Single-photon emission from single-electron transport in a SAW-driven lateral light-emitting diode
Abstract
The long-distance quantum transfer between electron-spin qubits in semiconductors is important for realising large-scale quantum computing circuits. Electron-spin to photon-polarisation conversion is a promising technology for achieving free-space or fibre-coupled quantum transfer. In this work, using only regular lithography techniques on a conventional 15 nm GaAs quantum well, we demonstrate acoustically-driven generation of single photons from single electrons, without the need for a self-assembled quantum dot. In this device, a single electron is carried in a potential minimum of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) and is transported to a region of holes to form an exciton. The exciton then decays and creates a single optical photon within 100 ps. This SAW-driven electroluminescence, without optimisation, yields photon antibunching with g(2)(0) = 0.39 ± 0.05 in the single-electron limit (g(2)(0) = 0.63 ± 0.03 in the raw histogram). Our work marks the first step towards electron-to-photon (spin-to-polarisation) qubit conversion for scaleable quantum computing architectures.
- Publication:
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Nature Communications
- Pub Date:
- February 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1038/s41467-020-14560-1
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1901.03464
- Bibcode:
- 2020NatCo..11..917H
- Keywords:
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- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- Physics - Applied Physics;
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- Nature Communications 11, 917 (2020)