Single quantum emitter single photon source and producing a single photon stream

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11451306-B2
Application number	US-202016875201-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2020
Priority date	Jun 14, 2019
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

A single quantum emitter single photon source produces a single photon stream and includes: a single-mode excitation waveguide that receives a pump light, propagates pump light as resonant excitation light, and produces evanescent excitation light; a separation gap between single-mode excitation waveguide and a multi-mode intermediate waveguide; a multi-mode intermediate waveguide that: includes a single quantum emitter, evanescently receives the evanescent excitation light from the single-mode excitation waveguide, propagates the evanescent excitation light as resonant excitation light, and subjects the single quantum emitter to the resonant excitation light such that the single quantum emitter produces emitted single photons; and a single-mode output waveguide that receives the emitted single photons from the multi-mode intermediate waveguide and propagates the emitted single photons as an emitted single photon stream.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A single quantum emitter single photon source for producing a single photon stream, the single quantum emitter single photon source comprising:
a single-mode excitation waveguide that receives a pump light, propagates pump light as resonant excitation light, and produces evanescent excitation light from resonant excitation light;
a first separation gap that separates the single-mode excitation waveguide and a multi-mode intermediate waveguide and that receives the evanescent excitation light from the single-mode excitation waveguide;
the multi-mode intermediate waveguide in evanescent communication with the single-mode excitation waveguide and that:
comprises a single quantum emitter disposed in the multi-mode intermediate waveguide,
evanescently receives the evanescent excitation light from the single-mode excitation waveguide across the first separation gap,
propagates the evanescent excitation light as resonant excitation light, and
subjects the single quantum emitter to the resonant excitation light such that the single quantum emitter produces emitted single photons from the resonant excitation light;

a second separation gap that separates the multi-mode intermediate waveguide and a single-mode output waveguide and that receives the emitted single photons from the multi-mode intermediate waveguide; and
the single-mode output waveguide in evanescent communication with the multi-mode intermediate waveguide and that:
evanescently receives the emitted single photons from the multi-mode intermediate waveguide across the second separation gap, and
propagates the emitted single photons as emitted single photon stream.

2. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 1 , further comprising a substrate on which the single-mode excitation waveguide, the multi-mode intermediate waveguide, and the single-mode output waveguide are disposed.

3. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 2 , further comprising a laser disposed on the substrate in optical communication with the single-mode excitation waveguide and that provides the pump light to the single-mode excitation waveguide.

4. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 1 , wherein the single quantum emitter comprises a fluorescent molecule, a quantum dot, a sub-wavelength scattering center, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing single quantum emitters.

5. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 1 , wherein a wavelength of the pump light is the same as photon emitted from the quantum emitter.

6. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 1 , wherein a wavelength of the emitted single photons is from 900 nm to 1000 nm.

7. A single quantum emitter single photon source for producing a single photon stream, the single quantum emitter single photon source comprising:
a single-mode excitation waveguide that receives a pump light, propagates pump light as resonant excitation light, and produces evanescent excitation light from resonant excitation light;
a separation gap that separates the single-mode excitation waveguide and a multi-mode intermediate waveguide and that receives the evanescent excitation light from the single-mode excitation waveguide;
the multi-mode intermediate waveguide in evanescent communication with the single-mode excitation waveguide and that:
comprises a single quantum emitter disposed in the multi-mode intermediate waveguide,
evanescently receives the evanescent excitation light from the single-mode excitation waveguide across the separation gap,
propagates the evanescent excitation light as resonant excitation light, and
subjects the single quantum emitter to the resonant excitation light such that the single quantum emitter produces emitted single photons from the resonant excitation light;

an adiabatic mode transformer that separates the multi-mode intermediate waveguide and a single-mode output waveguide and that:
is in optical communication with the multi-mode intermediate waveguide,
receives the emitted single photons from the multi-mode intermediate waveguide, and
optically couples the multi-mode intermediate waveguide and the single-mode output waveguide; and

the single-mode output waveguide in optical communication with the adiabatic mode transformer and that:
receives the emitted single photons from the adiabatic mode transformer, and
propagates the emitted single photons as emitted single photon stream.

8. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 7 , further comprising a substrate on which the single-mode excitation waveguide, the multi-mode intermediate waveguide, and the single-mode output waveguide are disposed.

9. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 8 , further comprising a laser disposed on the substrate in optical communication with the single-mode excitation waveguide and that provides the pump light to the single-mode excitation waveguide.

10. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 7 , wherein the single quantum emitter comprises a fluorescent molecule, a quantum dot, a sub-wavelength scattering center, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing single quantum emitters.

11. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 7 , wherein a wavelength of the pump light is the same as that emitted from the quantum emitter.

12. The single quantum emitter single photon source of claim 7 , wherein a wavelength of the emitted single photons is from 900 nm to 1000 nm.

13. A process for producing a single photon stream with a single quantum emitter single photon source, the process comprising:
producing a pump light;
receiving, by a single-mode excitation waveguide, the pump light;
propagating the pump light as resonant excitation light in the single-mode excitation waveguide;
producing evanescent excitation light from the resonant excitation light;
receiving the evanescent excitation light in a separation gap that separates the single-mode excitation waveguide from a multi-mode intermediate waveguide;
propagating the evanescent excitation light through the separation gap;
evanescently receiving, by the multi-mode intermediate waveguide, the evanescent excitation light from the single-mode excitation waveguide through the separation gap;
propagating the evanescent excitation light as resonant excitation light through the multi-mode intermediate waveguide;
subjecting a single quantum emitter disposed in the multi-mode intermediate waveguide to the resonant excitation light;
producing, by the single quantum emitter, emitted single photons from the resonant excitation light;
propagating the emitted single photons through the multi-mode intermediate waveguide;
communicating the emitted single photons from the multi-mode intermediate waveguide to a single-mode output waveguide;
receiving, by the single-mode output waveguide, the emitted single photons from the multi-mode intermediate waveguide; and
propagating, through the single-mode output waveguide, the emitted single photons at emitted single photon stream to produce the emitted single photon stream.

14. The process of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving the emitted single photons in a second separation gap that separates the multi-mode intermediate waveguide from the single-mode output waveguide;
propagating the emitted single photons through the second separation gap; and
evanescently receiving, by the single-mode output waveguide, the emitted single photons from the multi-mode intermediate waveguide through the second separation gap.

15. The

Assignees

• Government Of The Us Secretary Of Commerce

Inventors

• Davanco Marcelo Ishihara

Classifications

• H04B10/70 Primary

  Photonic quantum communication · CPC title

• G02B6/29337 Primary

  Cavities of the linear kind, e.g. formed by reflectors at ends of a light guide · CPC title

• G02B2006/12061

  Silicon · CPC title

• B82Y20/00

  Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals · CPC title