A frequency-stabilized source of single photons from a solid-state qubit

TL;DR

This paper presents a dynamic feedback method to stabilize the emission frequency of a quantum dot single photon source, significantly reducing noise and enhancing its suitability for quantum information applications.

Contribution

The authors introduce a novel frequency locking technique using resonance fluorescence for solid-state quantum dots, improving emission stability over hours.

Findings

Emission frequency fluctuations reduced to 20 MHz

Relative intensity fluctuations decreased to ~10^-5

Antibunching behavior matches two-level atom predictions

Abstract

Single quantum dots are solid-state emitters which mimic two-level atoms but with a highly enhanced spontaneous emission rate. A single quantum dot is the basis for a potentially excellent single photon source. One outstanding problem is that there is considerable noise in the emission frequency, making it very difficult to couple the quantum dot to another quantum system. We solve this problem here with a dynamic feedback technique that locks the quantum dot emission frequency to a reference. The incoherent scattering (resonance fluorescence) represents the single photon output whereas the coherent scattering (Rayleigh scattering) is used for the feedback control. The fluctuations in emission frequency are reduced to 20 MHz, just ~ 5% of the quantum dot optical linewidth, even over several hours. By eliminating the 1/f-like noise, the relative fluctuations in resonance fluorescence intensity are reduced to ~ 10E-5 at low frequency. Under these conditions, the antibunching dip in the resonance fluorescence is described extremely well by the two-level atom result. The technique represents a way of removing charge noise from a quantum device.