High Purcell factor generation of indistinguishable on-chip single photons

Liu, Feng; Brash, Alistair J.; O’Hara, John; Martins, Luis M.P.P.; Phillips, Catherine L.; Coles, Rikki J.; Royall, Benjamin; Clarke, Edmund; Bentham, Christopher; Prtljaga, Nikola; Itskevich, Igor E.; Wilson, Luke R.; Skolnick, Maurice S.; Fox, A. Mark

Abstract

On-chip single-photon sources are key components for integrated photonic quantum technologies. Semiconductor quantum dots can exhibit near-ideal single-photon emission, but this can be significantly degraded in on-chip geometries owing to nearby etched surfaces. A long-proposed solution to improve the indistinguishablility is to use the Purcell effect to reduce the radiative lifetime. However, until now only modest Purcell enhancements have been observed. Here we use pulsed resonant excitation to eliminate slow relaxation paths, revealing a highly Purcell-shortened radiative lifetime (22.7 ps) in a waveguide-coupled quantum dot–photonic crystal cavity system. This leads to near-lifetime-limited single-photon emission that retains high indistinguishablility (93.9%) on a timescale in which 20 photons may be emitted. Nearly background-free pulsed resonance fluorescence is achieved under π-pulse excitation, enabling demonstration of an on-chip, on-demand single-photon source with very high potential repetition rates.

Citation

Liu, F., Brash, A. J., O’Hara, J., Martins, L. M., Phillips, C. L., Coles, R. J., …Fox, A. M. (2018). High Purcell factor generation of indistinguishable on-chip single photons. Nature nanotechnology, 13(9), 835-840. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0188-x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 7, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jul 16, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 17, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 17, 2019
• Journal: Nature Nanotechnology
• Print ISSN: 1748-3387
• Electronic ISSN: 1748-3395
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 835-840
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0188-x
• Keywords: Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics; Condensed Matter Physics
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/986792
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-018-0188-x#article-info
• Contract Date: Aug 17, 2018