Dipole induced transparency in waveguide coupled photonic crystal cavities

Efficient low-reflection fully etched vertical free-space grating couplers for suspended silicon photonics

We design and fabricate a grating coupler for interfacing suspended silicon photonic membranes with free-space optics while being compatible with single-step lithography and etching in 220 nm silicon device layers. The grating coupler design simultaneously and explicitly targets both high transmission into a silicon waveguide and low reflection back into the waveguide by means of a combination of a two-dimensional shape-optimization step followed by a three-dimensional parameterized extrusion. The designed coupler has a transmission of -6.6 dB (21.8 %), a 3 dB bandwidth of 75 nm, and a reflection of -27 dB (0.2 %). We experimentally validate the design by fabricating and optically characterizing a set of devices that allow the subtraction of all other sources of transmission losses as well as the inference of back-reflections from Fabry-Pérot fringes, and we measure a transmission of 19 % ± 2 %, a bandwidth of 65 nm and a reflection of 1.0 % ± 0.8 %.

Cavity Optomechanics with Anderson-Localized Optical Modes

Confining photons in cavities enhances the interaction between light and matter. In cavity optomechanics, this enables a wealth of phenomena ranging from optomechanically induced transparency to macroscopic objects cooled to their motional ground state. Previous work in cavity optomechanics employed devices where ubiquitous structural disorder played no role beyond perturbing resonance frequencies and quality factors. More generally, the interplay between disorder, which must be described by statistical physics, and optomechanical effects has thus far been unexplored. Here, we demonstrate how sidewall roughness in air-slot photonic-crystal waveguides can induce sufficiently strong backscattering of slot-guided light to create Anderson-localized modes with quality factors as high as half a million and mode volumes estimated to be below the diffraction limit. We observe how the interaction between these disorder-induced optical modes and in-plane mechanical modes of the slotted membrane is governed by a distribution of coupling rates, which can exceed g_{o}/2π∼200  kHz, leading to mechanical amplification up to self sustained oscillations via optomechanical backaction. Our Letter constitutes the first steps towards understanding optomechanics in the multiple-scattering regime and opens new perspectives for exploring complex systems with a multitude of mutually coupled degrees of freedom.

A sleeve and bulk method for fabrication of photonic structures with features on multiple length scales

Traditional photonic structures such as photonic crystals utilize (a) large arrays of small features with the same size and pitch and (b) a small number of larger features such as diffraction outcouplers. In conventional nanofabrication, separate lithography and etch steps are used for small and large features in order to employ process parameters that lead to optimal pattern transfer and side-wall profiles for each feature-size category, thereby overcoming challenges associated with reactive ion etching lag. This approach cannot be scaled to more complex photonic structures such as those emerging from inverse design protocols. Those structures include features with a large range of sizes such that no distinction between small and large can be made. We develop a sleeve and bulk etch protocol that can be employed to simultaneously pattern features over a wide range of sizes while preserving the desired pattern transfer fidelity and sidewall profiles. This approach reduces the time required to develop a robust process flow, simplifies the fabrication of devices with wider ranges of feature sizes, and enables the fabrication of devices with increasingly complex structure.

Observation of slow light in glide-symmetric photonic-crystal waveguides

We report optical transmission measurements on suspended silicon photonic-crystal waveguides, where one side of the photonic lattice is shifted by half a period along the waveguide axis. The combination of this glide symmetry and slow light leads to a strongly enhanced chiral light-matter interaction but the interplay between slow light and backscattering has not been investigated experimentally in such waveguides. We build photonic-crystal resonators consisting of glide-symmetric waveguides terminated by reflectors and use transmission measurements as well as evanescent coupling to map out the dispersion relation. We find excellent agreement with theory and measure group indices exceeding 90, implying significant potential for applications in slow-light devices and chiral quantum optics. By measuring resonators of different length, we assess the role of backscattering induced by fabrication imperfections and its intimate connection to the group index.

High-Efficiency Grating Couplers for Pixel-Level Flat-Top Beam Generation

We demonstrate a kind of grating coupler that generates a high quality flat-top beam with a small beamwidth from photonic integrated circuits into free-space. The grating coupler is designed on a silicon-on-insulator wafer with a 220-nm-thick silicon layer and consists of a dual-etch grating (DG) and a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). By adjusting the structural parameters of DG and DBR, a pixel-level (6.6 µm) flat-top beam with a vertical radiation of −0.5 dB and a mode match of 97% at 1550 nm is realized. Furthermore, a series of high-efficiency grating couplers are designed to create a flat-top beam with different scales.

Nonreciprocal Transmission and Reflection of a Chirally Coupled Quantum Dot

We report strongly nonreciprocal behavior for quantum dot exciton spins coupled to nanophotonic waveguides under resonant laser excitation. A clear dependence of the transmission spectrum on the propagation direction is found for a chirally coupled quantum dot, with spin up and spin down exciton spins coupling to the left and right propagation directions, respectively. The reflection signal shows an opposite trend to the transmission, which a numerical model indicates is due to direction-selective saturation of the quantum dot. The chiral spin-photon interface we demonstrate breaks reciprocity of the system and opens the way to spin-based quantum optical components such as optical diodes and circulators in a chip-based solid-state environment.

Super-Radiant Emission from Quantum Dots in a Nanophotonic Waveguide

Future scalable photonic quantum information processing relies on the ability of integrating multiple interacting quantum emitters into a single chip. Quantum dots provide ideal on-chip quantum light sources. However, achieving quantum interaction between multiple quantum dots on-a-chip is a challenging task due to the randomness in their frequency and position, requiring local tuning technique and long-range quantum interaction. Here, we demonstrate quantum interactions between separated two quantum dots on a nanophotonic waveguide. We achieve a photon-mediated long-range interaction by integrating the quantum dots to the same optical mode of a nanophotonic waveguide and overcome spectral mismatch by incorporating on-chip thermal tuners. We observe their quantum interactions of the form of super-radiant emission, where the two dots collectively emit faster than each dot individually. Creating super-radiant emission from integrated quantum emitters could enable compact chip-integrated photonic structures that exhibit long-range quantum interactions. Therefore, these results represent a major step toward establishing photonic quantum information processors composed of multiple interacting quantum emitters on a semiconductor chip.

Two-Photon Rabi Splitting in a Coupled System of a Nanocavity and Exciton Complexes

Two-photon Rabi splitting in a cavity-dot system provides a basis for multiqubit coherent control in a quantum photonic network. Here we report on two-photon Rabi splitting in a strongly coupled cavity-dot system. The quantum dot was grown intentionally large in size for a large oscillation strength and small biexciton binding energy. Both exciton and biexciton transitions couple to a high-quality-factor photonic crystal cavity with large coupling strengths over 130  μeV. Furthermore, the small binding energy enables the cavity to simultaneously couple with two exciton states. Thereby, two-photon Rabi splitting between the biexciton and cavity is achieved, which can be well reproduced by theoretical calculations with quantum master equations.

Monolithic integration of self-aligned nanoisland laser with shifted-air-hole waveguide

We report a novel scheme for monolithic integration of a nanoisland laser with a shifted-air-hole waveguide by employing selective etching techniques. An active L3 laser cavity and passive shifted-air-hole waveguide are simultaneously formed through a single fabrication step. In the shifted-air-hole waveguide, the air-hole position is adjusted to be compatible with selective etching. The spectral overlap between the L3 laser resonance and guided mode is achieved by introducing small air holes at the nodes of the shifted-air-hole waveguide. Experiments show that >60% of the light is coupled from the nanoisland laser to the end of the 12-μm-long waveguide.

Quantum Optics with Near-Lifetime-Limited Quantum-Dot Transitions in a Nanophotonic Waveguide

Establishing a highly efficient photon-emitter interface where the intrinsic linewidth broadening is limited solely by spontaneous emission is a key step in quantum optics. It opens a pathway to coherent light-matter interaction for, e.g., the generation of highly indistinguishable photons, few-photon optical nonlinearities, and photon-emitter quantum gates. However, residual broadening mechanisms are ubiquitous and need to be combated. For solid-state emitters charge and nuclear spin noise are of importance, and the influence of photonic nanostructures on the broadening has not been clarified. We present near-lifetime-limited linewidths for quantum dots embedded in nanophotonic waveguides through a resonant transmission experiment. It is found that the scattering of single photons from the quantum dot can be obtained with an extinction of 66 ± 4%, which is limited by the coupling of the quantum dot to the nanostructure rather than the linewidth broadening. This is obtained by embedding the quantum dot in an electrically contacted nanophotonic membrane. A clear pathway to obtaining even larger single-photon extinction is laid out; i.e., the approach enables a fully deterministic and coherent photon-emitter interface in the solid state that is operated at optical frequencies.

Observing coherence effects in an overdamped quantum system

It is usually considered that the spectrum of an optical cavity coupled to an atomic medium does not exhibit a normal-mode splitting unless the system satisfies the strong coupling condition, meaning the Rabi frequency of the coherent coupling exceeds the decay rates of atom and cavity excitations. Here we show that this need not be the case, but depends on the way in which the coupled system is probed. Measurements of the reflection of a probe laser from the input mirror of an overdamped cavity reveal an avoided crossing in the spectrum that is not observed when driving the atoms directly and measuring the Purcell-enhanced cavity emission. We understand these observations by noting a formal correspondence with electromagnetically induced transparency of a three-level atom in free space, where our cavity acts as the absorbing medium and the coupled atoms play the role of the control field.

Normal-mode splitting in the spectrum of cavity coupled atoms is normally observed in the strong coupling regime. Here the authors demonstrate the existence of avoided crossings in the spectrum of an overdamped system of cavity coupled 87Rb atoms that arise due to dressing-induced transparency.

Chirality of nanophotonic waveguide with embedded quantum emitter for unidirectional spin transfer

Scalable quantum technologies may be achieved by faithful conversion between matter qubits and photonic qubits in integrated circuit geometries. Within this context, quantum dots possess well-defined spin states (matter qubits), which couple efficiently to photons. By embedding them in nanophotonic waveguides, they provide a promising platform for quantum technology implementations. In this paper, we demonstrate that the naturally occurring electromagnetic field chirality that arises in nanobeam waveguides leads to unidirectional photon emission from quantum dot spin states, with resultant in-plane transfer of matter-qubit information. The chiral behaviour occurs despite the non-chiral geometry and material of the waveguides. Using dot registration techniques, we achieve a quantum emitter deterministically positioned at a chiral point and realize spin-path conversion by design. We further show that the chiral phenomena are much more tolerant to dot position than in standard photonic crystal waveguides, exhibit spin-path readout up to 95±5% and have potential to serve as the basis of spin-logic and network implementations.

Scalable quantum technologies require efficient conversion between qubits stored in solid-state systems and flying photonic qubits. Here, the authors demonstrate that the electromagnetic field chirality of a photonic waveguide leads to unidirectional emission from an embedded quantum dot emitter.

Miniaturized Bragg-grating couplers for SiN-photonic crystal slabs

We report on an experimental and theoretical investigation of an integrated Bragg-like grating coupler for near-vertical scattering of light from photonic crystal waveguides with an ultra-small footprint of a few lattice constants only. Using frequency-resolved measurements, we find the directional properties of the scattered radiation and prove that the coupler shows a good performance over the complete photonic bandgap. The results compare well to analytical considerations regarding 1d-scattering phenomena as well as to FDTD simulations.

Waveguide coupled resonance fluorescence from on-chip quantum emitter

Resonantly driven quantum emitters offer a very promising route to obtain highly coherent sources of single photons required for applications in quantum information processing (QIP). Realizing this for on-chip scalable devices would be important for scientific advances and practical applications in the field of integrated quantum optics. Here we report on-chip quantum dot (QD) resonance fluorescence (RF) efficiently coupled into a single-mode waveguide, a key component of a photonic integrated circuit, with a negligible resonant laser background and show that the QD coherence is enhanced by more than a factor of 4 compared to off-resonant excitation. Single-photon behavior is confirmed under resonant excitation, and fast fluctuating charge dynamics are revealed in autocorrelation g((2)) measurements. The potential for triggered operation is verified in pulsed RF. These results pave the way to a novel class of integrated quantum-optical devices for on-chip quantum information processing with embedded resonantly driven quantum emitters.

Near-unity coupling efficiency of a quantum emitter to a photonic crystal waveguide

A quantum emitter efficiently coupled to a nanophotonic waveguide constitutes a promising system for the realization of single-photon transistors, quantum-logic gates based on giant single-photon nonlinearities, and high bit-rate deterministic single-photon sources. The key figure of merit for such devices is the β factor, which is the probability for an emitted single photon to be channeled into a desired waveguide mode. We report on the experimental achievement of β=98.43%±0.04% for a quantum dot coupled to a photonic crystal waveguide, corresponding to a single-emitter cooperativity of η=62.7±1.5. This constitutes a nearly ideal photon-matter interface where the quantum dot acts effectively as a 1D "artificial" atom, since it interacts almost exclusively with just a single propagating optical mode. The β factor is found to be remarkably robust to variations in position and emission wavelength of the quantum dots. Our work demonstrates the extraordinary potential of photonic crystal waveguides for highly efficient single-photon generation and on-chip photon-photon interaction.

Optical bistability and four-wave mixing with a single nitrogen-vacancy center coupled to a photonic crystal nanocavity in the weak-coupling regime

We explore optical bistability and degenerate four-wave mixing of a hybrid optical system composed of a photonic crystal nanocavity, a single nitrogen-vacancy center embedded in the cavity, and a nearby photonic waveguide serving for in- and outcoupling of light into the cavity in the weak-coupling regime. Here the hybrid system is coherently driven by a continuous-wave bichromatic laser field consisting of a strong control field and a weak probe field. We take account of the nonlinear nature of the nitrogen-vacancy center in the Heisenberg-Langevin equations and give an effective perturbation method to deal with such problems in the continuous-wave-operation regime. The results clearly show that the bistability region of the population inversion and the intensity of the generated four-wave mixing field can be well controlled by properly adjusting the system practical parameters. The nanophotonic platform can be used to implement our proposal. This investigation may be useful for gaining further insight into the properties of solid-state cavity quantum electrodynamics system and find applications in all-optical wavelength converter and switch in a photonic crystal platform.

Waveguide-coupled photonic crystal cavity for quantum dot spin readout

We present a waveguide-coupled photonic crystal H1 cavity structure in which the orthogonal dipole modes couple to spatially separated photonic crystal waveguides. Coupling of each cavity mode to its respective waveguide with equal efficiency is achieved by adjusting the position and orientation of the waveguides. The behavior of the optimized device is experimentally verified for where the cavity mode splitting is larger and smaller than the cavity mode linewidth. In both cases, coupled Q-factors up to 1600 and contrast ratios up to 10 are achieved. This design may allow for spin state readout of a self-assembled quantum dot positioned at the cavity center or function as an ultra-fast optical switch operating at the single photon level.

Probing terahertz metamaterials with subwavelength optical fibers

Transmission through a subwavelength terahertz fiber, which is positioned in parallel to a frequency selective surface, is studied using several finite element tools. Both the band diagram technique and the port-based scattering matrix technique are used to explain the nature of various resonances in the fiber transmission spectrum. First, we observe that spectral positions of most of the transmission peaks in the port-based simulation can be related to the positions of Van Hove singularities in the band diagram of a corresponding infinite periodic system. Moreover, spectral shape of most of the features in the fiber transmission spectrum can be explained by superposition of several Fano-type resonances. We also show that center frequencies and bandwidths of these resonances and, as a consequence, spectral shape of the resulting transmission features can be tuned by varying the fiber-metamaterial separation.

Interfacing spins in an InGaAs quantum dot to a semiconductor waveguide circuit using emitted photons

An in-plane spin-photon interface is essential for the integration of quantum dot spins with optical circuits. The optical dipole of a quantum dot lies in the plane and the spin is optically accessed via circularly polarized selection rules. Hence, a single waveguide, which can transport only one in-plane linear polarization component, cannot communicate the spin state between two points on a chip. To overcome this issue, we introduce a spin-photon interface based on two orthogonal waveguides, where the polarization emitted by a quantum dot is mapped to a path-encoded photon. We demonstrate operation by deducing the spin using the interference of in-plane photons. A second device directly maps right and left circular polarizations to antiparallel waveguides, surprising for a nonchiral structure but consistent with an off-center dot.

Low-photon-number optical switching with a single quantum dot coupled to a photonic crystal cavity

We demonstrate fast nonlinear optical switching between two laser pulses with as few as 140 photons of pulse energy by utilizing strong coupling between a single quantum dot (QD) and a photonic crystal cavity. The cavity-QD coupling is modified by a detuned pump pulse, resulting in a modulation of the scattered and transmitted amplitude of a time synchronized probe pulse that is resonant with the QD. The temporal switching response is measured to be as fast as 120 ps, demonstrating the ability to perform optical switching on picosecond timescales.

Directional free-space coupling from photonic crystal waveguides

We present a general approach for coupling a specific mode in a planar photonic crystal (PC) waveguide to a desired free-space mode. We apply this approach to a W1 PC waveguide by introducing small index perturbations to selectively couple a particular transverse mode to an approximately Gaussian, slowly diverging free space mode. This "perturbative photonic crystal waveguide coupler" (PPCWC) enables efficient interconversion between selectable propagating photonic crystal and free space modes with minimal design perturbations.

Evolution of the complete photonic bandgap of two-dimensional photonic crystal

In this paper, the complete photonic bandgap (CPBG) of two-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs), which are formed by a square array of solid or hollow dielectric rods connected with dielectric veins, are numerically investigated using the plane wave expansion method. It is clearly demonstrated how the CPBG evolves as the pattern of veins or the type of rods changes. An optimal structure with an ultralarge CPBG is found, whose CPBG reaches Δω=0.22374 (2πc/a), which is larger than those reported in literatures. The proposed structure seems to have promising applications due to its ultralarge CPBG and large fabrication tolerance.

Observation of strong coupling through transmission modification of a cavity-coupled photonic crystal waveguide

We investigate strong coupling between a single quantum dot (QD) and photonic crystal cavity through transmission modification of an evanescently coupled waveguide. Strong coupling is observed through modification of both the cavity scattering spectrum and waveguide transmission. We achieve an overall Q of 5800 and an exciton-photon coupling strength of 21 GHz for this integrated cavity-waveguide structure. The transmission contrast for the bare cavity mode is measured to be 24%. These results represent important progress towards integrated cavity quantum electrodynamics using a planar photonic architecture.

Two-photon scattering by a driven three-level emitter in a one-dimensional waveguide and electromagnetically induced transparency

We study correlated two-photon transport in a (quasi-)one-dimensional photonic waveguide coupled to a three-level Λ-type emitter driven by a classical light field. Two-photon correlation is much stronger in the waveguide for a driven three-level emitter (3LE) than a two-level emitter. The driven 3LE waveguide shows electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), and we investigate the scaling of EIT for one and two photons. We show that the two transmitted photons are bunched together at any distance separation when energy of the incident photons meets "two-photon resonance" criterion for EIT.

Theory of electro-optic modulation via a quantum dot coupled to a nano-resonator

In this paper, we analyze the performance of an electro-optic modulator based on a single quantum dot strongly coupled to a nano-resonator, where electrical control of the quantum dot frequency is achieved via quantum confined Stark effect. Using realistic system parameters, we show that modulation speeds of a few tens of GHz are achievable with this system, while the energy per switching operation can be as small as 0.5 fJ. In addition, we study the non-linear distortion, and the effect of pure quantum dot dephasing on the performance of the modulator.

Resonant excitation of a quantum dot strongly coupled to a photonic crystal nanocavity

We describe the resonant excitation of a single quantum dot that is strongly coupled to a photonic crystal nanocavity. The cavity represents a spectral window for resonantly probing the optical transitions of the quantum dot. We observe narrow absorption lines attributed to the single and biexcition quantum dot transitions and measure antibunched population of the detuned cavity mode [g{(2)}(0)=0.19].

Fast electrical control of a quantum dot strongly coupled to a photonic-crystal cavity

The resonance frequency of an InAs quantum dot strongly coupled to a GaAs photonic-crystal cavity was electrically controlled via the quadratic quantum confined Stark effect. Stark shifts up to 0.3 meV were achieved using a lateral Schottky electrode that created a local depletion region at the location of the quantum dot. We report switching of a probe laser coherently coupled to the cavity up to speeds as high as 150 MHz, limited by the RC constant of the transmission line. The coupling strength g and the magnitude of the Stark shift with electric field were investigated while coherently probing the system.

An optical modulator based on a single strongly coupled quantum dot--cavity system in a p-i-n junction

We demonstrate an optical modulator based on a single quantum dot strongly coupled to a photonic crystal cavity. A vertical p-i-n junction is used to tune the quantum dot and thereby modulate the cavity transmission, with a measured instrument-limited response time of 13 ns. A modulator based on a single quantum dot promises operation at high bandwidth and low power.