{\it In-situ} Laser Microprocessing at the Quantum Level

TL;DR

This paper introduces an in-situ laser microprocessing technique that precisely tunes quantum dot energy levels and optical modes, enabling enhanced control over nanostructures at the quantum level.

Contribution

It presents a novel laser-based method for in-situ modification and characterization of quantum nanostructures with high precision.

Findings

Successfully tuned quantum dot emission to resonance with optical modes

Achieved mutual resonance between different quantum dots

Demonstrated broad-range, resolution-limited energy level control

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges of nanotechnology is the fabrication of nano-objects with perfectly controlled properties. Here we employ a focused laser beam both to characterize and to {\it in-situ} modify single semiconductor structures by heating them from cryogenic to high temperatures. The heat treatment allows us to blue-shift, in a broad range and with resolution-limited accuracy, the quantized energy levels of light and charge carriers confined in optical microcavities and self-assembled quantum dots (QDs). We demonstrate the approach by tuning an optical mode into resonance with the emission of a single QD and by bringing different QDs in mutual resonance. This processing method may open the way to a full control of nanostructures at the quantum level.