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A Highly Efficient Single Photon-Single Quantum Dot Interface

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Engineering the Atom-Photon Interaction

Part of the book series: Nano-Optics and Nanophotonics ((NON))

Abstract

Semiconductor quantum dots are a promising system to build a solid state quantum network. A critical step in this area is to build an efficient interface between a stationary quantum bit and a flying one. In this chapter, we show how cavity quantum electrodynamics allows us to efficiently interface a single quantum dot with a propagating electromagnetic field. Beyond the well known Purcell factor, we discuss the various parameters that need to be optimized to build such an interface. We then review our recent progresses in terms of fabrication of bright sources of indistinguishable single photons, where a record brightness of 79 % is obtained as well as a high degree of indistinguishability of the emitted photons. Symmetrically, optical nonlinearities at the very few photon level are demonstrated, by sending few photon pulses at a quantum dot-cavity device operating in the strong coupling regime. Perspectives and future challenges are briefly discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We note that our cavity damping rate \(\kappa \) is an intensity damping rate, whereas other references define \(\kappa \) as a field damping rate: there is a factor 2 difference between these two possible definitions.

  2. 2.

    The Purcell Factor is usually defined as the ratio between the emission rate in the cavity mode, \(\Gamma \), and the emission rate for a quantum dot in bulk GaAs, \(\gamma _{bulk}\), but in a micropillar device \(\gamma _{sp}\) is usually equal to \(\gamma _{bulk}\).

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge their coworkers who have made all these results possible: Aristide Lemaitre, Isabelle Sagnes, Paul Voisin, Olivier Krebs, Adrien Dousse, Olivier Gazzano, Jan Suffczynski, Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos, Anna Nowak, Simone Luca Portalupi, Valérian Giesz, Niccolo Somaschi, Chirstophe Arnold, Vivien Loo, Justin Demory, Marcelo de Almeida, Andrew White and Alexia Auffeves. This work was partially supported by the French ANR DELIGHT, ANR MIND, ANR CAFE, ANR QDOM, the ERC starting grant 277885 QD-CQED, the CHISTERA project SSQN, the French Labex NANOSACLAY, and the RENATECH network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS-LPN Laboratoire de Photonique Et de Nanostructures, Route de Nozay, 91460, Marcoussis, France

    Loic Lanco & Pascale Senellart

  2. Université Paris Diderot, Paris 7, 75205, Paris Cedex 13, France

    Loic Lanco

  3. Physics Department, Ecole Polytechnique-RD128, 91763, Palaiseau Cedex, France

    Pascale Senellart

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Correspondence to Pascale Senellart .

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  1. Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Ana Predojević

  2. ICFO - Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, ICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain

    Morgan W. Mitchell

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Lanco, L., Senellart, P. (2015). A Highly Efficient Single Photon-Single Quantum Dot Interface. In: Predojević, A., Mitchell, M. (eds) Engineering the Atom-Photon Interaction. Nano-Optics and Nanophotonics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19231-4_2

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