Monolithic integration of a quantum emitter with a compact on-chip beam-splitter

Abstract

A fundamental component of an integrated quantum optical circuit is an on-chip beam-splitter operating at the single-photon level. Here, we demonstrate the monolithic integration of an on-demand quantum emitter in the form of a single self-assembled InGaAs quantum dot (QD) with a compact (>10 μm), air clad, free standing directional coupler acting as a beam-splitter for anti-bunched light. The device was tested by using single photons emitted by a QD embedded in one of the input arms of the device. We verified the single-photon nature of the QD signal by performing Hanbury Brown-Twiss measurements and demonstrated single-photon beam splitting by cross-correlating the signal from the separate output ports of the directional coupler.