Abstract
Coherent control of individual two-level systems is at the heart of any quantum information protocol. In solids1,2,3,4,5,6, two-level systems generated by bound electron–hole excitonic states, trapped in semiconductor quantum dots, display a robust coupling with light, enabling their optical manipulation via avant-garde approaches of nonlinear spectroscopy7,8. Here, we develop a novel toolbox for coherent control of a quantum dot exciton based on the nonlinear wave-mixing responses, which are enhanced by a photonic nanostructure. By employing three, short, resonant laser pulses, we show that we can manipulate, at will, the intrinsic coherence of the quantum dot dipole and therefore engineer the spectro-temporal shape of its coherent emission. Multi-pulse quantum control sequences, which have been successful in NMR spectroscopy and quantum computation9, can now be applied to optically active solid-state quantum bits with application in high-order nonlinear spectroscopy, ultrafast quantum optoelectronics and spread spectrum technology at the single emitter level.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge support from the European Research Council Starting Grant ‘PICSEN’ (contract no. 306387).
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F.F., Q.M. and J.K. carried out the experiments. F.F., Q.M. and J.K. performed the data analysis. F.F. conceived the idea of a multi-wave coherent control scheme and performed the theoretical modelling. J.K. designed and supervised the experiments. W.L. provided the analysis tool. G.N. and C.H. provided technical support. C.S., S.H. and M.K. fabricated the sample. F.F. and J.K. co-wrote the manuscript, with the participation of G.N. and W.L.
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Fras, F., Mermillod, Q., Nogues, G. et al. Multi-wave coherent control of a solid-state single emitter. Nature Photon 10, 155–158 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.2
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