Researchers from NIST and international partners have developed a new temporal filtering technique that significantly improves the performance of solid-state single photon sources. The technique, which manipulates emitted light after it has been generated, is compatible with a broad range of photon sources and could lead to more reliable quantum information systems.
The team, led by researchers from NIST’s Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, demonstrated that by using a commercial electro-optic modulator to selectively transmit light at specific times, they could improve single photon purity and make photons more identical to each other. This approach is particularly promising because it doesn’t depend on the specifics of the source’s device geometry, excitation scheme, or materials.
The research, published in Scientific Reports, could lead to more reliable quantum information systems and applications in areas like quantum computing and secure communication. Future work will focus on implementing this technique to further improve source performance.
Keywords: single photon, photon purity, quantum dot, temporal filtering
