Cavity-assisted non-classical light generation

量子光子学是一个新兴的技术领域，有望彻底改变科学和日常生活。除其他好处外，它预计将迎来超安全通信，功能强大，超快的计算机，具有增强灵敏度和功能的传感器以及大幅增加的数据存储。这些进步都是以发展非经典光源为前提的。为了有效地过渡到利用量子叠加和纠缠的量子2.0设备，我们必须提高我们在可扩展的集成架构中产生和处理非经典光态的能力。产生光的数态是一个具有挑战性的问题，对于非经典光态的实际应用至关重要。固态量子发射器，特别是半导体量子点（QD），提供了一种有吸引力的量子系统，其可以通过结合到半导体结构中而相对容易地控制，利用成熟的半导体制造技术。然而，这些发射器在发射波长和速率方面的不均匀性是构建可扩展量子光子网络的重大障碍。例如，QD的使用对于涉及相同光子的协议是禁止的，例如线性光学量子计算，或者涉及两个量子比特之间的光子交换。引人注目的是，这个问题可以通过使用绝热通道技术来克服，例如腔辅助受激拉曼绝热通道（STIRAP）过程。该项目的目标是研究用于产生高质量单光子的腔辅助方案，通过将实验技术与新颖的突破性理论和计算建模方法相结合来实现。这种微观建模自然会考虑QD的精确位置和大小，以及双折射等影响，这对于复杂的协议至关重要。除了实现高质量的单光子源外，该提案还为确定性光子-光子门铺平了道路，这是高效光子量子计算的关键资源。该提案通过结合三个团队的互补领先专业知识实现-两个理论团队在开发革命性理论框架方面提供独特和互补的专业知识，一个实验组进行关键实验来验证新理论。Müller教授的团队在腔QED体系中利用半导体量子点产生非经典光方面拥有世界领先的专业知识。Slavcheva博士的团队开创了一种新的量子随机理论，用于模拟量子光子纳米结构和设备中的光-物质相互作用。Jirauschek教授的团队在统计电磁学方法和高精度数值算法方面拥有深厚的专业知识，用于求解应用于光电器件动力学的Maxwell-Bloch方程。

Quantum photonics is an emergent field of technology promising to revolutionise science and day-to-day life alike. Amongst other benefits, it is expected to usher in ultra-secure communication, powerful, super-fast computers, sensors with enhanced sensitivity and functionality and vastly increased data storage. These advancements are all based on the premise of developing non-classical light sources. In order to transition effectively to Quantum 2.0 devices that exploit quantum superposition and entanglement, it is essential that we advance our capability to generate and process non-classical states of light in scalable, integrated architectures.Producing number-states of light is a challenging problem that is central to the practical use of non-classical states of light. Solid-state quantum emitters, and in particular semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), provide an attractive quantum system that can be relatively easily controlled by incorporation into semiconductor structures, taking advantage of the matured semiconductor fabrication technologies. However, the inhomogeneity of these emitters in terms of emission wavelength and rate is a significant obstacle for constructing scalable quantum-photonic networks. For instance, the use of QDs is prohibitive for protocols that involve identical photons, such as linear optical quantum computing, or that involve the exchange of a photon between two qubits. Strikingly, this problem can be overcome by using adiabatic passage techniques, such as cavity-assisted stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) processes. The goal of this project is to investigate cavity-assisted schemes for the generation of high-quality single photons, enabled by combining experimental techniques with novel ground-breaking theoretical and computational modelling methods. This microscopic modelling naturally takes into account the precise position and size of the QD, as well as impacts such as birefringence, which are crucial for sophisticated protocols. In addition to enabling high-quality single-photon sources, this proposal paves the way for deterministic photon-photon gates, a key resource for efficient photonic quantum computation.This proposal is enabled by combining the complimentary leading expertise of three groups – two theory groups providing unique and complementary expertise in the development of a revolutionary theoretical framework, and an experimental group performing crucial experiments to validate the new theory. Prof Müller’s group has world-leading expertise in non-classical light generation with semiconductor QDs in the cavity-QED regime. Dr Slavcheva’s group has pioneered a new quantum stochastic theory for modelling light-matter interactions in quantum-photonic nanostructures and devices. Prof Jirauschek’s group has profound expertise in statistical electromagnetics methods and highly-accurate numerical algorithms for solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations applied to the dynamics of optoelectronic devices.