Cavity-enhanced single photon emission from a single impurity-bound exciton

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates cavity-enhanced single photon emission from impurity-bound excitons in ZnSe quantum wells using a bullseye cavity, significantly increasing brightness and confirming single photon characteristics for quantum photonics.

Contribution

The study introduces a cavity design that boosts emission efficiency and verifies single photon emission from impurity-bound excitons in ZnSe quantum wells.

Findings

Emission brightness increased by over an order of magnitude.

Confirmed single photon emission via anti-bunching.

Achieved a Purcell factor of 1.43 indicating enhanced radiative decay.

Abstract

Impurity-bound excitons in ZnSe quantum wells are bright single photon emitters--a crucial element in photonics-based quantum technology. But to achieve the efficiencies required for practical applications, these emitters must be integrated into optical cavities that enhance their radiative properties and far-field emission pattern. In this work, we demonstrate cavity-enhanced emission from a single impurity-bound exciton in a ZnSe quantum well. We utilize a bullseye cavity structure optimized to feature a small mode volume and a nearly Gaussian far-field transverse mode that can efficiently couple to an optical fiber. The fabricated device displays emission that is more than an order of magnitude brighter than bulk impurity-bound exciton emitters in the ZnSe quantum well, as-well-as clear anti-bunching, which verifies the single photon emission from the source. Time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy reveals a Purcell-enhanced radiative decay process with a Purcell factor of 1.43. This work paves the way towards high efficiency spin-photon interfaces using an impurity-doped II-VI semiconductor coupled to nanophotonics.