Quantum Emitters in Nanophotonic Materials
A major effort in our group concerns the study of individual semiconductor quantum dots embedded within specially tailored nanocavities realised using 2D photonic crystals (see figure). Such nanoscale optical resonators enable direct investigation of a wide range of fundamental quantum optical phenomena in solid state systems with strong potential for the realisation of novel quantum electronic devices such as single photon sources. Furthermore, these tailored photonic environments provide a route towards achieving complete control of the spontaneous emission dynamics of individual emitters and the search for strong light-matter coupling in which energy is periodically exchanged between localised photonic states and fundamental excitations in the quantum dots. A primary goal of this research is the fabrication and realisation of high-efficiency, electrically pumped single photon sources for quantum information processing and quantum cryptography. This project is supported financially by DFG via SFB 631 and BMBF via nanoQUIT.
