Signatures of Dynamically Dressed States.

The interaction of a resonant light field with a quantum two-level system is of key interest both for fundamental quantum optics and quantum technological applications employing resonant excitation. While emission under resonant continuous-wave excitation has been well studied, the more complex emission spectrum of dynamically dressed states-a quantum two-level system driven by resonant pulsed excitation-has so far been investigated in detail only theoretically. Here, we present the first experimental observation of the complete resonance fluorescence emission spectrum of a single quantum two-level system, in the form of an excitonic transition in a semiconductor quantum dot, driven by finite Gaussian pulses. We observe multiple emerging sidebands as predicted by theory, with an increase of their number and spectral detuning with excitation pulse intensity and a dependence of their spectral shape and intensity on the pulse length. Detuning-dependent measurements provide additional insights into the emission features. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with theoretical calculations of the emission spectra, corroborating our findings.

Beyond the Four-Level Model: Dark and Hot States in Quantum Dots Degrade Photonic Entanglement.

Entangled photon pairs are essential for a multitude of quantum photonic applications. To date, the best performing solid-state quantum emitters of entangled photons are semiconductor quantum dots operated around liquid-helium temperatures. To favor the widespread deployment of these sources, it is important to explore and understand their behavior at temperatures accessible with compact Stirling coolers. Here we study the polarization entanglement among photon pairs from the biexciton-exciton cascade in GaAs quantum dots at temperatures up to ∼65 K. We observe entanglement degradation accompanied by changes in decay dynamics, which we ascribe to thermal population and depopulation of hot and dark states in addition to the four levels relevant for photon pair generation. Detailed calculations considering the presence and characteristics of the additional states and phonon-assisted transitions support the interpretation. We expect these results to guide the optimization of quantum dots as sources of highly entangled photons at elevated temperatures.

SUPER Scheme in Action: Experimental Demonstration of Red-Detuned Excitation of a Quantum Emitter.

The quest for the perfect single-photon source includes finding the optimal protocol for exciting the quantum emitter. Coherent optical excitation was, up until now, achieved by tuning the laser pulses to the transition frequency of the emitter, either directly or in average. Recently, it was theoretically discovered that an excitation with two red-detuned pulses is also possible where neither of which would yield a significant upper-level population individually. We show that the so-called swing-up of quantum emitter population (SUPER) scheme can be implemented experimentally with similar properties to existing schemes by precise amplitude shaping of a broadband pulse. Because of its truly off-resonant nature, this scheme has the prospect of powering high-purity photon sources with superior photon count rate.

Electron Dynamics in a Two-Dimensional Nanobubble: A Two-Level System Based on Spatial Density.

Nanobubbles formed in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) on top of a substrate feature localized potentials in which electrons can be captured. We show that the captured electronic density can exhibit a nontrivial spatiotemporal dynamics, whose movements can be mapped to states in a two-level system illustrated as points of an electronic Poincaré sphere. These states can be fully controlled, i.e, initialized and switched, by multiple electronic wave packets. Our results could be the foundation for novel implementations of quantum circuits.

Integration of Diamond-Based Quantum Emitters with Nanophotonic Circuits.

Nanophotonics provides a promising approach to advance quantum technology by replicating fundamental building blocks of nanoscale quantum optic systems in large numbers with high reproducibility on monolithic chips. While photonic integrated circuit components and single-photon detectors offer attractive performance on silicon chips, the large-scale integration of individually accessible quantum emitters has remained a challenge. Here, we demonstrate simultaneous optical access to several integrated solid-state spin systems with Purcell-enhanced coupling of single photons with high modal purity from lithographically positioned nitrogen vacancy centers into photonic integrated circuits. Photonic crystal cavities embedded in networks of tantalum pentoxide-on-insulator waveguides provide efficient interfaces to quantum emitters that allow us to optically detect magnetic resonances (ODMR) as desired in quantum sensing. Nanophotonic networks that provide configurable optical interfaces to nanoscale quantum emitters via many independent channels will allow for novel functionality in photonic quantum information processors and quantum sensing schemes.

Optically driving the radiative Auger transition.

In a radiative Auger process, optical decay leaves other carriers in excited states, resulting in weak red-shifted satellite peaks in the emission spectrum. The appearance of radiative Auger in the emission directly leads to the question if the process can be inverted: simultaneous photon absorption and electronic demotion. However, excitation of the radiative Auger transition has not been shown, neither on atoms nor on solid-state quantum emitters. Here, we demonstrate the optical driving of the radiative Auger transition, linking few-body Coulomb interactions and quantum optics. We perform our experiments on a trion in a semiconductor quantum dot, where the radiative Auger and the fundamental transition form a Λ-system. On driving both transitions simultaneously, we observe a reduction of the fluorescence signal by up to 70%. Our results suggest the possibility of turning resonance fluorescence on and off using radiative Auger as well as THz spectroscopy with optics close to the visible regime.

Nanoscale Positioning of Single-Photon Emitters in Atomically Thin WSe2.

Single-photon emitters in monolayer WSe2 are created at the nanoscale gap between two single-crystalline gold nanorods. The atomically thin semiconductor conforms to the metal nanostructure and is bent at the position of the gap. The induced strain leads to the formation of a localized potential well inside the gap. Single-photon emitters are localized there with a precision better than 140 nm.

Impact of Phonons on Dephasing of Individual Excitons in Deterministic Quantum Dot Microlenses.

Optimized light-matter coupling in semiconductor nanostructures is a key to understand their optical properties and can be enabled by advanced fabrication techniques. Using in situ electron beam lithography combined with a low-temperature cathodoluminescence imaging, we deterministically fabricate microlenses above selected InAs quantum dots (QDs), achieving their efficient coupling to the external light field. This enables performing four-wave mixing microspectroscopy of single QD excitons, revealing the exciton population and coherence dynamics. We infer the temperature dependence of the dephasing in order to address the impact of phonons on the decoherence of confined excitons. The loss of the coherence over the first picoseconds is associated with the emission of a phonon wave packet, also governing the phonon background in photoluminescence (PL) spectra. Using theory based on the independent boson model, we consistently explain the initial coherence decay, the zero-phonon line fraction, and the line shape of the phonon-assisted PL using realistic quantum dot geometries.