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Cory Johns, Matthew Strasbourg, and Nicholas J. Borys, Department of Physics, Montana State University, Barnard Hall, Room 264, Bozeman MT 59717
On-demand nanoscale single-photon sources that are tunable and controllable are needed for a large number of quantum computing and quantum information technologies. Tetrapod semiconductor nanocrystals–which have a unique structure that consists of a central quantum dot core joining four nanowire-like legs in a tetrahedral configuration–could potentially fulfill this need. The core of the tetrapod is a known single emitter and the wavelength and intensity of the photons it emits are uniquely tunable by external strain applied to the legs. Furthermore, the legs act as antennas and channel electrical excitations into the quantum dot core, opening new possibilities for ultrabright emission of entangled photon pairs, the next step beyond single-photon sources. Thus, tetrapods are promising systems as strain-tunable quantum light emitters but have yet to be investigated in such a capacity. This research project aims to investigate the strain-tunable single-photon emitting capabilities of tetrapod nanocrystals. After extensive background research, an experimental apparatus known as a Hanbury-Brown-Twiss interferometer for detecting single-photon emission has been constructed and preliminarily characterized with known single-photon emitters such as isolated CdSe/CdS quantum dots and strain islands in 2D materials. Complementing the apparatus, critical custom analysis software to characterize the photon statistics of nanoscale light emitters has been developed. Currently, the software can detect single-photon emission and ongoing work is focused on developing the ability to explicitly quantify the statistics of the single-photon emitters, which provide insight into their overall quality for quantum applications. Once the hardware and software are fully optimized, the experimental and analytical infrastructure will be used to determine the strain-dependent single-photon emission properties of tetrapod nanocrystals. These initial studies will provide the first steps towards developing tetrapod nanocrystals as a new class of tunable nanoscale quantum light sources for quantum information science applications.
Presenter: Cory Johns
Institution: Montana State University
Type: Poster
Subject: Physics/Astronomy
Status: Approved
