Single-photon emission from exciton complexes in individual quantum dots

Abstract

Applications in optical quantum information technology require a new type of light source able to emit exactly one photon periodically with minimal timing jitter. We investigate the photon emission statistics of different electron-hole recombination processes in a single photo-excited semiconductor quantum dot. We demonstrate single photon emission from each of these exciton complexes, revealing the biexciton state to produce single photons with significantly less jitter in their emission time than the single exciton state.