arXiv subjects

Steffen Wilksen

Publications and source records attributed to Steffen Wilksen.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Ultra-slow orbital and spin dynamics in an electrically tunable quantum dot molecule

Tunnel-coupled optically active quantum dot molecules (QDMs), have the potential to operate as spin-photon-interfaces with coupled spins that interact with two different photon frequencies at the same time. A prerequisite is to deterministically prepare two (electron or hole) spins in the QDM and be able to electrically tune the orbital state couplings. Here, we demonstrate the sequential optical charging of a single QDM with two electron spins while simultaneously maintaining the ability to widely tune orbital couplings using static electric fields and optically drive the system for quantum light generation. We optically prepare one- and two-spin states, initialize via optical pumping and explore orbital and spin relaxation dynamics for one and two-spin states as a function of the energy detuning and hybridization of orbital states. For two-spin states, remarkably long S-T relaxation times are observed extending beyond $\sim 100μs$ with strong dependence on the relative energy of ground and excited two-spin states. Qualitative agreement is observed with $\mathbf{k \cdot p}$ calculations of phonon-mediated spin-relaxation. Our results provide new quantitative understanding of the dynamics of one and two-spin states and confirm their suitability of QDMs for creating multidimensional photonic cluster states by exploiting tunable spin-spin exchange couplings at zero magnetic fields combined with optical driving.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Scalable Quantum Photonic Platform Based on Site-Controlled Quantum Dots Coupled to Circular Bragg Grating Resonators

The scalable integration of solid-state quantum emitters into photonic nanostructures remains a central challenge for quantum photonic technologies. Here, we demonstrate a robust and streamlined integration strategy that tackles the long-standing issue of deterministic fabrication on randomly positioned self-assembled quantum dots (QDs), leveraging a buried-stressor-based site-controlled InGaAs QD platform. We show that this deterministic growth approach enables precise spatial alignment with circular Bragg grating (CBG) resonators for enhanced emission, eliminating the need for complex and time-consuming deterministic lithography techniques. We fabricated a $6\times6$ SCQD-CBG array with 100\% device yield, with 35 devices falling within the radial-offset range where the simulated photon-extraction efficiency (PEE) exceeds 20\%, underscoring the spatial precision and scalability of our fabrication concept. A systematically selected subset of five devices with varying radial displacements reveals clear offset-dependent trends in extraction efficiency, spectral linewidth, and photon indistinguishability, thereby establishing quantitative bounds on spatial alignment tolerances. In the best-aligned QD-CBG device, we achieve a PEE of $(47.1\pm3.8)\%$, a linewidth of $(1.41\pm0.22)$ GHz, a radiative decay lifetime of $(0.80\pm0.02)$~ns, a single-photon purity of $(99.58\pm0.18)\%$, and a Hong-Ou-Mandel two-photon interference visibility of $(81\pm5)\%$ under quasi-resonant excitation at saturation power. We confirm our conceptual understanding of the effect of emitter-position dependent charge-noise fluctuations in terms of a quantum-optical model for the (quantum-)emission properties.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Connection between memory performance and optical absorption in quantum reservoir computing

The fading memory property is a key requirement for reservoir computers -- a specific type of recurrent neural network with fixed internal weights. While mostly undesired in gate-based quantum computing, dissipation due to material imperfections or coupling to the environment acts as a natural mechanism intrinsically providing fading memory to reservoir computers based on dynamical open quantum systems. In this work, we unravel a connection between the physical metric of optical absorption and the performance of quantum reservoir computers in terms of their short-term memory capacity. We establish this link by considering a coherent input encoding in conjunction with tunable qubit decay, giving precise control over the fading memory in the quantum reservoir computer. Our analysis enables us to identify a sweet-spot regime for the dissipation strength at which memory performance is maximized.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Enhancement of Indistinguishable Photon Emission from a GaAs Quantum Dot via Charge Noise Suppression

The generation of indistinguishable single photons is a fundamental requirement for future quantum technologies, particularly in quantum repeater networks and for distributed quantum computing based on entanglement distribution. However, spectral jitter, often induced by charge noise in epitaxial quantum dots, leads to exciton dephasing, thereby limiting their practical usage in quantum applications. We present a straightforward approach to mitigate charge noise-induced decoherence in droplet-etched GaAs quantum dots embedded in an n-i-p diode structure and integrated deterministically into an electrically contacted circular Bragg grating resonator for emission enhancement. The quantum device allows for the stabilization of the charge environment by applying an external electrical field while producing a photon extraction efficiency of approximately (37 +- 2)%. Hong-Ou-Mandel two-photon interference measurements reveal a strong voltage dependence of the exciton dephasing time and interference visibility on the applied bias in excellent agreement with our theoretical predictions. Notably, the reduction in visibility from a maximum, charge-stabilized corrected value of 97 percent at the optimum bias point follows an inverse square dependence (proportional to 1/I^2) with increasing diode current (I) in forward direction. Under a quasi-resonant excitation scheme, we achieve a maximum exciton dephasing time (T2*) of approximately (6.8 +-0.5) ns, reaching nearly the Fourier limit (T2 = 2T1) without the need for complex echo schemes like Ramsey or Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill sequences. These findings are consistent with theoretical predictions from rate equation modeling and quantum optical analysis as well as voltage-dependent linewidth measurements, demonstrating optimized electrical control of exciton dephasing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Harnessing Photon Indistinguishability in Quantum Extreme Learning Machines

Recent advancements in machine learning have led to an exponential increase in computational demands, driving the need for innovative computing platforms. Quantum computing, with its Hilbert space scaling exponentially with the number of particles, emerges as a promising solution. In this work, we implement a quantum extreme machine learning (QELM) protocol leveraging indistinguishable photon pairs and multimode fiber as a random densly connected layer. We experimentally study QELM performance based on photon coincidences -- for distinguishable and indistinguishable photons -- on an image classification task. Simulations further show that increasing the number of photons reveals a clear quantum advantage. We relate this improved performance to the enhanced dimensionality and expressivity of the feature space, as indicated by the increased rank of the feature matrix in both experiment and simulation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Impact of phonon lifetimes on the single-photon indistinguishability in quantum emitters based on 2D materials

Localized excitons in two-dimensional (2D) materials are considered as promising sources of single photons on demand. The photon indistinguishability as key figure of merit for quantum information processing is strongly influenced by the coupling of charge excitations to lattice vibrations of the surrounding semiconductor material. Here, we quantify the impact of exciton-acoustic-phonon-interaction and cavity QED effects on photon indistinguishability in a Hong-Ou-Mandel setup by solving fully quantum mechanical equations for the coupled QD-cavity-phonon system including non-Markovian effects. We find a strong reduction of indistinguishability compared to 3D systems due to increased exciton-phonon coupling efficiency. Moreover, we show that the coherence properties of photons are significantly influenced by the finite phonon lifetime in the surrounding material giving rise to pure dephasing. Only if these limitations are overcome, localized excitons in 2D semiconductors can become a new avenue for quantum light sources.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Gate-based protocol simulations for quantum repeaters using quantum-dot molecules in switchable electric fields

Electrically controllable quantum-dot molecules (QDMs) are a promising platform for deterministic entanglement generation and, as such, a resource for quantum-repeater networks. We develop a microscopic open-quantum-systems approach based on a time-dependent Bloch-Redfield equation to model the generation of entangled spin states with high fidelity. The state preparation is a crucial step in a protocol for deterministic entangled-photon-pair generation that we propose for quantum repeater applications. Our theory takes into account the quantum-dot molecules' electronic properties that are controlled by time-dependent electric fields as well as dissipation due to electron-phonon interaction. We quantify the transition between adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes, which provides insights into the dynamics of adiabatic control of QDM charge states in the presence of dissipative processes. From this, we infer the maximum speed of entangled-state preparation under different experimental conditions, which serves as a first step towards simulation of attainable entangled photon-pair generation rates. The developed formalism opens the possibility for device-realistic descriptions of repeater protocol implementations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Multipartite entanglement generation in coupled microcavity arrays

We consider photonic arrays made from quantum emitters in optically coupled microcavities as a platform for entanglement generation. These offer a large degree of tunability with the possibility of site-selective optical excitation. Coherent pumping is considered to drive transitions between vacuum and entangled target states both in a time-dependent manner, and in a quantum bath engineering approach to create entanglement in the steady-state. We demonstrate a numerical scheme that allows to generalize the determination of excitation parameters to larger array sizes and different classes of entangled states. This study is a step towards using coupled cavity arrays as a hardware platform in novel quantum-photonic applications in quantum computing and quantum machine learning.

quant-ph↗