Semiconductor Nanopillar as a Single-Photon Emitter and its Optimal Design

TL;DR

This paper presents the design and fabrication of semiconductor nanopillar arrays as efficient, high-purity single-photon emitters, optimized for coupling with optical fibers and enhanced photon extraction.

Contribution

It introduces a novel structural design and fabrication process for single-photon emitters using InAs/GaAs quantum dot nanopillars with optimized dimensions and cavity structures.

Findings

High purity of single-photon generation achieved

Optimized pillar array for fiber coupling

Enhanced photon extraction efficiency

Abstract

The semiconductor quantum dot nanopillar array in InAs/GaAs was fabricated. In consideration of the quantum dot density, the pillar diameter was determined as only a few quantum dots were involved in a pillar. The lattice constant of a pillar array was optimized such that only one pillar couples to the fiber core without any specific manipulation. Such structural consideration regarding the photon source and the optical setup contributes to the high purity of the single-photon generation. For high extraction efficiency of photons from photon source, we fabricated the metal cavity structure around the pillar array. The combination of dry-etching and wet-etching realizes the functionally designed three-dimensional structure. Such fabrication processes face the realization of the well-optimized single-photon emitter.