Photonic cavities that strongly confine light are finding applications in many areas of physics and engineering, including coherent electron-photon interactions, ultra-small filters, low-threshold lasers, photonic chips, nonlinear optics and quantum information processing. Critical for these applications is the realization of a cavity with both high quality factor, Q, and small modal volume, V. The ratio Q/V determines the strength of the various cavity interactions, and an ultra-small cavity enables large-scale integration and single-mode operation for a broad range of wavelengths. However, a high-Q cavity of optical wavelength size is difficult to fabricate, as radiation loss increases in inverse proportion to cavity size. With the exception of a few recent theoretical studies, definitive theories and experiments for creating high-Q nanocavities have not been extensively investigated. Here we use a silicon-based two-dimensional photonic-crystal slab to fabricate a nanocavity with Q = 45,000 and V = 7.0 x 10(-14) cm3; the value of Q/V is 10-100 times larger than in previous studies. Underlying this development is the realization that light should be confined gently in order to be confined strongly. Integration with other photonic elements is straightforward, and a large free spectral range of 100 nm has been demonstrated.

High- Q photonic nanocavity in a two-dimensional photonic crystal

Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems allow the study of a variety of fundamental quantum-optics phenomena, such as entanglement, quantum decoherence and the quantum–classical boundary. Such systems also provide test beds for quantum information science. Nearly all strongly coupled cavity QED experiments have used a single atom in a high-quality-factor (high-Q) cavity. Here we report the experimental realization of a strongly coupled system in the solid state: a single quantum dot embedded in the spacer of a nanocavity, showing vacuum-field Rabi splitting exceeding the decoherence linewidths of both the nanocavity and the quantum dot. This requires a small-volume cavity and an atomic-like two-level system. The photonic crystal slab nanocavity—which traps photons when a defect is introduced inside the two-dimensional photonic bandgap by leaving out one or more holes—has both high Q and small modal volume V, as required for strong light–matter interactions. The quantum dot has two discrete energy levels with a transition dipole moment much larger than that of an atom, and it is fixed in the nanocavity during growth.

Vacuum Rabi splitting with a single quantum dot in a photonic crystal nanocavity

Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) studies the interaction between a quantum emitter and a single radiation-field mode. When an atom is strongly coupled to a cavity mode, it is possible to realize important quantum information processing tasks, such as controlled coherent coupling and entanglement of distinguishable quantum systems. Realizing these tasks in the solid state is clearly desirable, and coupling semiconductor self-assembled quantum dots to monolithic optical cavities is a promising route to this end. However, validating the efficacy of quantum dots in quantum information applications requires confirmation of the quantum nature of the quantum-dot-cavity system in the strong-coupling regime. Here we find such confirmation by observing quantum correlations in photoluminescence from a photonic crystal nanocavity interacting with one, and only one, quantum dot located precisely at the cavity electric field maximum. When off-resonance, photon emission from the cavity mode and quantum-dot excitons is anticorrelated at the level of single quanta, proving that the mode is driven solely by the quantum dot despite an energy mismatch between cavity and excitons. When tuned to resonance, the exciton and cavity enter the strong-coupling regime of cavity QED and the quantum-dot exciton lifetime reduces by a factor of 145. The generated photon stream becomes antibunched, proving that the strongly coupled exciton/photon system is in the quantum regime. Our observations unequivocally show that quantum information tasks are achievable in solid-state cavity QED.

Quantum nature of a strongly coupled single quantum dot–cavity system

Hybrid quantum circuits combine two or more physical systems, with the goal of harnessing the advantages and strengths of the different systems in order to better explore new phenomena and potentially bring about novel quantum technologies. This article presents a brief overview of the progress achieved so far in the field of hybrid circuits involving atoms, spins, and solid-state devices (including superconducting and nanomechanical systems). How these circuits combine elements from atomic physics, quantum optics, condensed matter physics, and nanoscience is discussed, and different possible approaches for integrating various systems into a single circuit are presented. In particular, hybrid quantum circuits can be fabricated on a chip, facilitating their future scalability, which is crucial for building future quantum technologies, including quantum detectors, simulators, and computers.

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Hybrid quantum circuits: Superconducting circuits interacting with other quantum systems

High-quality factor (Q) photonic nanocavities that strongly confine photons in volumes of optical-wavelength dimension are attracting much attention in various fields, including photonics1,2,3,4,5, telecommunications6,7, quantum information8 and cavity quantum electrodynamics9,10, because a strong light–matter interaction is obtained. An important design rule has been proposed11 in an attempt to realize high-Q nanocavities in two-dimensional photonic-crystal slabs. The form of the cavity electric-field distribution should slowly vary, most ideally as described by a gaussian function, in order to suppress out-of-slab photon leakage. However, the exact cavity structure that minimizes photon leakage has not yet been established. Here, we demonstrate the importance of the formation of a photonic double-heterostructure, which has resulted in the realization of nanocavities with extremely high-Q factors of 600,000, more than one order of magnitude higher than any previous reports11,12,13,14. We have also shown theoretically that Q-factors greater than 20,000,000 may be obtained when optimizing the structure.

Ultra-high- Q photonic double-heterostructure nanocavity

A photonic nanocavity with a high Q factor of 100,000 and a modal volume V of 0.71 cubic wavelengths, is demonstrated. According to the cavity design rule that we discovered recently, we further improve a point-defect cavity in a two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) slab, where the arrangement of six air holes near the cavity edges is fine-tuned. We demonstrate that the measured Q factor for the designed cavity increases by a factor of 20 relative to that for a cavity without displaced air holes, while the calculated modal volume remains almost constant.

Fine-tuned high-Q photonic-crystal nanocavity

An in-plane-type channel-drop filtering device with input/output waveguides and a point defect cavity in a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab is investigated. The in-plane operation becomes possible by employing a point defect cavity with an extremely high Q factor to suppress the radiation loss for the out-of-plane direction. 60° bends are also introduced in the output waveguide to avoid interference between the input/output waveguides. The transmission frequency range of the output waveguide with bends is tuned by changing the size of the air holes at the apex of the corner so that the resonant frequency of the point defect cavity is within the transmission band. A channel drop operation with a very high resolution of 0.12 nm is successfully observed at 1.55 μm wavelengths.

In-plane-type channel drop filter in a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab

The effects of truncated cone air holes on propagation losses from line defect waveguides in two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) slabs are investigated. It is shown that coupling between TE-like waveguide modes and TM-like slab modes due to out-of-plane structural asymmetries can result in large propagation losses. It is also shown that coupling, and therefore propagation loss, does not occur in a frequency range where wave vectors of TE-like waveguide modes do not match projections of those of TM-like slab modes. The results are thought to be applicable to other structures exhibiting out-of-plane asymmetries, such as 2D PC slabs attached to silicon on insulator substrates.

Yoshihiro Akahane

Papers

High- Q photonic nanocavity in a two-dimensional photonic crystal

Ultra-high- Q photonic double-heterostructure nanocavity

Fine-tuned high-Q photonic-crystal nanocavity

In-plane-type channel drop filter in a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab

Theoretical investigation of a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab with truncated cone air holes