Stuttgart 2012 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 47: SYPC 3: From Atoms to Photonic Circuits 3

A 47.5: Vortrag

Freitag, 16. März 2012, 11:30–11:45, V47.02

Ultrafast all-optical switching by single photons — •Thomas Volz, Andreas Reinhard, and Atac Imamoglu — Institute of Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland

While two-color spectroscopy of the Jaynes-Cummings ladder has been performed in the microwave domain, it has so far not been demonstrated for cavity QED experiments in the optical domain. Here, we report on frequency- and time-resolved two-color spectroscopy of a strongly coupled quantum dot-cavity system which consists of a single self-assembled InGaAs quantum dot positioned at the field maximum of a photonic crystal L3 cavity. The coupled system is highly non-linear as witnessed by strong photon blockade on both fundamental polariton transitions [1]. Two (near-)resonant laser pulses with variable relative time delay are used to probe the non-linear system dynamics. With the center frequency of the first laser pulse fixed to one of the fundamental polariton transitions, we record the non-linear system response as a function of the center frequency of the second laser pulse. We obtain a clear signature due to the corresponding transition from the first to the second Jaynes-Cummings manifold. By varying the time delay between the laser pulses, we demonstrate all-optical switching by single photons on picosecond timescales [2]. Besides the single-photon switching, the present device can also be used as a single-photon pulse correlator.

[1] A. Reinhard et al., accepted for publication in Nature Photonics, arXiv:1108.3053.

[2] T. Volz et al., submitted for publication, arXiv:1111.2915.