Universal fine-structure eraser for quantum dots

An intuitive protocol for polarization-entanglement restoral of quantum dot photon sources with non-vanishing fine-structure splitting

Generation of polarization-entangled photons from quantum dots via the biexciton-exciton recombination cascade is complicated by the presence of an energy splitting between the intermediate excitonic levels, which severely degrades the quality of the entangled photon source. In this paper we present a novel, conceptually simple and straightforward proposal for restoring the entanglement of said source by applying a cascade of time-dependent operations on the emitted photons. This is in striking contrast with the techniques usually employed, that act on the quantum emitter itself in order to remove the fine structure splitting at its root. The feasibility of the implementation with current technology is discussed, and the robustness of the proposed compensation scheme with respect to imperfections of the experimental apparatus is evaluated via a series of Monte Carlo simulations.

Nanowire-based sources of non-classical light

Sources of quantum light that utilize photonic nanowire designs have emerged as potential candidates for high efficiency non-classical light generation in quantum information processing. In this review we cover the different platforms used to produce nanowire-based sources, highlighting the importance of waveguide design and material properties in achieving optimal performance. The limitations of the sources are identified and routes to optimization are proposed. State-of-the-art nanowire sources are compared to other solid-state quantum emitter platforms with regard to the key metrics of single photon purity, indistinguishability and entangled-pair fidelity to maximally entangled Bell states. We also discuss the unique ability of the nanowire platform to incorporate multiple emitters in the same optical mode and consider potential applications. Finally, routes to on-chip integration are discussed and the challenges facing the development of a nanowire-based scalable architecture are presented.

Long-term transmission of entangled photons from a single quantum dot over deployed fiber

Entangled light sources are considered as core technology for multiple quantum network architectures. Of particular interest are sources that are based on a single quantum system as these offer intrinsic security due to the sub-Poissonian nature of the photon emission process. This is important for applications in quantum communication where multi-pair emission generally compromises performance. A large variety of sources has been developed, but the generated photons remained far from being utilized in established standard fiber networks, mainly due to lack of compatibility with telecommunication wavelengths. In this regard, single semiconductor quantum dots are highly promising photon pair sources as they can be engineered for direct emission at telecom wavelengths. In this work we demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. We report a week-long transmission of polarization-entangled photons from a single InAs/GaAs quantum dot over a metropolitan network fiber. The photons are in the telecommunication O-band, favored for fiber optical communication. We employ a polarization stabilization system overcoming changes of birefringence introduced by 18.23 km of installed fiber. Stable transmission of polarization-encoded entanglement with a high fidelity of 91% is achieved, facilitating the operation of sub-Poissonian quantum light sources over existing fiber networks.