Quantum dots blow their own horns

Researchers from INAC and the Technical University of Denmark have developed a trumpet-shaped microscopic antenna that can extract 75% of the unique photons from a quantum dot and emit them in a Gaussian optical beam. The beam can then be effectively injected into an optical fiber for applications in cryptography, metrology, and quantum computing, for example.
The antenna is made by plasma etching and is 12 microns long. It fans out gradually from a 200 nm diameter at the base and a 1.6 micron diameter at the tip, enabling it to send out a directed light beam with a Gaussian transverse profile.
The researchers’ “photon trumpet” can also be used in the opposite direction—a photon from an optical fiber can be absorbed very effectively by a quantum dot.

Contact: julien.claudon@cea.fr
 

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