Single photon emission from individual nanophotonic-integrated colloidal quantum dots

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to integrate individual colloidal quantum dots into nanophotonic circuits, enabling efficient single-photon emission for scalable quantum technologies.

Contribution

It introduces an iterative electron beam lithography technique for high-yield placement of quantum dots in photonic circuits, advancing scalable quantum photonics.

Findings

High-yield placement of quantum dots achieved

Efficient collection of single photons demonstrated

Integration approach scalable for quantum networks

Abstract

Solution processible colloidal quantum dots hold great promise for realizing single-photon sources embedded into scalable quantum technology platforms. However, the high-yield integration of large numbers of individually addressable colloidal quantum dots in a photonic circuit has remained an outstanding challenge. Here, we report on integrating individual colloidal core-shell quantum dots (CQDs) into a nanophotonic network that allows for excitation and efficient collection of single-photons via separate waveguide channels. An iterative electron beam lithography process provides a viable method to position single emitters at predefined positions in a photonic integrated circuit with yield that approaches unity. Our work moves beyond the bulk optic paradigm of confocal microscopy and paves the way for supplying chip-scale quantum networks with single photons from large numbers of simultaneously controllable quantum emitters.