Abstract

The development of efficient solid-state single-photon sources is an important prerequisit for a large scale implementation of secure telecommunication systems based on quantum crytography. Various solid-state emitters including molecules, F-centers, semiconductor nanocrystals and self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) emit under proper excitation conditions antibunched light. QDs present some important assets in this context : QDs exhibit 1) a good stability (no photobleaching, no blinking), 2) a quantum efficiency very close to one, 3) a short radiative lifetime ( 1 ns), 4) a quasi-monochromatic emission (< 25 µeV at 4K), which allows to exploit CQED effects to tailor their emission properties, and 5) can be easily inserted inside semiconductor microcavities. We discuss recent advances toward the fabrication of an optically pumped single photon source based on isolated InAs QDs in pillar microcavities, following the operation principle we proposed few years ago [1].

© 2001 EPS