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Tailoring solid-state single-photon sources with stimulated emissions

Nature Nanotechnology volume 17, pages 470–476 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

The coherent interaction of electromagnetic fields with solid-state two-level systems can yield deterministic quantum light sources for photonic quantum technologies. To date, the performance of semiconductor single-photon sources based on three-level systems is limited mainly due to a lack of high photon indistinguishability. Here we tailor the cavity-enhanced spontaneous emission from a ladder-type three-level system in a single epitaxial quantum dot through stimulated emission. After populating the biexciton (XX) of the quantum dot through two-photon resonant excitation, we use another laser pulse to selectively depopulate the XX state into an exciton (X) state with a predefined polarization. The stimulated XX–X emission modifies the X decay dynamics and improves the characteristics of a polarized single-photon source, such as a source brightness of 0.030(2), a single-photon purity of 0.998(1) and an indistinguishability of 0.926(4). Our method can be readily applied to existing quantum dot single-photon sources and expands the capabilities of three-level systems for advanced quantum photonic functionalities.

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Fig. 1: Operation principle of TPE and TPE with stimulating lasers.
Fig. 2: Purcell-enhanced spontaneous emission mediated by stimulated emission.
Fig. 3: Improved performances of the QD–micropillar single-photon source with stimulated emissions.
Fig. 4: Indistinguishability and linewidth as a function of the delay time between the stimulating lasers and the TPE pulses.
Fig. 5: Optimization of the stimulation pulse parameters and control of the X decay dynamics.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available within the paper and the Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper. Other relevant data are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

J.L. thanks K. Srinivasan for his continuing support and H. Shen for helpful discussions. This research was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0306101 and 2021YFA1400800), Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (2018B030329001), the Guangdong Special Support Program (2019JC05X397), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62035017, 11874437, 12074442 and 91836303), the Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of the Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program (2017BT01X121) and the National Super-Computer Center in Guangzhou.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yuming Wei, Shunfa Liu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Yuming Wei, Shunfa Liu, Xueshi Li, Ying Yu, Siyuan Yu, Jin Liu & Xuehua Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory for Superlattice and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xiangbin Su, Shulun Li, Xiangjun Shang, Hanqing Liu, Huiming Hao, Haiqiao Ni & Zhichuan Niu

  3. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xiangbin Su, Shulun Li, Xiangjun Shang, Hanqing Liu, Huiming Hao, Haiqiao Ni & Zhichuan Niu

  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Jake Iles-Smith

  5. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Jake Iles-Smith

Authors
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Contributions

J.L. conceived the project. S.-F.L. performed the numerical simulations. Y.Y., X. Su, S.L., X. Shang, H.L., H.H. and H.N. grew the QD wafers. S.-F.L. and X.L. fabricated the devices. J.I.-S. contributed to the theoretical modelling. Y.W., S.-F.L. and J.L. built the set-up and characterized the devices. J.L., S.-F.L. and Y.W. analysed the data. J.L. wrote the manuscript with inputs from all the authors. J.L., S.Y., Z.N. and X.W. supervised the project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jin Liu.

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Nature Nanotechnology thanks Michael Reimer and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Schematic of the setup for optical characterizations.

The setup consisting of 6 functional sections including cryogenic confocal system, pulse shaper, delay generator, spectrometer, filter set and HOM/HBT interferometers. BS: beam splitter, HWP: half-wave plate, LP filter: Long pass filter.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Indistinguishability and linewidth for different delay time.

The raw visibilities of the HOM interference for delay time of -46 ps (a), 18 ps (b) and 317 ps (c), respectively. The linewidths of the emission for delay time of -46 ps (d), 18 ps(e) and 317 ps (f), respectively.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 3 Comparison of the metrics for the polarized single-source under different excitation schemes.

Excitation scheme, second-order correlation, Hong-Ou-Mandel interference and Blinking behavior for resonant excitation (a), TPE with stimulated lasers (b), LA-phonon assisted excitation (c) and two-color resonant excitation (d).

Source data

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–7.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 2

Raw data for Fig. 2.

Source Data Fig. 3

Raw data for Fig. 3.

Source Data Fig. 4

Raw data for Fig. 4.

Source Data Fig. 5

Raw data for Fig. 5.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 2

Raw data for Fig. E2.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 3

Raw data for Fig. E

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Wei, Y., Liu, S., Li, X. et al. Tailoring solid-state single-photon sources with stimulated emissions. Nat. Nanotechnol. 17, 470–476 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01092-6

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