Seminar - Dr. Michael E. Reimer

Monday, March 31, 2014 11:00 am - 11:00 am EDT (GMT -04:00)

Speaker

Dr. Michael E. Reimer
Kavli Institute of Nanoscience
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Title

Semiconductor quantum light sources

Abstract

Ways to generate coherent and efficient, regulated streams of single photons or entangled photon pairs are needed in development of future quantum technologies such as communication between remote nodes in a quantum network and implementation of integrated quantum photonic circuits. For practical implementation, a Gaussian emission profile is essential so that the light couples efficiently to a single-mode optical fiber or to on-chip waveguides. In this talk, I first discuss how we have realized an ‘ideal’ single-photon emitter in the solid-state using nanowire heterostructures by precisely controlling the quantum dot position, nanowire shape, and construction. I will show how we position the quantum dot on the nanowire waveguide axis and shape the nanowire tip during growth in order to achieve a very bright single-photon source [1, 2]. For practical implementation, we demonstrate a near-perfect coupling of the quantum dot emission to a single-mode optical fiber owing to the Gaussian emission profile provided by the nanowire. Next, I will show how we have achieved the narrowest quantum dot emission linewidth to date by carefully controlling the crystal phase quality of the nanowire during growth to be of the pure wurtzite structure. In contrast to conventional self-assembled quantum dots, this narrowest linewidth is not attained at very low excitation powers, but at the excitation power where the quantum dot emission is brightest.

Finally, I will present an optical approach to generate time-bin entangled photon pairs on demand. We convert polarization entangled photons from a single quantum dot into time-bin entangled photons by sending them through an interferometer. Additionally, by sending the time-bin entangled photons back through the same interferometer we recover polarization entangled photons. Time-bin entanglement is more suitable for long-distance quantum communication than polarization entanglement, since time-bin entangled photons are insensitive to birefringence in optical fibers.

Speaker's biography

Michael Reimer obtained his B.Sc. in Honours Physics at the University of Waterloo (2000). Afterwards, he spent two years in R&D at JDS Uniphase working on optical cross-connect switches based on MEMS technology. Michael then returned to academia and obtained his M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the Technical University of Munich in Germany (2004) and his PhD in Physics at the University of Ottawa/National Research Council of Canada (2010). Michael then completed four years as a postdoctoral researcher at TU Delft in the quantum optics lab of Prof. Val Zwiller and is currently a Research Associate.His main research focus is on the development of novel quantum light sources and quantum photonic devices utilizing semiconductor nanowire heterostructures aimed at applications in quantum information science. Michael is also part of a recent start-up company, Single Quantum that is developing superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for a wide-range of applications from fundamental research to high-speed communication from space.