A metasurface-enabled high-brightness high-indistinguishability single photon source at 1.55 ?m
Abstract
A high-brightness single photon source (SPS) at 1.55 ?m is a long-sought-after component for long-distance quantum key distribution (QKD), as well as for quantum information processing (QIP) in silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs), as the bandwidth and scalability of quantum communication/computing depend critically on the efficiency of the quantum photon sources. The major aim of this collaborative project is to develop a high-brightness quantum light source for on-demand single photon emission at the telecommunication wavelength (1.55 ?m) that are highly indistinguishable, highly pure, and linearly polarized, by leveraging the state-of-the-art quantum dot physics and device research program in the Lee lab in Korea and the cutting-edge meta-photonic technologies developed in the Ni lab in the US. We will design and fabricate a planar metasurface boundary that shapes the optical mode and efficiently outputs photons from an epitaxially grown single quantum dot (SQD) to the vertical direction, so that the photons can be extracted efficiently with high directionality, hence achieving high brightness even with a lownumerical- aperture photon-collecting optics. Furthermore, quasi-resonant excitation schemes for the SQDs will be examined to generate linearly polarized photons with high indistinguishability. Our preliminary simulation results indicate that the performance of the proposed metasurface-enabled SPS is far superior to the previously reported SPSs at 1.55 ?m. In addition, our metasurface SPS will employ a wavelength tuning mechanism. This feature allows us to align the output photon wavelengths from multiple SQDs to provide identical single photons simultaneously, which is crucial for quantum information processing. With the merits above, we envision that our metasurface-enabled SPS may contribute to the early deployment of quantum information technology.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 21, 2022
- Source ID
- FA23862114090XX0
Entities
People
- Xingjie Ni
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Pennsylvania State University
- United States Air Force