Giant nonlinear interaction between two optical beams via a quantum dot embedded in a photonic wire

H.A. Nguyen, T. Grange, B. Reznychenko, I. Yeo, P.L. de Assis, D. Tumanov, F. Fratini, N. S. Malik, E. Dupuy, Niels Gregersen, A. Auffeves, J-M. Gérard, J. Claudon, Jean-Philippe Poizat*

*Corresponding author for this work

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    Abstract

    Optical nonlinearities usually appear for large intensities, but discrete transitions allow for giant nonlinearities operating at the single-photon level. This has been demonstrated in the last decade for a single optical mode with cold atomic gases, or single two-level systems coupled to light via a tailored photonic environment. Here, we demonstrate a two-mode giant nonlinearity with a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) embedded in a photonic wire antenna. We exploit two detuned optical transitions associated with the exciton-biexciton QD level scheme. Owing to the broadband waveguide antenna, the two transitions are efficiently interfaced with two free-space laser beams. The reflection of one laser beam is then controlled by the other beam, with a threshold power as low as 10 photons per exciton lifetime (1.6 nW). Such a two-color nonlinearity opens appealing perspectives for the ealization of ultralow-power logical gates and optical quantum gates, and could also be implemented in an integrated photonic circuit based on planar waveguides.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number201106
    JournalPhysical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)
    Volume97
    Number of pages5
    ISSN1098-0121
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

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