Experimental reservoir computing with diffractively coupled VCSELs.

We present experiments on reservoir computing (RC) using a network of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) that we diffractively couple via an external cavity. Our optical reservoir computer consists of 24 physical VCSEL nodes. We evaluate the system's memory and solve the 2-bit XOR task and the 3-bit header recognition (HR) task with bit error ratios (BERs) below 1% and the 2-bit digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) task with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.067.

Telecom-band quantum dot technologies for long-distance quantum networks.

A future quantum internet is expected to generate, distribute, store and process quantum bits (qubits) over the world by linking different quantum nodes via quantum states of light. To facilitate long-haul operations, quantum repeaters must operate at telecom wavelengths to take advantage of both the low-loss optical fibre network and the established technologies of modern optical communications. Semiconductor quantum dots have thus far shown exceptional performance as key elements for quantum repeaters, such as quantum light sources and spin-photon interfaces, but only in the near-infrared regime. Therefore, the development of high-performance telecom-band quantum dot devices is highly desirable for a future solid-state quantum internet based on fibre networks. In this Review, we present the physics and technological developments towards epitaxial quantum dot devices emitting in the telecom O- and C-bands for quantum networks, considering both advanced epitaxial growth for direct telecom emission and quantum frequency conversion for telecom-band down-conversion of near-infrared quantum dot devices. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities for future realization of telecom quantum dot devices with improved performance and expanded functionality through hybrid integration.

Universal design method for bright quantum light sources based on circular Bragg grating cavities.

We theoretically develop an efficient and universal design scheme of quantum light sources based on hybrid circular Bragg grating (CBG) cavity with and without electrical contact bridges. As the proposed design scheme strongly alleviates the computational cost of numerical simulation, we present high-performance CBG designs based on the GaAs/SiO2/Au material system for emission wavelengths ranging from 900 nm to 1600 nm, covering the whole telecom O-band and C-band. All designs achieve remarkable Purcell factors surpassing a value of 26 and extraction efficiencies (into a numerical aperture of 0.8) exceeding 92% without contact bridges and 86% with contact bridges. Additionally, we show that our design approach easily deals with realistic structural constraints, such as preset thicknesses of a semiconductor membrane or SiO2 layers or with a different material system. The high design flexibility greatly supports the experimental deterministic fabrication approaches, allowing one to perform in-situ design adaptation and to integrate single quantum emitters of an inhomogeneously broadened ensemble on the same chip into wavelength-adapted structures without spectral constraints, which highly increase the yield of quantum device fabrication.

Intermediate Field Coupling of Single Epitaxial Quantum Dots to Plasmonic Waveguides.

Key requirements for quantum plasmonic nanocircuits are reliable single-photon sources, high coupling efficiency to the plasmonic structures, and low propagation losses. Self-assembled epitaxially grown GaAs quantum dots are close to ideal as stable, bright, and narrowband single-photon emitters. Likewise, wet-chemically grown monocrystalline silver nanowires are among the best plasmonic waveguides. However, large propagation losses of surface plasmons on the high-index GaAs substrate prevent their direct combination. Here, we show by experiment and simulation that the best overall performance of the quantum plasmonic nanocircuit based on these building blocks is achieved in the intermediate field regime with an additional spacer layer between the quantum dot and the plasmonic waveguide. High-resolution cathodoluminescence measurements allow a precise determination of the coupling distance and support a simple analytical model to explain the overall performance. The coupling efficiency is increased up to four times by standing wave interference near the end of the waveguide.

Controlled Coherent Coupling in a Quantum Dot Molecule Revealed by Ultrafast Four-Wave Mixing Spectroscopy.

Semiconductor quantum dot molecules are considered promising candidates for quantum technological applications due to their wide tunability of optical properties and coverage of different energy scales associated with charge and spin physics. While previous works have studied the tunnel-coupling of the different excitonic charge complexes shared by the two quantum dots by conventional optical spectroscopy, we here report on the first demonstration of a coherently controlled interdot tunnel-coupling focusing on the quantum coherence of the optically active trion transitions. We employ ultrafast four-wave mixing spectroscopy to resonantly generate a quantum coherence in one trion complex, transfer it to and probe it in another trion configuration. With the help of theoretical modeling on different levels of complexity, we give an instructive explanation of the underlying coupling mechanism and dynamical processes.

Ultrafast hot electron-hole plasma photoluminescence in two-dimensional semiconductors.

The transition metal dichalcogenide family of semiconducting two-dimensional materials has recently shown a prominent potential to be an ideal platform to study the exciton Mott transition into electron-hole plasma and liquid phases due to their strong Coulomb interactions. Here, we show that pulsed laser excitation at high pump fluences can induce this exciton Mott transition to an electron-hole plasma in mono and few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides at room temperature. The formation of an electron-hole plasma leads to a broadband light emission spanning from the near infrared to the visible region. In agreement with our theoretical calculations, the photoluminescence emission at high energies displays an exponential decay that directly reflects the electronic temperature - a characteristic fingerprint of unbound electron-hole pair recombination. Furthermore, two-pulse excitation correlation measurements were performed to study the dynamics of electronic cooling, which shows two decay time components, one of less than 100 fs and a slower component of few ps associated with the electron-phonon and phonon-lattice bath thermalizations, respectively. Our work may shed light on further studies of the exciton Mott transition into other two-dimensional materials and their heterostructures and its applications in nanolasers and other optoelectronic devices.

Injection locking and coupling the emitters of large VCSEL arrays via diffraction in an external cavity.

Networks of semiconductor lasers are the foundation of numerous applications and fundamental investigations in nonlinear dynamics, material processing, lighting, and information processing. However, making the usually narrowband semiconductor lasers within the network interact requires both high spectral homogeneity and a fitting coupling concept. Here, we report how we use diffractive optics in an external cavity to experimentally couple vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) in a 5×5 array. Out of the 25 lasers, we succeed to spectrally align 22, all of which we lock simultaneously to an external drive laser. Furthermore, we show the considerable coupling interactions between the lasers of the array. This way, we present the largest network of optically coupled semiconductor lasers reported so far and the first detailed characterization of such a diffractively coupled system. Due to the high homogeneity of the lasers, the strong interaction between them, and the scalability of the coupling approach, our VCSEL network is a promising platform for experimental investigations of complex systems, and it has direct applications as a photonic neural network.

Temperature dependence of refractive indices of Al0.9Ga0.1As and In0.53Al0.1Ga0.37As in the telecommunication spectral range.

In this work, we determine the temperature dependence of refractive indices of In0.53Al0.1Ga0.37As and Al0.9Ga0.1As semiconductor alloys at telecommunication wavelengths in the range from room temperature down to 10 K. For that, we measure the temperature-dependent reflectance of two structures: with an Al0.9Ga0.1As/GaAs distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) designed for 1.3 µm and with an In0.53Al0.1Ga0.37As/InP DBR designed for 1.55 µm. The obtained experimental results are compared to DBR reflectivity spectra calculated within the transfer matrix method to determine refractive index values. We further show that changes due to the thermal expansion of the DBR layers are negligible for our method.

Extraction of silver losses at cryogenic temperatures through the optical characterization of silver-coated plasmonic nanolasers.

We report on the extraction of silver losses in the range 10 K-180 K by performing temperature-dependent micro-photoluminescence measurements in conjunction with numerical simulations on silver-coated nanolasers around near-infrared telecommunication wavelengths. By mapping changes in the quality factor of nanolasers into silver-loss variations, the imaginary part of silver permittivity is extracted at cryogenic temperatures. The latter is estimated to reach values an order of magnitude lower than room-temperature values. Temperature-dependent values for the thermo-optic coefficient of III-V semiconductors occupying the cavity are estimated as well. This data is missing from the literature and is crucial for precise device modeling. Our results can be useful for device designing, the theoretical validation of experimental observations as well as the evaluation of thermal effects in silver-coated nanophotonic structures.

Numerical optimization of single-mode fiber-coupled single-photon sources based on semiconductor quantum dots.

We perform extended numerical studies to maximize the overall photon coupling efficiency of fiber-coupled quantum dot single-photon sources emitting in the near-infrared and O-band and C-band. Using the finite element method, we optimize the photon extraction and fiber-coupling efficiency of quantum dot single-photon sources based on micromesas, microlenses, circular Bragg grating cavities and micropillars. The numerical simulations which consider the entire system consisting of the quantum dot source itself, the coupling lens, and the single-mode fiber, yield overall photon coupling efficiencies of up to 83%. Our work provides objectified comparability of different fiber-coupled single-photon sources and proposes optimized geometries for the realization of practical and highly efficient quantum dot single-photon sources.

Coupling light emission of single-photon sources into single-mode fibers: mode matching, coupling efficiencies, and thermo-optical effects.

We discuss the coupling efficiency of single-photon sources into single-mode fibers using 3D printed micro-optical lens designs. Using the wave propagation method, we optimize lens systems for two different quantum light sources and assess the results in terms of maximum coupling efficiencies, misalignment effects, and thermo-optical influences. Thereby, we compare singlet lens designs with one lens printed onto the fiber with doublet lens designs with an additional lens printed onto the semiconductor substrate. The single-photon sources are quantum dots based on microlenses and circular Bragg grating cavities at 930 nm and 1550 nm, respectively.

Machine learning enhanced in situ electron beam lithography of photonic nanostructures.

We report on the deterministic fabrication of quantum devices aided by machine-learning-based image processing. The goal of the work is to demonstrate that pattern recognition based on specifically trained machine learning (ML) algorithms and applying it to luminescence maps can strongly enhance the capabilities of modern fabrication technologies that rely on a precise determination of the positions of quantum emitters like, for instance, in situ lithography techniques. In the present case, we apply in situ electron beam lithography (EBL) to deterministically integrate single InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) into circular Bragg grating resonators with increased photon extraction efficiency (PEE). In this nanotechnology platform, suitable QDs are selected by 2D cathodoluminescence maps before EBL of the nanoresonators aligned to the selected emitters is performed. Varying the electron beam dose of cathodoluminescence (CL) mapping, we intentionally change the signal-to-noise ratio of the CL maps to mimic different brightness of the emitters and to train the ML algorithm. ML-based image processing is then used to denoise the images for reliable and accurate QD position retrieval. This way, we achieve a significant enhancement in the PEE and position accuracy, leading to more than one order increase of sensitivity in ML-enhanced in situ EBL. Overall, this demonstrates the high potential of ML-based image processing in deterministic nanofabrication which can be very attractive for the fabrication of bright quantum light sources based on emitters with low luminescence yield in the future.

Design and fabrication of ridge waveguide-based nanobeam cavities for on-chip single-photon sources.

We report on the design of nanohole/nanobeam cavities in ridge waveguides for on-chip, quantum-dot-based single-photon generation. Our design overcomes limitations of a low-refractive-index-contrast material platform in terms of emitter-mode coupling efficiency and yields an outcoupling efficiency of 0.73 to the output ridge waveguide. Importantly, this high coupling efficiency is combined with broadband operation of 9 nm full-width half-maximum. We provide an explicit design procedure for identifying the optimum geometrical parameters according to the developed design. Besides, we fabricate and optically characterize a proof-of-concept waveguide structure. The results of the microphotoluminescence measurements provide evidence for cavity-enhanced spontaneous emission from the quantum dot, thus supporting the potential of our design for on-chip single-photon sources applications.

Absolute calibration of a single-photon avalanche detector using a bright triggered single-photon source based on an InGaAs quantum dot.

We apply an InGaAs quantum dot based single-photon source for the absolute detection efficiency calibration of a silicon single-photon avalanche diode operating in Geiger mode. The single-photon source delivers up to (2.55 ± 0.02) × 106 photons per second inside a multimode fiber at the wavelength of 929.8 nm for above-band pulsed excitation with a repetition rate of 80 MHz. The purity of the single-photon emission, expressed by the value of the 2nd order correlation function g(2)(τ = 0), is between 0.14 and 0.24 depending on the excitation power applied to the quantum dot. The single-photon flux is sufficient to be measured with an analog low-noise reference detector, which is traceable to the national standard for optical radiant flux. The measured detection efficiency using the single-photon source remains constant within the measurement uncertainty for different photon fluxes. The corresponding weighted mean thus amounts to 0.3263 with a standard uncertainty of 0.0022.

Thermal stability of emission from single InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots at the telecom O-band.

Single-photon sources are key building blocks in most of the emerging secure telecommunication and quantum information processing schemes. Semiconductor quantum dots (QD) have been proven to be the most prospective candidates. However, their practical use in fiber-based quantum communication depends heavily on the possibility of operation in the telecom bands and at temperatures not requiring extensive cryogenic systems. In this paper we present a temperature-dependent study on single QD emission and single-photon emission from metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy-grown InGaAs/GaAs QDs emitting in the telecom O-band at 1.3 µm. Micro-photoluminescence studies reveal that trapped holes in the vicinity of a QD act as reservoir of carriers that can be exploited to enhance photoluminescence from trion states observed at elevated temperatures up to at least 80 K. The luminescence quenching is mainly related to the promotion of holes to higher states in the valence band and this aspect must be primarily addressed in order to further increase the thermal stability of emission. Photon autocorrelation measurements yield single-photon emission with a purity of [Formula: see text] up to 50 K. Our results imply that these nanostructures are very promising candidates for single-photon sources at elevated (e.g., Stirling cryocooler compatible) temperatures in the telecom O-band and highlight means for improvements in their performance.

Deterministically fabricated solid-state quantum-light sources.

The controlled generation of non-classical states of light is a challenging task at the heart of quantum optics. Aside from the mere spirit of science, the related research is strongly driven by applications in photonic quantum technologies, including the fields of quantum communication, quantum computation, and quantum metrology. In this context, the realization of integrated solid-state-based quantum-light sources is of particular interest, due to the prospects for scalability and device integration. This topical review focuses on solid-state quantum-light sources which are fabricated in a deterministic fashion. In this framework we cover quantum emitters represented by semiconductor quantum dots, colour centres in diamond, and defect-/strain-centres in two-dimensional materials. First, we introduce the topic of quantum-light sources and non-classical light generation for applications in photonic quantum technologies, motivating the need for the development of scalable device technologies to push the field towards real-world applications. In the second part, we summarize material systems hosting quantum emitters in the solid-state. The third part reviews deterministic fabrication techniques and comparatively discusses their advantages and disadvantages. The techniques are classified in bottom-up approaches, exploiting the site-controlled positioning of the quantum emitters themselves, and top-down approaches, allowing for the precise alignment of photonic microstructures to pre-selected quantum emitters. Special emphasis is put on the progress achieved in the development of in situ techniques, which significantly pushed the performance of quantum-light sources towards applications. Additionally, we discuss hybrid approaches, exploiting pick-and-place techniques or wafer-bonding. The fourth part presents state-of-the-art quantum-dot quantum-light sources based on the fabrication techniques presented in the previous sections, which feature engineered functionality and enhanced photon collection efficiency. The article closes by highlighting recent applications of deterministic solid-state-based quantum-light sources in the fields of quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum metrology, and by discussing future perspectives in the field of solid-state quantum-light sources.

Optimized designs for telecom-wavelength quantum light sources based on hybrid circular Bragg gratings.

We present a design study of quantum light sources based on hybrid circular Bragg gratings (CBGs) for emission wavelengths in the telecom O-band. The evaluated CBG designs show photon extraction efficiencies > 95% and Purcell factors close to 30. Using simulations based on the finite element method, and considering the influence of possible fabrication imperfections, we identify optimized high-performance CBG designs which are robust against structural aberrations. In particular, full 3D simulations reveal that the designs show robustness regarding lateral deviations of the emitter position in the device well within reported positioning accuracies of deterministic fabrication technologies. Furthermore, we investigate the coupling of the evaluated hybrid CBG designs to single-mode optical fibers, which is particularly interesting for the development of practical quantum light sources. We obtain coupling efficiencies of up to 77% for off-the-shelf fibers, and again proof robustness against fabrication imperfections. Our results show prospects for the fabrication of close-to-ideal fiber-coupled quantum light sources for long distance quantum communication.

Method for direct coupling of a semiconductor quantum dot to an optical fiber for single-photon source applications.

We present an effective method for direct fiber coupling of a quantum dot (QD) that is deterministically incorporated into a cylindrical mesa. For precise positioning of the fiber with respect to the QD-mesa, we use a scanning procedure relying on interference of light reflected back from the fiber end-face and the top surface of the mesa, applicable for both single-mode and multi-mode fibers. The central part of the fiber end-face is etched to control the required distance between the top surface of the mesa and the fiber core. Emission around 1260 nm from a fiber-coupled InGaAs/GaAs QD is demonstrated and its stability is proven over multiple cooling cycles. Moreover, a single photon character of emission from such system for a line emitting above 1200 nm is proven experimentally by photon autocorrelation measurements with an obtained value of the second order correlation function at zero time-delay well below 0.5.

Stochastic polarization switching induced by optical injection in bimodal quantum-dot micropillar lasers.

Mutual coupling and injection locking of semiconductor lasers is of great interest in non-linear dynamics and its applications for instance in secure data communication and photonic reservoir computing. Despite its importance, it has hardly been studied in microlasers operating at µW light levels. In this context, vertically emitting quantum dot micropillar lasers are of high interest. Usually, their light emission is bimodal, and the gain competition of the associated linearly polarized fundamental emission modes results in complex switching dynamics. We report on selective optical injection into either one of the two fundamental mode components of a bimodal micropillar laser. Both modes can lock to the master laser and influence the non-injected mode by reducing the available gain. We demonstrate that the switching dynamics can be tailored externally via optical injection in very good agreement with our theory based on semi-classical rate equations.

Slow and fast single photons from a quantum dot interacting with the excited state hyperfine structure of the Cesium D1-line.

Hybrid interfaces between distinct quantum systems play a major role in the implementation of quantum networks. Quantum states have to be stored in memories to synchronize the photon arrival times for entanglement swapping by projective measurements in quantum repeaters or for entanglement purification. Here, we analyze the distortion of a single-photon wave packet propagating through a dispersive and absorptive medium with high spectral resolution. Single photons are generated from a single In(Ga)As quantum dot with its excitonic transition precisely set relative to the Cesium D1 transition. The delay of spectral components of the single-photon wave packet with almost Fourier-limited width is investigated in detail with a 200 MHz narrow-band monolithic Fabry-Pérot resonator. Reflecting the excited state hyperfine structure of Cesium, "slow light" and "fast light" behavior is observed. As a step towards room-temperature alkali vapor memories, quantum dot photons are delayed for 5 ns by strong dispersion between the two 1.17 GHz hyperfine-split excited state transitions. Based on optical pumping on the hyperfine-split ground states, we propose a simple, all-optically controllable delay for synchronization of heralded narrow-band photons in a quantum network.