the cross structure can be tuned by an externally applied bias voltage. We further demonstrate the fast amplitude modulation of a propagating THz wave for modulation frequencies up to 100 kHz.

Electrically driven high-Q quantum dot-micropillar cavities

We report on high quality electrically driven quantum dot micropillar cavities with Q-factors up to 16.000. The high Q-factors allow the observation of pronounced single dot resonance effects with a Purcell enhancement of about 10.

Non-resonant dot|[ndash]|cavity coupling and its potential for resonant single-quantum-dot spectroscopy

Mechanisms of distinct resonance in microcavities driven by strongly detuned single quantum dots are not well understood. Investigation of non-resonant dot–cavity coupling of individual quantum dots in micropillars now suggests a dominant role of phonon-mediated dephasing. This new perspective may have implications for single-photon sources, quantum information applications and spectroscopy.

Photonic crystal cavity based gas sensor

We have studied the response of a photonic crystal cavity to changes of the ambient refractive index. Transmission measurements of the cavity under different gaseous environments and pressures showed a linear dependence of the resonance wavelength on the refractive index of the ambient gas. A change of the refractive index by 10−4 leads to a shift of the resonance by 8pm, which is readily detectable due to the high quality factor of the cavity. The observed wavelength shifts agree well with finite-difference time domain simulations of the cavity.