Engineering of quantum dot photon sources via electro-elastic fields

TL;DR

This paper discusses a novel approach to control quantum dot photon sources using combined strain and electric fields, enhancing their emission properties for quantum communication applications.

Contribution

It introduces a new class of quantum dot devices utilizing electro-elastic fields to precisely manipulate emission characteristics and correct structural asymmetries.

Findings

Electro-elastic fields enable control of quantum dot emission energies.

The method corrects structural asymmetries to produce polarization-entangled photons.

Key experiments demonstrate effective manipulation of quantum dot properties.

Abstract

The possibility to generate and manipulate non-classical light using the tools of mature semiconductor technology carries great promise for the implementation of quantum communication science. This is indeed one of the main driving forces behind ongoing research on the study of semiconductor quantum dots. Often referred to as artificial atoms, quantum dots can generate single and entangled photons on demand and, unlike their natural counterpart, can be easily integrated into well-established optoelectronic devices. However, the inherent random nature of the quantum dot growth processes results in a lack of control of their emission properties. This represents a major roadblock towards the exploitation of these quantum emitters in the foreseen applications. This chapter describes a novel class of quantum dot devices that uses the combined action of strain and electric fields to reshape the emission properties of single quantum dots. The resulting electro-elastic fields allow for control of emission and binding energies, charge states, and energy level splittings and are suitable to correct for the quantum dot structural asymmetries that usually prevent these semiconductor nanostructures from emitting polarization-entangled photons. Key experiments in this field are presented and future directions are discussed.