Seminar: "On-chip nanophotonics: controlling light at the single photon level" Dr. Luca Sapienza

Speaker:

Dr. Luca Sapienza

Solid-state Quantum Optics group

Department of Physics & Astronomy

University of Southampton (United Kingdom)

Title: "On-chip nanophotonics: controlling light at the single photon level"

Abstract

Solid-state quantum emitters are required for quantum information protocols relying on the storage,  manipulation, and transmission of the information encoded in single photons through optical  cavities and waveguides. Semiconductor quantum dots are particularly promising quantum light sources that can allow both the investigation of fundamental physics phenomena on a chip and quantum technology applications [1].

I will discuss the implementation of quantum dot nanostructures to create simultaneously bright and pure, on-demand, single-photon sources in engineered nanophotonic devices [2] and hybrid III-V/Silicon quantum photonic devices [3]. I will present different photonic geometries for controlling light propagation, brightness and spontaneous emission rate, based on circular grating cavities [4] and photonic crystal waveguides [5]. Finally, I will focus on the comparison between highly engineered structures and disordered media, showing efficient light confinement and optical sensing in the visible range of wavelengths, on a silicon nitride platform [6]

References:

[1] O. Gozzano, G.S. Solomon, Toward optical quantum information processing with quantum dots coupled to microstructures, Journal of the Optical Society of America B 33, C160 (2016)

[2] L. Sapienza, M. Davanco, A. Badolato, K. Srinivasan, Nanoscale optical positioning of single quantum dots for bright and pure single-photon emission, Nature Communications 6, 7833 (2015).

[3] M. Davanco, J. Liu, L. Sapienza, C.-Z. Zhang, J.V. De Miranda Cardoso, V. Verma, R. Mirin, S. W. Nam, L. Liu, K. Srinivasan, A heterogeneous III-V/silicon integration platform for on-chip quantum photonic circuits with single quantum dot devices, https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.07654 (2016)

[4] S. Ates, L. Sapienza, M. Davanco, A. Badolato, K. Srinivasan, Bright single photon emission from a quantum dot in a circular Bragg grating microcavity, IEEE, Journal of selected topics in quantum electronics 18, 1711 (2012).

[5] L. Sapienza et al., Cavity quantum electrodynamics with Anderson-localized modes, Science 327, 352 (2010).

[6] T. Crane, O.J. Trojak, L. Sapienza, Anderson localisation of visible light on a nanophotonic chip, arxiv.org/abs/1605.08614v2 (2016).

Biography

Luca Sapienza is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor equivalent) in Physics at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom), where he leads the Solid-State Quantum Optics group.

He received his Laurea (MS degree equivalent) cum laude from the University of Padua (Italy) in July 2004 and his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from the University Paris-Diderot (France) in October 2007.