Direct observation of non-linear optical phase shift induced by a single quantum emitter in a waveguide

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a significant non-linear optical phase shift induced by a single quantum dot in a waveguide, paving the way for advanced quantum photonic applications like photon-photon gates and quantum machine learning.

Contribution

The study experimentally achieves a measurable non-linear phase shift using a single quantum emitter in a nanophotonic waveguide, advancing scalable quantum photonic technologies.

Findings

Achieved a phase shift of approximately 0.19π radians using a single quantum dot.

Demonstrated the non-linear process is sensitive at the single-photon level.

Proved the process is compatible with integrated photonic circuits.

Abstract

Realizing a sensitive photon-number-dependent phase shift on a light beam is required both in classical and quantum photonics. It may lead to new applications for classical and quantum photonics machine learning or pave the way for realizing photon-photon gate operations. Non-linear phase-shifts require efficient light-matter interaction, and recently quantum dots coupled to nanophotonic devices have enabled near-deterministic single-photon coupling. We experimentally realize an optical phase shift of $0.19 \pi \pm 0.03$ radians ($\approx 34$ degrees) using a weak coherent state interacting with a single quantum dot in a planar nanophotonic waveguide. The phase shift is probed by interferometric measurements of the light scattered from the quantum dot in the waveguide. The nonlinear process is sensitive at the single-photon level and can be made compatible with scalable photonic integrated circuitry. The work may open new prospects for realizing high-efficiency optical switching or be applied for proof-of-concept quantum machine learning or quantum simulation demonstrations.