Single Photon Near Field Emission and Revival in Quantum Dots

TL;DR

This paper models the fully quantized spontaneous emission of photons from quantum dots, including near field effects, using discretized approximations and a photonic wave function approach beyond traditional methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel modeling framework for quantum dot photon emission that incorporates near field effects and moves beyond the Weisskopf-Wigner approximation.

Findings

Demonstrates a discretized approach to single photon states in 3+1 dimensions.

Shows the feasibility of describing electrodynamics via a photonic wave function.

Provides a new perspective on quantum electrodynamics in solid-state systems.

Abstract

Models of the spontaneous emission of photons coupled to the electronic states of quantum dots are important for understanding quantum interactions in dielectric media as applied to proposed solid-state quantum computers, single photon emitters, and single photon detectors. The characteristic lifetime of photon emission is traditionally modeled in the Weisskopf-Wigner approximation. Here we model the fully quantized spontaneous emission, including near field effects, of a photon from the excited state of a quantum dot beyond theWeisskopf-Wigner approximation. We propose the use of discretized central-difference approximations to describe single photon states via single photon operators in 3+1 dimensions. We further show herein that one can shift from the traditional description of electrodynamics and quantum electrodynamics, in terms of electric and magnetic fields to one in terms of a photonic wave function and its operators using the Dirac equation for the propagation of single photons.