Single photons and entangled photon pairs are a key resource of many quantum secure communication and quantum computation protocols, and non-Poissonian sources emitting in the low-loss wavelength ...region around 1,550 nm are essential for the development of fibre-based quantum network infrastructure. However, reaching this wavelength window has been challenging for semiconductor-based quantum light sources. Here we show that quantum dot devices based on indium phosphide are capable of electrically injected single photon emission in this wavelength region. Using the biexciton cascade mechanism, they also produce entangled photons with a fidelity of 87 ± 4%, sufficient for the application of one-way error correction protocols. The material system further allows for entangled photon generation up to an operating temperature of 93 K. Our quantum photon source can be directly integrated with existing long distance quantum communication and cryptography systems, and provides a promising material platform for developing future quantum network hardware.
Summary
Quantum cascade lasers can be efficient infrared radiation sources and consist of several hundreds of very thin layers arranged in stacks that are repeated periodically. Both the thicknesses ...of the individual layers as well as the period lengths need to be monitored to high precision. Different transmission electron microscopy methods have been combined to analyse AlGaAs/GaAs quantum cascade laser structures in cross‐section. We found a small parabolic variation of the growth rate during deposition, affecting the stack periodicity and a reduced aluminium content of the AlGaAs barriers, whereas their widths as well as those of the GaAs quantum wells agreed with the nominal values within one atomic layer. Growth on an offcut substrate led to facets and steps at the interfaces.
Lay description
Quantum cascade lasers can be efficient infrared radiation sources and consist of several hundreds of very thin layers arranged in stacks that are repeated periodically. Both the thicknesses of the individual layers as well as the period lengths need to be monitored to high precision, and we use transmission electron microscopy at medium and atomic spatial resolution as a postgrowth quality control tool.
A practical way to link separate nodes in quantum networks is to send photons over the standard telecom fibre network. This requires sub-Poissonian photon sources in the wavelength band around 1550 ...nm, with photon coherence times sufficient to enable the many interference-based technologies at the heart of quantum networks. Here, we show that droplet epitaxy InAs/InP quantum dots emitting in the telecom C-band can provide photons with coherence times exceeding 1 ns under low power non-resonant excitation, and demonstrate that these coherence times enable near-optimal interference with a C-band polarisation-encoded laser qubit, with visibilities only limited by the quantum dot multiphoton emission. Using entangled photons, we further show teleportation of such qubits in six different bases with average postselected fidelity reaching 88.3 ± 4.0%. Beyond direct applications in long-distance quantum communication, the high degree of coherence in these quantum dots is promising for future spin-based telecom quantum network applications.
It has been proposed that valence-band holes can form robust spin qubits owing to their weaker hyperfine coupling compared with electrons. However, it was demonstrated recently that the hole ...hyperfine interaction is not negligible, although a consistent picture of the mechanism controlling its magnitude is still lacking. Here we address this problem by measuring the hole hyperfine constant independently for each chemical element in InGaAs/GaAs, InP/GaInP and GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots. Contrary to existing models we find that the hole hyperfine constant has opposite signs for cations and anions and ranges from -15% to +15% relative to that for electrons. We attribute such changes to the competing positive contributions of p-symmetry atomic orbitals and the negative contributions of d-orbitals. These findings yield information on the orbital composition of the valence band and enable a fundamentally new approach for verification of computed Bloch wavefunctions in semiconductor nanostructures. Furthermore, we show that the contribution of cationic d-orbitals leads to a new mechanism of hole spin decoherence.
This paper describes the design, fabrication, and performance of planar-geometry InGaAs-InP devices which were specifically developed for single-photon detection at a wavelength of 1550 nm. General ...performance issues such as dark count rate, single-photon detection efficiency, afterpulsing, and jitter are described.
Two custom-made Al
In
P p
-i-n
mesa photodiodes with different diameters (217 µm ± 15 µm and 409 µm ± 28 µm) and i layer thicknesses of 6 µm have been electrically characterised over the temperature ...range 0 °C to 100 °C. Each photodiode was then investigated as a high-temperature-tolerant photon counting X-ray detector by connecting it to a custom-made low-noise charge-sensitive preamplifier and illuminating it with an
Fe radioisotope X-ray source (Mn Kα = 5.9 keV; Mn Kβ = 6.49 keV). At 100 °C, the best energy resolutions (full width at half maximum at 5.9 keV) achieved using the 217 µm ± 15 µm diameter photodiode and the 409 µm ± 28 µm diameter photodiode were 1.31 keV ± 0.04 keV and 1.64 keV ± 0.08 keV, respectively. Noise analysis of the system is presented. The dielectric dissipation factor of Al
In
P was estimated as a function of temperature, up to 100 °C. The results show the performance of the thickest Al
In
P X-ray detectors so far reported at high temperature. The work has relevance for the development of novel space science instrumentation for use in hot space environments and extreme terrestrial applications.
The potential for scale-up coupled with minimized system size is likely to be a major determining factor in the realization of applicable quantum information systems. Nanofabrication technology ...utilizing the III–V semiconductor system provides a path to scalable quantum bit (qubit) integration and a materials platform with combined electronic/photonic functionality. Here, we address the key requirement of qubit-site and emission energy control for scale-up by demonstrating uniform arrays of III–V nanowires, where each nanowire contains a single quantum dot. Optical studies of single nanowire quantum dots reveal narrow linewidth exciton and biexciton emission and clear state-filling at higher powers. Individual nanowire quantum dots are shown to emit nonclassically with clear evidence of photon antibunching. A model is developed to explain unexpectedly large excited state separations as revealed by photoluminescence emission spectra. From measurements of more than 40 nanowire quantum dots, we find emission energies with an ensemble broadening of 15 meV. The combination of deterministic site control and the narrow distribution in ensemble emission energy results in a system readily capable of scaling for multiqubit quantum information applications.
Strained semiconductor nanostructures can be used to make single-photon sources, detectors and photovoltaic devices, and could potentially be used to create quantum logic devices. The development of ...such applications requires techniques capable of nanoscale structural analysis, but the microscopy methods typically used to analyse these materials are destructive. NMR techniques can provide non-invasive structural analysis, but have been restricted to strain-free semiconductor nanostructures because of the significant strain-induced quadrupole broadening of the NMR spectra. Here, we show that optically detected NMR spectroscopy can be used to analyse individual strained quantum dots. Our approach uses continuous-wave broadband radiofrequency excitation with a specially designed spectral pattern and can probe individual strained nanostructures containing only 1 × 10(5) quadrupole nuclear spins. With this technique, we are able to measure the strain distribution and chemical composition of quantum dots in the volume occupied by the single confined electron. The approach could also be used to address problems in quantum information processing such as the precise control of nuclear spins in the presence of strong quadrupole effects.
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