2025/02/20 by Karli, Yusuf, Arenas, Iker Avila, Schimpf, Christian +11 · 1 citation
#FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Optics (physics.optics) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2502.14806
High-purity multi-photon states are essential for photonic quantum computing. Among existing platforms, semiconductor quantum dots offer a promising route to scalable and deterministic multi-photon state generation. However, to fully realize their potential we require a suitable optical excitation method. Current approaches of multi-photon generation rely on active polarization-switching elements (e.g., electro-optic modulators, EOMs) to spatio-temporally demultiplex single photons. Yet, the achievable multi-photon rate is fundamentally limited by the switching speed of the EOM. Here, we introduce a fully passive demultiplexing technique that leverages a stimulated two-photon excitation process to achieve switching rates that are only limited by the quantum dot lifetime. We demonstrate this method by generating two-photon states from a single quantum dot without requiring any active switching elements. Our approach significantly reduces the cost of demultiplexing while shifting it to the excitation stage, enabling loss-free demultiplexing and effectively doubling the achievable multi-photon generation rate when combined with existing active demultiplexing techniques.