Quantum dot single-photon emission coupled into single-mode fibers with 3D printed micro-objectives

47Citations
Citations of this article
44Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

User-friendly single-photon sources with high photon-extraction efficiency are crucial building blocks for photonic quantum applications. For many of these applications, such as long-distance quantum key distribution, the use of single-mode optical fibers is mandatory, which leads to stringent requirements regarding the device design and fabrication. We report on the on-chip integration of a quantum dot (QD) microlens with a 3D-printed micro-objective in combination with a single-mode on-chip fiber coupler. The practical quantum device is realized by the deterministic fabrication of the QD-microlens via in situ electron-beam lithography and the 3D two-photon laser writing of the on-chip micro-objective and fiber chuck. A QD with a microlens is an efficient single-photon source, whose emission is collimated by the on-chip micro-objective. A second polymer microlens is located at the end facet of the single-mode fiber and ensures that the collimated light is efficiently coupled into the fiber core. For this purpose, the fiber is placed in an on-chip fiber chuck, which is precisely aligned to the QD-microlens thanks to the sub-micrometer processing accuracy of high-resolution two-photon direct laser writing. The resulting quantum device has a broadband photon extraction efficiency, a single-mode fiber-coupling efficiency of 22%, a measured single-photon flux of 42 kHz (8.9 kHz) under cw (pulsed) optical excitation, which corresponds to 1.5 MHz (0.3 MHz) at the single-mode fiber output, and a multi-photon probability in terms of g(2)(0) = 0.00±0.000.04 (0.13 ± 0.05) under cw (pulsed) optical excitation. The stable design of the developed fiber-coupled quantum device makes it highly attractive for integration into user-friendly plug-and-play quantum applications.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Bremer, L., Weber, K., Fischbach, S., Thiele, S., Schmidt, M., Kaganskiy, A., … Reitzenstein, S. (2020). Quantum dot single-photon emission coupled into single-mode fibers with 3D printed micro-objectives. APL Photonics, 5(10). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0014921

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free