A single-photon emitter coupled to a phononic-crystal resonator in the resolved-sideband regime

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates coupling a single-photon emitter to a phononic-crystal resonator in the resolved-sideband regime, enabling quantum control of mechanical motion at GHz frequencies.

Contribution

It reports the first achievement of coupling a quantum dot to a high-Q phononic resonator in the resolved-sideband regime with strong coupling.

Findings

Achieved mechanical frequency of 1.466 GHz with Q factor of 2100.

Coupling rate of 2.9 MHz between quantum dot and resonator.

Observed interaction indicating potential for quantum control.

Abstract

A promising route towards the heralded creation and annihilation of single-phonons is to couple a single-photon emitter to a mechanical resonator. The challenge lies in reaching the resolved-sideband regime with a large coupling rate and a high mechanical quality factor. We achieve all of this by coupling self-assembled InAs quantum dots to a small-mode-volume phononic-crystal resonator with mechanical frequency $\Omega_\mathrm{m}/2\pi = 1.466~\mathrm{GHz}$ and quality factor $Q_\mathrm{m} = 2.1\times10^3$. Thanks to the high coupling rate of $g_\mathrm{ep}/2\pi = 2.9~\mathrm{MHz}$, and by exploiting a matching condition between the effective Rabi and mechanical frequencies, we are able to observe the interaction between the two systems. Our results represent a major step towards quantum control of the mechanical resonator via a single-photon emitter.