Abstract

Much in physics is explained through an understanding of harmonic oscillation, but nonlinearity makes physics more exciting and greatly contributes for its many applications. Optical nonlinearities at the single-photon level are key ingredients for future photonic quantum technologies. Here we report unprecedented strong single-photon nonlinearities and single-photon switching on ultrafast timescales in epitaxial quantum dots strongly coupled to microcavities.

© 2012 Optical Society of America