arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Jelena Vuckovic.
Quantum networks based on InGaAs quantum dots embedded in photonic crystal devices rely on QDs being in resonance with each other and with the cavities they are embedded in. We developed a new technique based on temperature tuning to spectrally align different quantum dots located on the same chip. The technique allows for up to 1.8nm reversible on-chip quantum dot tuning.
Quantum dot photonic crystal membrane lasers were fabricated and the large signal modulation characteristics were studied. We find that the modulation characteristics of quantum dot lasers can be significantly improved using cavities with large spontaneous emission coupling factor. Our experiments show, and simulations confirm, that the modulation rate is limited by the rate of carrier capture into the dots to around 30GHz in our present system.
We demonstrate fast (up to 20 GHz), low power (5 $μW$) modulation of photonic crystal (PC) cavities in GaAs containing InAs quantum dots. Rapid modulation through blue-shifting of the cavity resonance is achieved via free carrier injection by an above-band picosecond laser pulse. Slow tuning by several linewidths due to laser-induced heating is also demonstrated.
Research on photonic cavities with low mode volume and high quality factor garners much attention because of applications ranging from optoelectronics to cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). We propose a cavity based on surface plasmon modes confined by metallic distributed Bragg reflectors. We analyze the structure with Finite Difference Time Domain simulations and obtain modes with quality factor 1000 (including losses from metals), reduced mode volume relative to photonic crystal cavities, Purcell enhancements of hundreds, and even the capability of enabling cavity QED strong coupling.
Coupling of photonic crystal (PC) linear three-hole defect cavities (L3) to PC waveguides is theoretically and experimentally investigated. The systems are designed to increase the overlap between the evanescent cavity field and the waveguide mode, and to operate in the linear dispersion region of the waveguide. Our simulations indicate increased coupling when the cavity is tilted by 60 degrees with respect to the waveguide axis, which we have also confirmed by experiments. We obtained up to 90% coupling efficiency into the waveguide.
We have demonstrated an up to seven-fold enhancement of photoluminescence from silicon-rich silicon nitride film due to a single photonic crystal cavity. The enhancement is partially attributed to the Purcell effect. Purcell factor predicted by FDTD calculations is 32 for a linear three-defect cavity mode with computed quality factor of 332 and mode volume of 0.785 cubic wavelengths. Experimentally measured cavity quality (Q) factors vary in the range of 200 to 300, showing excellent agreement with calculations. The emission peak can be tuned to any wavelength in the 600 to 800 nm range.
We present a basic building block of a quantum network consisting of a quantum dot coupled to a source cavity, which in turn is coupled to a target cavity via a waveguide. The single photon emission from the high-Q/V source cavity is characterized by a twelve-fold spontaneous emission (SE) rate enhancement that results in a SE coupling efficiency near 0.98 into the source cavity mode. Single photons are efficiently transferred into the target cavity through the waveguide, with a source/target field intensity ratio of 0.12 (up to 0.49 observed in other structures without coupled quantum dots). This system shows great promise as a building block of future on-chip quantum information processing systems.
We discuss the feasibility of a quantum nondemolition measurement (QND) of photon number based on cross phase modulation due to the Kerr effect in Photonic Crystal Waveguides (PCWs). In particular, we derive the equations for two modes propagating in PCWs and their coupling by a third order nonlinearity. The reduced group velocity and small cross-sectional area of the PCW lead to an enhancement of the interaction relative to bulk materials. We show that in principle, such experiments may be feasible with current photonic technologies, although they are limited by material properties. Our analysis of the propagation equations is sufficiently general to be applicable to the study of soliton formation, all-optical switching and can be extended to processes involving other orders of the nonlinearity.
We show that a waveguide that is normally opaque due to interaction with a drop-filter cavity can be made transparent when the drop filter is also coupled to a dipole. A transparency condition is derived between the cavity lifetime and vacuum Rabi frequency of the dipole. This condition is much weaker than strong coupling, and amounts to simply achieving large Purcell factors. Thus, we can observe transparency in the weak coupling regime. We describe how this effect can be useful for designing quantum repeaters for long distance quantum communication.
We calculate the dispersive properties of the reflected field from a cavity coupled to a single dipole. We show that when a field is resonant with the dipole it experiences a 90 degree phase shift relative to reflection from a bare cavity if the Purcell factor exceeds the bare cavity reflectivity. We then show that optically Stark shifting the dipole with a second field can be used to achieve giant Kerr non-linearites. It is shown that currently achievable cavity lifetimes and cavity quality factors can allow a single emitter in the cavity to impose a nonlinear $π$ phase shift at the single photon level.
Photonic crystal cavities can localize light into nanoscale volumes with high quality factors. This permits a strong interaction between light and matter, which is important for the construction of classical light sources with improved properties (e.g., low threshold lasers) and of nonclassical light sources (such as single and entangled photon sources) that are crucial pieces of hardware of quantum information processing systems. This article will review some of our recent experimental and theoretical results on the interaction between single quantum dots and photonic crystal cavity fields, and on the integration of multiple photonic crystal devices into functional circuits for quantum information processing.
We present the design, fabrication and preliminary experiments of two-dimensional photonic crystal cavities made in nanoporous silicon luminescent at 700-800 nm. Enhancement in photoluminescence extraction efficiency at the resonant wavelength is expected due to Purcell effect and directed radiation pattern defined by the cavity. Such cavities should also enhance nonlinearities exhibited by porous Si beyond what is observed in one-dimensional distributed Bragg reflection cavities due to their small mode volumes and modest quality factors. This design aligns itself well to integration with conventional silicon based electronics on a single chip.
We describe a general recipe for designing high-quality factor (Q) photonic crystal cavities with small mode volumes. We first derive a simple expression for out-of-plane losses in terms of the k-space distribution of the cavity mode. Using this, we select a field that will result in a high Q. We then derive an analytical relation between the cavity field and the dielectric constant along a high symmetry direction, and use it to confine our desired mode. By employing this inverse problem approach, we are able to design photonic crystal cavities with Q > 4*10^6 and mode volumes V ~ (λ/n)^3. Our approach completely eliminates parameter space searches in photonic crystal cavity design, and allows rapid optimization of a large range of photonic crystal cavities. Finally, we study the limit of the out-of-plane cavity Q and mode volume ratio.
We demonstrate the coupling of PbS quantum dot emission to photonic crystal cavities at room temperature. The cavities are defined in 33% Al, AlGaAs membranes on top of oxidized AlAs. Quantum dots were dissolved in Poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and spun on top of the cavities. Quantum dot emission is shown to map out the structure resonances, and may prove to be viable sources for room temperature cavity coupled single photon generation for quantum information processing applications. These results also indicate that such commercially available quantum dots can be used for passive structure characterization. The deposition technique is versatile and allows layers with different dot densities and emission wavelengths to be re-deposited on the same chip.
We observe large spontaneous emission rate modification of individual InAs Quantum Dots (QDs) in 2D a photonic crystal with a modified, high-Q single defect cavity. Compared to QDs in bulk semiconductor, QDs that are resonant with the cavity show an emission rate increase by up to a factor of 8. In contrast, off-resonant QDs indicate up to five-fold rate quenching as the local density of optical states (LDOS) is diminished in the photonic crystal. In both cases we demonstrate photon antibunching, showing that the structure represents an on-demand single photon source with pulse duration from 210 ps to 8 ns. We explain the suppression of QD emission rate using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations and find good agreement with experiment.
We derive a coupled mode theory for the interaction of an optical cavity with a waveguide that includes waveguide dispersion. The theory can be applied to photonic crystal cavity waveguide structures. We derive an analytical solution to the add and drop spectra arising from such interactions in the limit of linear dispersion. In this limit, the spectra can accurately predict the cold cavity quality factor (Q) when the interaction is weak. We numerically solve the coupled mode equations for the case of a cavity interacting with the band edge of a periodic waveguide, where linear dispersion is no longer a good approximation. In this regime, the density of states can distort the add and drop spectra. This distortion can lead to more than an order of magnitude overestimation of the cavity Q.
We have experimentally studied polarization properties of the two-dimensional coupled photonic crystal microcavity arrays, and observed a strong polarization dependence of the transmission and reflection of light from the structures - the effects that can be employed in building miniaturized polarizing optical components. Moreover, by combining these properties with a strong sensitivity of the coupled bands on the surrounding refractive index, we have demonstrated a detection of small refractive index changes in the environment, which is useful for construction of bio-chemical sensors.
We present the design and fabrication of photonic crystal structures exhibiting electromagnetic bands that are flattened in all crystal directions, i.e., whose frequency variation with wavevector is minimized. Such bands can be used to reduce group velocity of light propagating in arbitrary crystal direction, which is of importance for construction of miniaturized tunable optical delay components, low-threshold photonic crystal lasers, and study of nonlinear optics phenomena.